The 5-String Double Bass

[Robert J Spear]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I agree with you on the string type but there are many, many pieces with fast low passaged like in Shost. 5th, Beeth. 3rd, 5th, 6th.. and anything where the basses double the cellos.

Those guys were seriously trying to see if bassists could take a joke. And I for sure would argue that Beethoven never intended the passage in the 6th to be played cleanly since it is meant to rumble and evoke a storm (one of which is passing overhead even as I write).

We will have to develop a bass that is intended for fifths tuning and that is fast enough to start bringing out these kinds of passages cleanly. That will surely mean another look at what an orchestra bass is supposed to sound like, how it should be played (yeah, I know; really well). This is currently where my head is at in bass development.

BTW, I saw a 5'er not along ago that had the low B string spacing very close to the E. Other strings were spaced about normally. The bridge was modified to get the B out of the way, so to speak. The player said that he needed the B from time to time, but not often enough to give it equal standing. I tried playing the bass (everyone else fled from the room), and the arrangement wasn't hard to get used to. I think somewhere in the forum someone else has already mentioned setting the bass up this way, but it was the first one I'd ever seen.

That's what I like about the bass world. Just when you think you've seen it all, you haven't.