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

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Brian Gencarelli

I understand what you are saying Joel, but you must be able to play a half step or whole step in tune to be able to play correctly with the drone. What is understood, in my head, is that you are referencing the the tempered scale with the drone in place. Relatively in tune is what we are required to do. If you want to be "exactly" in tune then you need to practice with a chromatic tuner.

I am agreeing with you, but I think a little is lost in typing rather than talking.
BG

Brian, can you give us an example of using this drone? Am I right in assuming that you might play open D, then say the Eb on the G string, then the E - and continue to work up through the intervals?

[Anselm Hauke]

i downloaded all the chromatic shrutis here: http://www.karnatik.com/shrutibox.shtml
and use them sometimes for practicing.

edit: practicing as described above by richard + playing scales, improvising
edit2: improvising with that shruti always makes me feel like charlie haden playing the song "malkauns" on the fantastic (one of my favorites) record "brown rice" by don cherry )
edit3: please everybody buy that record
listen here: http://www.amazon.de/Brown-Rice-Don-.../dp/B0000253J0

[Brian Gencarelli]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

Brian, can you give us an example of using this drone? Am I right in assuming that you might play open D, then say the Eb on the G string, then the E - and continue to work up through the intervals?

If you can record some drones you can play over them as you work on scales. You can play one, two, or three octaave scales over the drone. Major, minor, modal- it doesn't matter. So you drone a D and then play the d minor scale. You can work certain intervals or areas of the bass that are problematic, such as the "transition position".

I find this approach very helpful. If you have any more questions let me know.
Brian

[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?

[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.