Hi, it's Geoff Chalmers here from Discover Double Bass. I've got another
video lesson for you and this one's about left hand technique. I'm going to
give you an overview of the subject and then we're going to look in more
detail at how you can get a great left hand shape that will really help
improve your intonation.
So as a teacher, one of the most common subjects that I'm asked about is
left hand technique. I think particularly if you come from a bass guitar
background it can be really quite daunting as the notes are obviously so
far apart and perhaps you're more used to using all four fingers rather
than the three that we use in standard left hand technique on the double
bass. Good hand technique starts with a good hand shape.
Now, of course, you're going to find examples of other bass players out
there who have got a really strange looking hand shape. But there is
something in common that we have and that's that we're all dividing the
hand equally into three if we're playing in tune. And the system that I'm
going to present to you today is the one that I feel is the most simple,
the most logical, the easiest to understand. But of course, got to remember
there's always more than one way to do something.
I'd also just like to take this moment to suggest that you practice in
front of a mirror and particularly for today it will really help you to get
the feedback from right in front of you rather than from having to turn
your head and thus adjusting your hand shape to accommodate that turn. So
let's dive straight in and look in detail at left hand technique.
So we're going to start with a really natural, relaxed hand shape. It's
always the best way when we're learning these new techniques on a double
bass. Just relax your arm and your hand. Let it hang down next to your
body. And you'll see that it comes naturally into a kind of gentle curve.
You don't sleep with any of the fingers extended. You don't naturally do
that.
Now this is what we want to kind of use, this kind of hand shape. And when
we bring the hand to the bass, you can see it's really very similar. And
just we try to keep the natural arch and the key to remember is that we
don't squeeze the neck. We use the hand and the arm weight and I can feel
it going all the way back to my shoulder. And the weight transfers through
the arch of the fingers into the fingertip.
So just have a go at playing a note. It doesn't matter about what the note
is. Let's just play anything. And what I'm doing is I'm focusing ever so
slightly on my little finger. However, it's really the weight of all the
fingers that's keeping the strings down. It's a different feeling to this
where I'm pushing with one finger and all the energy's going to the string
that way. It's the whole arm, the whole hand weight naturally going through
all the way from the shoulder and I just put my attention, my focus into
the finger that's playing the note, in this case, the little finger.
So if I did it with the second finger. Just don't worry whether the note's
in tune just play the note and have a look. And there are a few things that
might be happening here. You may not be using the fingertips. Perhaps
you'll play like this and the string is being pushed down with the soft
fleshy part of the fingers that you use to give a fingerprint. And if you
have a look, I'm just going to lift my hand away from the bass, I was
pushing down there a moment, it may well have left marks. And you can see
the marks along the fleshy parts of the fingers.
Now what I want if I was playing normally and maybe I'm just pushing down
to simulate what it would be like. I move my hand away and you can see the
marks are now nearer the fingertip. So that's the way that the fingers are
arched and the power goes into the string.
Let's have another look in a bit more detail at the shape here. One of the
mistakes that you may be making in addition to using the wrong part of the
fingers, you might be collapsing one of the knuckles. So really make sure
that these knuckles are, that the finger has a full arch. Don't let them
collapse down like this. In fact, it's a good idea to pick a note anywhere
on the bass and try pushing all the way through it like you were going to
push the bass neck in half and then collapse at the knuckle. And you can
feel the power disperse. That's not the most efficient way to use the
finger. So you want to try and maintain the arch and not collapse at the
knuckle.
Also, try to avoid raising the fingers away because then you'll be pushing
essentially in two different directions at once. The exception to this is
if you're doing vibrato which is something we'll talk about later where you
may wish to relax the hand and release the fingers a bit. But that's not
what we're doing today. We're just trying to get a natural playing
position.
Many of you will have come from a bass guitar background where you're more
used to using four fingers on the bass. Now on the double bass all the way
up to thumb position we only use three fingers. The first, the second, and
the fourth. So we omit the third finger. The way to get the right hand
shape is always to go back to that relaxed shape, put your hand on the
bass, and then gently extend the gap between the first and the second
fingers.
