Chris, your lessons are phenomenal! I can't believe that I'm learning the proper techniques from a professional instructor on youtube!? Thanks for contributing so much to the bass community.
Man.... You are awesome and inspiring, just the teacher I've been looking for. Pleas please please keep making more videos. If you film it, people will follow.
Glad that you like it, and that it speaks through the video! It's a combination of technique, string height, the type of strings, and the bass. in general, I like to use relatively high tension strings with a high-ish string height so I can really dig in with the right hand. I think that may be the sound you're talking about.
Thanks, Pablo - the whole school misses you and mentions you often. I'm planning on continuing the series whenever the schedule allows. Hope you are well and playing a lot!
Great concept Chris, thank you for sharing. As I played I tried to make accents by differentiating down stroke force, but down-up-up and down-up-up-up patterns seems to make accents easier to play. I think I have new exercise to include in my routine :-)
HI Chris, when I survey your online work I know I am reading in real time the flourishing oouvre of a pedagogue making his unique, vital, intellectually rigourous, and by virtue of all that, leading contribution to the enjoyment and understanding his global fellowship share in bass. In a word, Thanks. And I did not even know there was such a sweet sinecure as 'bass-professor'. Some guys work for their luck. Ka pai.
I have nothing to do with the double bass--I play the cello instead--but I am so fond of it nonetheless. If only I could afford one someday... Anyway, great lesson. Keep the videos coming, I am your new subscriber now. Thanks :)
Chris, I've become a more competent bassist because of the knowledge you share in your videos. Thank you very much. The introduction is stellar. Is it from a specific song?
+hhohn Thanks for the feedback! It's really just riffing on a basic I-IV-V bus progression, sort of in the style of "Sister Sadie" but not exactly that tune.
Great lesson as always, thank you Mr. Fitzgerald. I would advise practicing also the descending scale and "patterns" since I find most times for me it is harder to descend than to ascend. I've been thinking about ideas to expand on this exercise, and would like to know what you'd think of practicing these permutations with swung 8ths,16ths and odd groupings like quintuplets.
The "best position" for the thumb is pretty subjective. I personally have the thumb under the fingerboard with the callus pretty deep toward the bottom of the thumb, but a lot of players have the callus a lot higher. I think it may have to do with the kind of plucking the player prefers and the size of the hand.
Sorry - haven't checked the comments for a while. Thanks for checking these videos out! There's also a thread about the series going on at Talkbass.com in case anybody has any ideas or requests for future installments.
Great video. I just began transferring over from electric bass to upright for my college, and the permutations is going to help tremendously, however, I do have one question. What is the best position for the thumb on the right hand in relation to the fingerboard?
That’s the most beautiful BASS!!!! I would love to own and have one exactly like it or similar? What’s the name/type of your Bass? 🧐 And where can I purchase one like it? 🙏🏾 Thank You! 😊
Thanks! I love that bass. It's a LaScala hybrid made by New Standard basses. You can find more information about them here: www.newstandardbass.com Good luck!
+Chris Curmi Thanks, Chris. Those are Thomastik Dominant strings on the G, D, and A strings, and a Thomastik Spirocore Stark on the E. The Dominants are technically called a synthetic core string and are described as being somewhat "gutlike" on Thomastik's website, but I've always found them to play and sound closer to the Spirocore sound than the sound of guts.
Great video, thank you much. I do have a question concerning adjacent "upstrokes." The upstroke following a downstroke seems to lend itself to having momentum from the full swing back, and therefore a sort of built in power, but where does this power come from on consecutive upstrokes (during the 3 unstressed notes in 16th note divisions)? Do you return the wrist to a middle ground after an upstroke before another upstroke? Are you dropping (or pulling) your right elbow (or arm) on every note played? Is the "downstroke" and "upstroke" motion in your wrist creating power (driving the attack) or is it just a sympathetic motion to help with absorbing shock? The close up shots are great, but your technique is so refined I still am not able to notice the subtle motions in the wrist. Maybe you could include clips of exaggerating the motion? Maybe slow down the video or do it even slower? Just some thoughts…. Anyways, I do appreciate the lessons, they are very helpful, I'm going to watch another now. Thanks.
Thanks for the nice review! What happens in the right arm mechanism during those three upstrokes is hard to explain in words, but I'll try: The arm isn't dropped on the three upstrokes (or else they wouldn't be upstrokes by definition), although the wrist makes a similar motion. What it feels like is that the elbow is gradually raising up to the point where it can drop for the next downstroke; as it does this, it turns the side of the finger into the board, and "into the board" also means "into the string". So the best I can do to describe it is to say that the wrist, while neutral in general during those upstrokes, does make three subtle motions to activate the string, but it does so while the elbow/shoulder assembly is raising the arm to prepare it to fall on the next downstroke. I hope that helps a little.
@@chrisfitzgerald8356 Met the same question, thanks for the nice lesson and for the explanation. I tried to slow down the video and tried to imitate it. For the motion of the wrist, does it feels more of like "rotating the hand towards the board" in the upstrokes; instead of "rotating the hand downwards with the motion of elbow drop" in downstrokes?
Chris, your lessons are phenomenal! I can't believe that I'm learning the proper techniques from a professional instructor on youtube!? Thanks for contributing so much to the bass community.
Man.... You are awesome and inspiring, just the teacher I've been looking for. Pleas please please keep making more videos. If you film it, people will follow.
Glad that you like it, and that it speaks through the video! It's a combination of technique, string height, the type of strings, and the bass. in general, I like to use relatively high tension strings with a high-ish string height so I can really dig in with the right hand. I think that may be the sound you're talking about.
This is fantastic stuff, thank you so much for taking the time to film and upload this!
