Just some photos of Italian (and French) Bow Technique with little advices.

"Italian" because Isaia Billè invented it.

Naturally all these brief concepts might be a little "vademecum" for

some students !!!

____________________________________

HOW PLAY THE FOURTHs in the THUMB POSITION

MORE: you know that sometimes is a little bit difficult

to play the FOURTHS in the Thumb Position. Everyone knows that if you push with the top of the thumb towards your right (left hand in thumb position),

you will obtain a quite good note. (example: in thumb position

you are plaing the A note with the thumb, then you have to play the E note on the II string (D). Well, movin' your top of the thumb towards your right, propably you might obtain a good pitch. Just an example!

P.s.: if you like this sort of fingerings pay attention when you are in thumb position.

You have to think like a pianist who always knows the notes which are under his fingers.

If I use a diatonic position, I must remember all the notes which are under the thumb, 1st, 2nd and 3rd finger. Naturally when you study without vibrato, you improve your pitch.

In a few words. Bottesini was convinced that the way to hold a bow had to be like the one of cellist or violinist, so with the thumb on the stick and the other fingers a little far from from the frog. It was possible to touch also the bow hairs.

This is a "special grip" that someone uses for

the French Bow. 

Well, maestro Rabbath has got a great School of Bow, the french one with the thumb on the stick. But the other fingers are near to the frog.

Probably for "his bowings" he needs more grip.

With Italian bow (the Billè's one) the question doesn't exist or it's minimized (I see it with my students). Btw, it might be a valid support!!

In the Italian bow, with the thumb in the Frog, the hold is very strong ... if you like!

Finally!

Well, I repeat the most important thing in this sort of fingerings in the thumb position: it can be chromatic, s.cr, diat. or all., but you must always know the position of the other notes under your fingers.

Ok! I remember that one time I bought (for mistake !!!) a book of fingered scales. Well, I told, let give a look at it. I paid it $ 48,00 (more shipments). It wasn't a book but some notes in which there were hand-written at least 300 ways of fingering the scales !!!

Incredible! I get off it!

There aren't good fingerings and bad ones, generally!.

But sometimes I see no very correct fingerings.

Btw., the important is to decide the own "School", better a "Method" to follow. Petracchi, Rabbath or other. It's up to you to do the better choise.

I use my favourite one, but it's very important to give a look at the other methods.

Just few words.

This concept of the fingerings in the thumb position using the chromatic position (cr.)

or semi-chromatics (s.cr.) or diatonic (diat.)

- then I add another fingering G+A1A#2C3 -

is not my invention. Franco Petracchi in his  book has developed it (but there are other incredible technical exercises also starting from the neck).

Personally in "thumb position" I use the "thumb" in legato phrases or when I have to use a finger without vibrato. So it's the thumb that we consider fundamental in this technique, and the purpose is knowledge all the notes we have under every fingers, exactly like on the neck.

In Rabbath technique, that sometimes I use,

the concept is the opposite. The thumb is a point of referrement, the other fingers move like  a "crab", closed and opened.

The better one? I don't know! Probably two both! 

Pay attention ...!!!

Just bief explanations about the photos above.

1) These little and and very easy exercises are very important to reinforce your hold of the bow Italian and Frech one. I'm sorry but I don't know exactly the german bow, even if I sometimes uses it just to know better it. Gary Karr has told me: "Vito, you have to study the two both so you will have a complete knowledge of BOW ... then you might decide which of two ones is better for you". And he encouraged me to give also a  look at German Bow.

STRETCHING:

it's one of the most important thing to obtain great ability of your right hand but expecially for your left hand. The last one will be able to provide you more agility and speed. At the same time, you will obtain "de relato" a better Vibrato. One day we will talk also about the different ways to vibrate.

VIBRATO:

You can use a weight like the one you see into the photo above, right arm. Then I will explain you my technique to obtain vibrato and the different types of it.

In this section we will analyze the technical exercises to obtain a quite good vibrato (and to compare the different ways to vibrate), expecially in the thumb position. Photos and descriptions.

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS:

The vibrato in a few words and in my personal and humble opinion.

The vibrato is basically an "effect", something different to enhance the sound. Excessive use of vibrato has no effect on the public, while the rational use makes the public more attentive. Depending on the type of composition, the musician can choose different ways to vibrate: narrow, wide, medium, late, stressed, very short, continued slow, fast, and so continued on. The sine wave of vibration should always have reference points on a scale of + / - 10 spectrum, for example. In my opinion,
vibrato should not be developed only in the range of -10 or less just +10. Vibration must be settled between the two parameters the musician chooses (eg, +3 -3, +4 -4 ...). Otherwise  oscillation results in a continuous vibrato little unpleasant. Frenetic use of vibrato too tight (especially with very thin strings) in some cases is necessary, but in others it is better to avoid it. The skill of each musician lies in careful selection of this type of vibrato to use.
I always remember that the best vibrato on a doublebass is what follows the length wave of note that the musician plays. As the vibrato is also used to run the sound in the air, where it is simply too close to its capacity to make this sound to travel in this air. For those who plays a doublebass,  this aspect  should not be underestimated.

Asap ... I'll try to explain much other things

about the Vibrato, naturally following my personal ideas.

My vibrato it's no better than the other ones.

With great probability mine is worst.

But in my honest opinion it's no good if an advanced doublebass player "plays all notes with the vibrato".

