Musical Notes and Thoughts

I’ve started working with my new double-bass. The first couple of months are going to be very “interesting”. Note positions have are very different, especially where the neck joins the body: the new neck is a “D” neck, the old neck was an “Eb” neck (D neck is stronger and less likely to snap in an accident). It will take awhile to relearn note positions.

The tone is excellent, and very even across all the strings. I will very definitely like the instrument. With the smaller upper bout, playing in high thumb position is far easier, and playing in general less strenuous. I can now play a three octave C Major scale (fingering notes up to a perfect fourth above the 2 octave harmonic on the top string). Doing that is utterly impossible on the other bass (fingerboard also doesn’t go quite that high). Playing natural harmonics above the fingerboard is also far easier (or will be, once I master all the changes in the note positions).

Perhaps the biggest surprise, though not that applicable for my situation, is the strong growly bottom end, even with the smaller upper bouts. This bass, tuned down to orchestra tuning, could survive as an orchestral instrument (those days are long gone, since I can’t read sheet music from more than a  couple inches away from it, let alone see a conductor).

Hopefully I’ll be ordering a much better bow tomorrow (though still not truly a “high-end” one: those are cost prohibitive). A few more accessories are needed as well. I’d very much like to be able to do a recital in a few months, but it may take longer than that, given all the changes.