Hi, it's Geoff Chalmers here from discoverdoublebass.com.
That's the home of online double bass lessons.
So if you're interested in more like this one, please go and check that out after this
video.
Now today, I'm going to be answering a question from one of members of Discover Double Bass
Study Group, which is a support group for people who've bought one of the courses on
the website.
And Sid was asking me about the balance of the bass and a problem he was having with
the bass going this way, it was effecting the way that he used arm weight.
So what I'm going to do is answer his question and really explore this whole issue of the
balance of the bass and how it comes to rest against you and really troubleshoot any problems
that you might be having.
So let's get into it now.
The problem that Sid was having is a fairly common one, and it's the bass feels like it
wants to go past you to your left.
So, the weight is coming back this way and you end up squeezing with the left hand and
you're struggling to use arm weight.
In fact, when you do use arm weight, your're pulling the bass past you.
Now I've had several students in the last few months come to me with this issue and
I think that there's a bit of a problem going on, which I maybe didn't address in some of
my other posture lessons.
I'd like to clarify that here.
So let's start from the beginning.
The bass should be vertical.
Grab hold of the neck heel and allow the instrument to come back towards you.
As we've discussed in my posture lesson on YouTube and in the beginners course, which
is gives you a bit more detail on this.
But anyway, bass is coming back towards you, it's leading into you and the problem is,
you have a play, and the bass wants to go over in this direction.
Now, as we know, we don't want the ribs coming flat against us and we don't want the back
flat against us.
We want this angle, and we also don't want to have to rely on using our left knee to
position the bass as well because otherwise, all of our weight is on my right leg.
So, what we need to is adjust the angle so the scroll is pointing towards my head.
So, I'd like you to try to stand like this, and the reason is, is that I feel that the
problems that I've been seeing students having are related to the bass slightly to forward
or like this and the weight naturally wanting to go in this direction, so it falls away.
What I'd like you to do is position it slightly further across this way, so it points above
my head or over my right shoulder.
Now the good thing about this is, when I come to use arm weight, it just pulls down naturally.
I'm pulling the bass into me.
It's coming to rest against my belt and it's on this angle.
Now also, the use of jazz pits, helps stabilize the instrument as does using the bow to a
point as well.
But just really make sure that the angle that your scroll is point at, is towards your head
and past it and try and get used to the balance point like I am now.
I'm not having to support it, I just correct it as needed and then when I'm playing, I'm
not having any tension in my arm.
And I can just let the gravity do the work to help me keep those strings down.
So it's just a really quick lesson today, I wanted to outline this problem in case you
were having the issue yourself.
If you want more information on posture, there's a really comprehensive set of lessons within
my beginners course and there's also a lesson on YouTube that you can check out for free
as well.
Plus any questions you can join the conversation in the comments below this video and I'll
get back to you and help out if I can.
So, best luck with your practice and I'll see you in the next lesson.