Personally I choose. Then it depends from the historical period.

It's a long matter. Little by little I will try to provide simply my personal impressions.

FOR JAZZ PLAYERS OR BEGINNER STUDENTS

Very easy exercises simply on "open strings"

(with my students my book seems to work well!!) with explanation in Italian.

1st photo)

All the fingers on the stick seems to be in a quite good position. The thumb is in the higher

part of the "U " frog (all' Italiana), or on the stick (alla Francese). I beg your pardon but I don't very well the German bow. But probably there's something similar.

2nd photo)

All the fingers moves "speedly" towards your right. The thumb moves also in this direction.

You must have a great grip on the string.

3rd photo)

Speedly you move your fingers towards your left. Push with all the fingers on the stick.

4th/5th photos)

Again towards your right and then on your left and so on.

The sound must be "staccatissimo" and very focused. Push on the stick and then stop the pressure.

I try to explain it with sheet musics.

_ _ _ _ _ _  

Don't listen to the Tarantella by Bottesini, but give a look at the left hand and the right hand.

Well, in my conception we have to play with the left hand exactly like a pianist: a few movements and only little articulation in the fingers. We have to know that it's better to stay near to the string and we must know every notes under our hand. Few movements: only the ones we need really.

See you

DB BASS SCALE PRACTICE BOOKLET

The traditional way to learn scales on the double bass is to open a method or scale

book, read the notes and follow the suggested fingering. You learn the sound of the

whole and half steps in each scale and eventually are able to predict the next note as you

go up and down the scale. This is an excellent way to train your ear. However, as an

electric bass player I had first learned scales as visual patterns on the fingerboard. The

aural training came after the visual. Eventually, after much practice, I could both “hear”

and “see” the various scales on my instrument.

When I decided to study the double bass, I discovered many books that provided an

almost infinite number of fingerings for scales. After constantly changing my fingerings

every time I bought a new book or read a new article suggesting the “best” way to learn

scales, I found myself totally confused. I decided to apply an electric bass concept to the

double bass! (Please don’t shoot me!) My idea was to come up with a system of learning

scales that would simplify the process for a beginner (me). The intent was not to replace

the existing methods, but to supplement them.

After much research, I concluded that by memorizing three basic patterns of major

scales, one could construct all scales by simply combining the patterns in different ways,

or even use the same pattern for all keys. This allows an individual to learn the 12

common keys in a fraction of the time it would take to learn 12 different fingerings. You

simply take the patterns and move them up, down and across the strings. A slight

alteration of the basic major patterns allows you to construct minor patterns. I guess you

could call this the “LEGO” system of scales.

For this system to work, the patterns must be moveable, i.e.: no open strings other

than the tonic of the scale. Other criteria I chose were: no 4-4 shift ascending, no 1-1 shift

descending, and, play at least 2 pitches before shifting (although not always possible).

I refer to the patterns as “forms”, and I provide a suggesting fingering for them. This

is not a rigid system, so one can certainly make alterations to suit one’s preferences.

Also, the examples provided are only a sampling of what can be done. There are

obviously many more possibilities and you are encouraged to experiment. You may also

find that some forms are not well suited for certain scales, but there are included

nonetheless for sake of consistency.

The booklet begins with a side-by-side comparison of the

forms and then

proceeds with a series of examples in 12 keys. Following this is a side-by-side

comparison of

forms and some examples. I would recommend that you say out

loud the names of the notes as you play through the exercises. This project is still a

works-in-progress and there is more coming. Any suggestions or corrections are

welcome.

CONTENTS

1. Basic Major forms (Ionian).

2. Examples of the forms across strings,

3. Combining of Major forms for two octaves in 12 keys.

4. Basic Minor forms (Melodic, Natural [Aeolian], Harmonic, Dorian)

5. Examples of the forms across strings.

6. Combining of Melodic Minor form ascending and Natural descending for two

octaves in 12 keys.

7. Alternate Major forms (Lydian, Mixolydian, Pentatonic)

8. Alternate Minor forms (Pentatonic, Blues, Phrygian, Locrian)

Using the visual scale booklet.

I would begin by committing the Basic Major Forms to memory. Next, play one

octave scales using each of the closed Forms in all keys. Once you feel comfortable with

the one octave scales, you can combine the Forms to create two octave scales. The

booklet provides examples of these in all major keys. Some combinations work better

than others and that may become evident to you as you play. There are no strict rules and

you should experiment with various combinations to find which ones feel most

comfortable to you.

As you become more proficient, you can use this same approach with the minor

scales. I will eventually expand the booklet to include most common scales/modes in

both Classical music and Jazz so that it can serve both as a reference and a practice guide

Mr. FRANCO PETRACCHI's TECHNIQUE

Thanks to youtube we have an important video in three parts in which the italian soloist and teacher FRANCO PETRACCHI explains a lot of interesting things under different point of view.

I'm sorry but the video is only in Italian.

By the way if you listen to his music (or of his students) and look at his technique, probably you might understand a lot of things.

( Vito Liuzzi )

BOW STROKES: Off the String

NOTE:

Pay attention!!

Sometimes in different countries the terms above are a little bit different in this sense.

In Italy we considered "Balzato" and "Saltellato" a little bit different different from the definition quoted above.

We always use "Arpeggiato" and so on.

"Col Legno" or with wood.