How to “Fake it” in Orchestra on Double Bass!

[@Shira2]

Love this video it helped me a lot!

[@merrill-el-richmond8649]

This is a great video. I call these hacks "survival bass' playing.

[@doublebasshq]

Yes!

[@walpolebassman]

Thanks!

[@doublebasshq]

Much appreciated , Al!

[@drjazzproject]

Thank You MAN!

[@doublebasshq]

You bet!

[@haydenbsiegel]

Nice one! My first season in the Symphony I got totally trolled by the contrabass section. They legit gave me the organ parts to see if I could bow it and I did on the first performance. In the middle of sawing wood I looked over to see no one else playing. Dude they were laughing so hard and I was Initiated into the Symphony. Brutal! Despite the hazing that crew took me to the next level.

[@doublebasshq]

I think we’ve all been there!

[@h.seanhsu8965]

I always remember the first piece I had to play (Mendelssohn 5) and how much of a scramble it was. I learned the art of looking busy 😂😂😂

[@doublebasshq]

Ha-I love it!

[@simonecanaparo9168]

Many many many thanks Jason! I'm actually using these techniques at first rehearsals in the amateur orchestra I'm playing in, for some difficult chops and I felt guilty, looking for musicality before precision. We'll, you opened my hearth. You're an open minded, great teacher.

[@doublebasshq]

Thanks for the kind words-glad to know that you can relate!

[@SymphonyMarketing]

Timely! I'm over my head and needed to be reminded of some of these techniques. Thanks, Jason!

[@doublebasshq]

You bet!

[@h.seanhsu8965]

I remember this joke (told to my by, of course, a piccolo player): In an intense passage, all the bassists' hands were flying up and down furiously, but this one guy in the middle of the section had his hand on one note, chilling. Someone asked what the deal is, he replied: "Well, I found the note." So the real question is: which one/s of them is/are faking?

[@Gonzalo_Chalo_Luthier]

😂😂😂

[@doublebasshq]

I love it!

[@slavt.1297]

I like how the thumbnail sheet music is from Zarathustra

[@doublebasshq]

That’s one of my “most likely to fake” passages-glad you taught the joke!

[@garymousseau7437]

Thanks for this Jason. I also try to find Double Bass excerpts here on youtube to help with working on difficult sections of a piece of music. I love the looping feature as well as playback speed to help as well.

[@doublebasshq]

Very cool! Good idea for practicing passages!

[@samuelpeery]

One thing I've come to appreciate as I've played compositions by people I know is that it's not a given that the composer really understands the proper role and capacity of the bass. It may be neigh unto blasphemous, but I think that applies to classical works as well. In other words, the bass part sometimes is an afterthought. Many hard runs are simply copying other parts. Where that part is relatively easy for a violin, for example, it's brutally difficult for the bass. Did the composer really expect the bass to play the run or was it just wanting everyone to be in unison? With modern compositions, particularly those where I know the composer, I've started asking myself the question, "what effect was the composer trying to achieve?" This has helped me clarify what I need to focus on in the bass part. Maybe he just wanted a low register on a unison run in which case it's not so important I articulate every note perfectly but rather play something rumbly that's pretty close. That gives the low register tone but I know the clarity of pitch comes from the cellos and violins. It's kind of the opposite of when the high sopranos in a choir just sing the notes without words, knowing that the clarity of the lyrics will come from the lower voices. Sometimes it's clear that there are certain notes that need to be emphasized, often at the beginning and end of a phrase, or as a sub-division of a phrase (playing every other note, for example). In those cases I'll just play those notes. There's truth in the comment "Well, I found the note!" Of course, it's always good to practice and try to nail the run but it's simply not always realistic. Take Beethoven's 9th symphony. I have it on good authority that even professionals can't play every note perfectly. It's hard to imagine Beethoven carelessly wrote the bass part, but it simply isn't realistic for the vast majority of players. So somethings got to give. Practice the parts that matter most and learn how to elegantly get through the rest. Thanks for the video!

[@doublebasshq]

For sure-good points, thanks!!

[@Gonzalo_Chalo_Luthier]

Great video! 😂 have you noticed when you play how the subtitles generator thinks your bass is a human voice? 6:32 for example 😂

[@doublebasshq]

Ha! Yeah, I try to edit that out, but sometimes I miss it. It’s funny how it tries to make the bass playing into words!

[@andrewprzybyla8871]

🤓