For years, I’d heard about “rules” that I was supposed to follow when figuring out bass fingerings. Honestly, it was a bit confusing to me. They all seemed to conflict with each other, and I was never sure where to begin. Over time, I figured out how these rules work, when to follow them, and also when to break them!

Click here to download these rules as a PDF

Rule #1 – play at least two notes per position

Your life will be so much simpler as a bassist if you follow this rule. Look for patterns in your music, and try your utmost to play two (or more!) notes in a position before shifting.

Rule #2 – never cross strings for a half step

Half steps are so easy when played in one position and so awkward when played across two strings. They also can create a strange “flanging” type of sound, particularly when one note is an open string. Save your hands and your ears by plying half steps in the same position whenever possible.

Rule #3 – play across the strings for technical passages

If you see fast notes on the page, try to play notes in one position. I want to keep my left hand in the same place on the bass as much as possible for fast passages. This saves me a bunch of unnecessary work and makes for tidier playing overall.

Rule #4 – shift up and down one string for melodic passages

Take advantage of the vocal qualities of playing on one string by shifting up and down for more melodic content. This helps to create and organic and connected sound.

Rule #5 – don’t cross strings on the same finger (especially when going to a lower string)

You’ll create a gap in the sound by using the same finger across the strings. This is particularly true when going from a higher string to a lower string. Try to be strategic with your fingering to minimize this kind of fingering, especially in connected passages.

Rule #6 – don’t play open strings in lyrical passages

Open strings stick out like a sore thumb in lyrical playing. Close these notes for melodic playing, and save your open strings for passing tones in faster passages.

Rule #7 – shift higher using lower numbered fingers

When playing an ascending passage, shift using a lower finger. For example, playing A – B – C# on the G string will generally work best played as 1 – 1 4. You want to have “fingers to spare” and not be stuck shifting up the bass with the 4th finger.

Rule #8 – shift lower using higher numbered fingers

The reverse is true for descending passages. When playing C# – B – A, it is generally best practice to play 4 -4 1.

Rule #9 – group notes together rhythmically

Grouping notes into twos, threes, or whatever make4s sense for the passage will help to organize your playing. This can help with cleanliness and even with memorization.

Rule #10 – avoid crossing two strings

Put notes on adjacent strings when possible. For example, don’t play open G and then C on the A string. Instead, play G closed with 4th finger and then play C with 1st finger. This makes it easier on the bow and is generally the most efficient option.

The “golden rule” of fingering

The “dirty secret” about all these rules is that we break them all the time! Bass playing is strewn with pitfalls, and we frequently find ourselves choosing between two relatively bad options for fingerings.

Think of these “rules” as more like guidelines or best practices. When possible, follow them… but don’t hesitate to get creative and try new things!

Learn more

The Rabbath position system is a great way to “supercharge” your fingering options. Here’s a look at this system and how it works.

The pedagogical influence of Francois Rabbath on the double bass world has been tremendous. Once seen as a dramatic departure from traditional bass technique, the Rabbath approach has become mainstream and perhaps the most commonly used method for young bassists.

The story behind the Rabbath Institute

Cielito De Jesus started the Rabbath Institute Los Angeles in 2017, with Francois himself as the featured guest. This institute is dedicated to the Rabbath approach to double bass, featuring faculty who have studied under Rabbath and incorporate his principles of playing into their technique.

A longtime student of Francois Rabbath, Cielito was inspired to start this institute through Johnny Hamil, a fellow Rabbath student and the founder of the Kansas City Bass Workshop.

After a successful inaugural event in 2017, Cielito ran annual programs in 2018 and 2019. After taking a year off in 2020 due to the pandemic, she resumed the institute in 2021 with a five day event in Long Beach that included Ted Botsford (LA Phil) and David Young (Colburn School) along with herself and me.

Schedule

The 2021 Institute started off each day with a warm-up and technique class featuring different faculty members. Next up was a master class, followed by David Young rehearsing bass ensembles and concluding with a faculty recital.

Day 1 Recital: Ted Botsford

Day 2 Recital: David Young

Day 3 Recital: Ted, David, Cielito, and Jason

Day 4 Recital: Jason Heath

Day 4 Recital: Student Bass Orchestra

Final Thoughts

The Rabbath Institute Los Angeles is an outstanding opportunity to delve into double bass technique through the lens of Francois Rabbath’s teachings. Cielito brings together a stellar faculty lineup each year, and it’s remarkable to watch the progress of the students throughout the week.

If you’re looking to develop your facility, ease of playing, and tone, this institute is for you. Whether you’re a Rabbath technique novice or a seasoned pro, you’ll find plenty of takeaways from this excellent program.

Una de las partes más gratificantes de la creación de esta edición de Urtext ha sido descubrir una nueva pieza. Al principio pensé que debía ser un nombre alternativo para Capriccio di Bravura, pero al inspeccionarlo, era una obra sustancial que no había visto antes. A primera vista, la pieza parece un poco diferente a lo que Bottesini escribiría. Aunque son claramente sus marcas de pluma, su estilo de composición y su catálogo de música, tiene una estructura muy diferente a sus otras obras. La pieza se divide en cuatro secciones: Andante Mosso, Allegro Moderato, Andante y finalmente Allegretto. Esto no sigue los típicos tres movimientos de sus otros conciertos o la forma rondó del Grande Allegro di Concerto. A lo largo de la pieza hay secciones recitativas de rubato, como los de una escena de ópera, lo que le da a la obra una gran sensación de libertad.

No hay editoriales que imprimen actualmente esta pieza; sin embargo, he encontrado dos ediciones publicadas que están agotadas. Uno es de FAC Publishing, 1 el otro es Ars Viva Verlag en 1951.

