Richard's Serious Thread About Getting Better on the Double Bass.

[Joel Larsson]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

Call me Ron the silly badger if you like but, couldn't one just check one's scales by playing open notes and harmonics? For example:
C D (open D) E F G (open G) A B C D (harmonic D) etc... bearing in mind that harmonics up the series won't be in tempered tuning. You could even use open strings to check a Db scale - using weirder intervals. Any thoughts?

I think that the harmonics you should above all avoid are the 5ths and 3rds, as both are low. Octave harmonics are supposed to be rather well in tune, aren't they? Well, anyway, on the G string, you can check almsost every note in the major scale against a secure interval; A with the D or A string, B with the E string, C against open G or double octave harmonic, D against open D, E against A string, and if you're in desperate need of an idea of where your F# is at, check it against open D. But - and here I return to what the purpose is of the exercise I mentioned - you cannot allow yourself to rely on checking against other strings, because that's something you simply won't be able to do when you're fighting in the fields. It can and should be used to see if you have drifted off pitch, but it should always be conscious, not habitual.

I've also been known to check say a Db major scale against some strange intervals - Db against A, F against D, Gb against D, Ab against E and so on. But these are all insecure and most relative intervals - a G# against an E should be a whole lot lower than the Ab against its base Db. Or you could try to establish the sound of an Ab against open D. But you still have to be able to play the scale in tune, without stopping, which you simply won't do if you haven't worked out your hand shape properly, and taken into account that you have to "fight gravity" on the way down. In many cases, it's not the shiftings themselves that seem to be the big issue, but the components therein. Or again, if you have a too big or too small hand, even a perfect shift will make you end up in the wrong place. Hope that helps.