Because that feels a little alien at first and many teachers traditionally
will try and simulate how big that gap is by putting objects in between the
fingers: bottle corks, tubs of rosin, matchboxes, that kind of thing. Now I
don't think it's necessary to do that but what I would suggest you do is
relax the hand, keep a gentle arch of the fingers and then try to extend
the gap between the first and the second finger. And you should be
somewhere in the right ballpark for the three notes that you need.
There's a good way of practicing this away from the bass and that's to use
a pencil. You have your thumb opposite your second finger. You relax the
fingers. Then you just gently extend the gap between the first and the
second. And I think if you can do that you'll go a long way towards being
able to do it on the actual bass as well. It will help you.
Just while I've got the pencil in my hand, it's quite good to demonstrate
what happens to the third finger. When you're playing the second finger,
you've got to retract the third slightly. And when you use the fourth
finger, the third goes down with it. So it's completely relaxed and
basically just kept out of the way. But when all the fingers are down it
keeps down. That way you're not lifting it up and pushing in two different
directions at once.
The position of the third finger is naturally just between the second and
the fourth, however, if you like, you can kind of twin it up with the
second finger. I quite often play that way. But I wouldn't recommend
joining it to the fourth finger as it's a really awkward stretch to do
that. When you're in the higher part of the neck, say, for instance, well,
around here, you can see the fingers really do get quite close together.
But I'm still thinking of the third finger as being completely relaxed.
Let's have a look at the role of the thumb. It remains roughly opposite the
second finger and the part of the thumb that's touching the neck is the
fleshy part of the thumb. It's the part where you'd give a thumbprint. So
it's the opposite to the fingers where we're using the fingertips. So
there's no bend at the knuckle here. It's passive, it's going up and down
and it remains behind the second finger and you're not squeezing the neck.
A couple of little things that might help you, first of all, this is really
obvious but make sure you're not doing it. Don't grab the neck like a
baseball bat. Don't bring the thumb round. The second thing, make sure the
thumb travels with you and remains opposite the second finger. Don't let it
trail behind like this.
And lastly, this is quite useful, if you're playing notes on the G string
your thumb is still opposite the G which means it's further round towards
the E side if you like. It's opposite. And if I was playing on the E
string, my thumb would be round further towards the G string side. You see
what I'm doing here? G string, E string, G and E. So there's a little bit
of rotation around the neck and that might help you to find your way.
So now let's have a look again and try and play some actual notes on the
bass. The whole point about this left hand thing is not to get a neat
looking left hand; it's to get a left hand that helps you play in tune by
equally dividing the fingers. So, you know, please take away from today
that you really should be listening carefully.
So if we just start with the note A and maybe I'd like to tune that using
the open A. It's kind of okay. I also like tuning with the open D. I find
that perfect fit sound to be very comfortable to listen to. And then just
try to play each of the three notes. And as the fingers goes down, the ones
behind them, the note you're playing, stay down. So if you're using the
fourth finger, the second and the first are both relaxed down. You're using
the arm weight. You're playing back into the string. The power is coming
through the finger into the fingertip.
And try and divide them up. I was listening there to the open D to make
sure the notes are in tune. Another great place to practice is the D to the
E. So you've got D, D sharp, E. And just listen very carefully to make sure
that you're dividing the hand correctly and that it's in tune. Because all
you need to play in tune is a great hand shape, be able to shift, which
we'll talk about in another lesson, and be able to make good adjustments by
listening carefully.
There's one more place just before we finish that you can try between the D
and the C works really well. And I'm listening carefully and trying to
correct my tuning as much as I can.
I just want to summarize the main points of the lesson for you. The first
thing that I keep banging on about is to relax the hand. Really come from a
relaxed space. It's not squeezing the neck. There's not a lot of pressure.
The other thing is that you're keeping the fingers nice and arched. You're
not collapsing at the knuckle and you're not raising fingers away from the
bass. You're keeping your thumb roughly opposite your second finger and you
maintain that position as you move up and down the bass neck. You're using
you hand and arm weight to play the note with a little bit of focus on the
little finger. And you're dividing the hand into three.
And one final suggestion I have for you and I've mentioned this in previous
videos, I really recommend practicing in front of a mirror. If you have a
mirror you can get some instant feedback on what you're doing and you'll be
able to eliminate a lot of the problems that you're having straightaway.
Thanks very much for watching the lesson. I really hope you've enjoyed it.
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