Thanks, Pablo - the whole school misses you and mentions you often. I'm planning on continuing the series whenever the schedule allows. Hope you are well and playing a lot!
Thank you, Chris, so much! You're a wonderful teacher!
Thank you!
Wow. Perfect video. Just the instruction and exercises I was looking for to figure out the right hand.
Great concept Chris, thank you for sharing.
As I played I tried to make accents by differentiating down stroke force, but down-up-up and down-up-up-up patterns seems to make accents easier to play. I think I have new exercise to include in my routine :-)
Glad to open up a new possibility!
Thanks Chris!! wow I always tought low action would get that sound! keep on groovin!
HI Chris, when I survey your online work I know I am reading in real time the flourishing oouvre of a pedagogue making his unique, vital, intellectually rigourous, and by virtue of all that, leading contribution to the enjoyment and understanding his global fellowship share in bass. In a word, Thanks.
And I did not even know there was such a sweet sinecure as 'bass-professor'. Some guys work for their luck. Ka pai.
+Shane Herbert Thanks for the feedback! I'm always glad when people find the information useful. :)
I have nothing to do with the double bass--I play the cello instead--but I am so fond of it nonetheless. If only I could afford one someday...
Anyway, great lesson. Keep the videos coming, I am your new subscriber now. Thanks :)
Great lesson!
What he said!! These are awesome videos, thanks a lot!
Chris, I've become a more competent bassist because of the knowledge you share in your videos. Thank you very much. The introduction is stellar. Is it from a specific song?
+hhohn Thanks for the feedback! It's really just riffing on a basic I-IV-V bus progression, sort of in the style of "Sister Sadie" but not exactly that tune.
It is very tasty. Thank you for the information.
Great lesson as always, thank you Mr. Fitzgerald. I would advise practicing also the descending scale and "patterns" since I find most times for me it is harder to descend than to ascend.
I've been thinking about ideas to expand on this exercise, and would like to know what you'd think of practicing these permutations with swung 8ths,16ths and odd groupings like quintuplets.
Chris- Very interesting lesson. Gotta go shed this now. (Robin Ruscio from Talkbass.)
The "best position" for the thumb is pretty subjective. I personally have the thumb under the fingerboard with the callus pretty deep toward the bottom of the thumb, but a lot of players have the callus a lot higher. I think it may have to do with the kind of plucking the player prefers and the size of the hand.
Sorry - haven't checked the comments for a while. Thanks for checking these videos out! There's also a thread about the series going on at Talkbass.com in case anybody has any ideas or requests for future installments.
Great video. I just began transferring over from electric bass to upright for my college, and the permutations is going to help tremendously, however, I do have one question.
What is the best position for the thumb on the right hand in relation to the fingerboard?
That’s the most beautiful BASS!!!! I would love to own and have one exactly like it or similar? What’s the name/type of your Bass? 🧐 And where can I purchase one like it? 🙏🏾 Thank You! 😊
Thanks! I love that bass. It's a LaScala hybrid made by New Standard basses. You can find more information about them here: www.newstandardbass.com Good luck!
Thanks I appreciate you getting back with me; 🙋🏾 having this beauty will be a dream to come true! I also enjoy your tutorials! 💯
And, having looked up the word, I did not mean pedagogue in any sense other than that of sensei or guru. To be clear, you understand. Tx
how do you get that 'neck/wood' sound from your double bass!! its so amazing....Would lowering the action do it???
thanks ^^
Great Playing Chris!! If I may ask, are those gut strings??
Thanks!
+Chris Curmi Thanks, Chris. Those are Thomastik Dominant strings on the G, D, and A strings, and a Thomastik Spirocore Stark on the E. The Dominants are technically called a synthetic core string and are described as being somewhat "gutlike" on Thomastik's website, but I've always found them to play and sound closer to the Spirocore sound than the sound of guts.
Great video, thank you much.
I do have a question concerning adjacent "upstrokes."
The upstroke following a downstroke seems to lend itself to having momentum from the full swing back, and therefore a sort of built in power, but where does this power come from on consecutive upstrokes (during the 3 unstressed notes in 16th note divisions)?
Do you return the wrist to a middle ground after an upstroke before another upstroke?
Are you dropping (or pulling) your right elbow (or arm) on every note played? Is the "downstroke" and "upstroke" motion in your wrist creating power (driving the attack) or is it just a sympathetic motion to help with absorbing shock?
The close up shots are great, but your technique is so refined I still am not able to notice the subtle motions in the wrist. Maybe you could include clips of exaggerating the motion? Maybe slow down the video or do it even slower? Just some thoughts….
Anyways, I do appreciate the lessons, they are very helpful, I'm going to watch another now.
Thanks.
Thanks for the nice review! What happens in the right arm mechanism during those three upstrokes is hard to explain in words, but I'll try: The arm isn't dropped on the three upstrokes (or else they wouldn't be upstrokes by definition), although the wrist makes a similar motion. What it feels like is that the elbow is gradually raising up to the point where it can drop for the next downstroke; as it does this, it turns the side of the finger into the board, and "into the board" also means "into the string". So the best I can do to describe it is to say that the wrist, while neutral in general during those upstrokes, does make three subtle motions to activate the string, but it does so while the elbow/shoulder assembly is raising the arm to prepare it to fall on the next downstroke. I hope that helps a little.
Just found a slow down website for youtube vids - maybe this will help: www.youtubeslow.com/watch?v=m7OKUDHOMXU
@@chrisfitzgerald8356 Met the same question, thanks for the nice lesson and for the explanation. I tried to slow down the video and tried to imitate it.
For the motion of the wrist, does it feels more of like "rotating the hand towards the board" in the upstrokes; instead of "rotating the hand downwards with the motion of elbow drop" in downstrokes?
the joker card!! ahahaha.