Como ocurre con muchas de las composiciones de Bottesini, el recicló ideas para crear esta obra. Un uso claro de una idea existente es el pasaje de arpegio antes del Allegretto final. La línea superior es la melodía del Andante en su Passione Amorosa para dos contrabajos. Esto se ha combinado con arpegios que normalmente habrían estado en el segundo bajo. Ha amalgamado hábilmente las dos partes solistas alterando los arpegios para que se ajusten a las notas de la melodía en la parte superior.

En sus manuscritos, Bottesini rara vez cometió errores que hayan requerido decisiones editoriales. Esto muestra la importancia y el cuidado que Bottesini asumió con estos manuscritos; Estos claramente debían usarse con regularidad o para ser publicados y eran sus ediciones finales. Normalmente, solo han sido problemas muy menores, como falta de alteraciones, que se han olvidado en el recordatorio de una barra, sin embargo, este fue el primer trabajo por el que tuve que hacer una elección activa. Los compases 86 y 90 no contenían el número correcto de tiempos en un compás. He hecho un pequeño ajuste para hacerlo funcionar. La segunda corrección que hizo el propio Bottesini fue omitir 4 compases en el Allegretto final, he incluido estos compases en esta edición con un corchete para que puedas elegir si los tocas o no.

Bottesini guardaba sus manuscritos en “catálogos de viajes”, una serie de composiciones encuadernadas juntas que llevaría en sus viajes. A diferencia de otros manuscritos de este catálogo, el Concerto di Bravura contiene marcas de referencia para entradas de instrumentos orquestales. Esto sugiere algunas posibilidades: 1) Fue utilizado por un director 2) Una referencia de Bottesini para cuando estaba ejecutando 3) Que orquestó a partir de la partitura de piano y escribió recordatorios en la partitura.

Una parte fascinante al hacer esta edición fue ver la cantidad de detalles que Bottesini prestó a la transmisión y la agrupación de notas; mucho de esto se ha perdido en las ediciones modernas. Él era muy claro cuando quería que determinadas notas pertenecieran a un determinado grupo, o a una mano en particular del piano y, por tanto, importantes para nuestra interpretación.

Las dinámicas pueden ser un poco difícil de interpretar en las partituras de Bottesini en algunos lugares, a menudo escribiendo las dinámicas ‘mano corta’ sobre el pentagrama, ya que o no podía colocarlas en el medio del pentagrama de piano o quería que se aplicaran tanto a la parte de contrabajo solo y la de piano. Bottesini siempre tocó de memoria y, por lo tanto, nunca escribió una parte de bajo individual para nosotros para que aclaramos qué marcas de interpretación se relacionan con qué pentagrama.

A pesar de no tener la ayuda de un sistema moderno de notación, Bottesini escribió sus partituras de manera clara y ordenada, pero usó la letra abreviada cuando pudo, he notado algunas notaciones comunes que vale la pena mencionar en la página.

Descárgalo gratis o paga lo que quieras. Y asegúrese de consultar los otros trabajos de Stephen en el catálogo de publicaciones en Double Bass Blog Publications catalog.

English article

We recently added Stephen Street‘s Urtext Edition of Bottesini’s Concerto di Bravura to our Sheet Music Store, prompting a common question:

Why is Bottesini’s music written down an octave?

The issue at hand is that Bottesini wrote all his solo bass music at sounding pitch rather than the standard practice of writing the bass part an octave higher.

Why did he do this?

I passed the question along to Stephen, who could help answer this much more clearly than me!

Stephen writes:

As you have rightly pointed out, the double bass part is written at pitch, but this has been done for a few reasons.

The ambition for the Bottesini Urtext project is to be as faithful to what Bottesini wrote as possible, with as little or no edits at all. One of the many reasons why errors have occurred in modern editions is due to publishers incorrectly transposing the octaves of different sections, combined with the choices of the editors themselves which has often led to confusion today to where certain passages are to be played.

Bottesini gives reason for this in his method book.  Here’s the snippet where he talks about it:

As we have clearly mentioned we will, in this second part, write the notes without transposing them an octave higher. We shall avoid by that means a grave inconvenience: that of being obliged to use several Clefs, which, if inappropriately employed, complicate difficulties, embarrass the musician, and give rise to doubts. Thus although we give great compass to the solo Contre Basse we shall only require to use two clefs, by writing the note in its true place: the G clef and the F clef.

As you can see, it is an active choice by Bottesini to do this and so as an Urtext – I have to stay as faithful to Bottesini’s intentions as reasonably possible.

All of Bottesini’s autograph manuscripts for double bass as a soloist are written at sounding pitch. This is also for another couple of reasons:

1. Bottesini tuned his bass differently from orchestral tuning or as high as a minor third higher than standard orchestral tuning.
2. Bottesini being a composer was thinking from an orchestrators point of view and he would want to know the exact frequency to write on the score to be able to make choices of how he orchestrated around it no matter what tuning he felt was appropriate for the piece. 

If we look at publications Bottesini commissioned in his life time, he preferred they were written at sounding pitch:

It is also worth noting that that he chose to write the whole second half of his method book at sounding pitch for this very reason, it is only in modern publications that it has been changed.

In short, however, I am just writing out an edition as Bottesini intended, it also gives context to modern editions as if it is written at pitch there is no question to where it is supposed to be played avoiding all the transposition errors that have cropped up today.

At least it is by an octave and not by a tritone or something horrible!

About Stephen Street

Stephen Street is a versatile bassist living in the UK.  He studied under classical professors Chris West and Leon Bosch while continuing his jazz studies with Martin Speake and Simon Purcell.  He is an active publisher and plans to create Urtext editions for all of Bottesini’s works.

You can find Stephen Street‘s Urtext Edition of Bottesini’s Concerto di Bravura in our Sheet Music Store.

Check out the Spanish translation of this article here!