Double Bass with Matt - American and Irish Folk

Double Bass with Matt

The double bass is also a fundamental part of American bluegrass, old time, and fiddle music, and is becoming increasingly common in Irish Trad.

Historically, the plucked bass fulfills a background role in this music. Although the bass part can look deceptively simple, a good bassist has the ability to lift the whole band from the bottom up and provide a level of both foundation and swing that is impossible otherwise. To achieve this we will start by focusing on the skills that are important to every bass player: intonation, note placement, and sound, before branching off into qualities that are idiomatic to bluegrass and old time, such as note duration, note choice, and register.

For more advanced players there is also the option that has become increasingly common in the past few decades: bowing the melodies on the double bass. Not only can this be a great technical exercise and a phenomenal way to learn the fingerboard and work on intonation and bowing technique, it also makes the bassist much more versatile and not just a “one trick pony.” Plus, those melodies are fun to play! To work on this skill we will start by breaking down the bowing techniques that violin players are already using and apply them to the bass, and then come up with unique approaches to left hand fingering that preserve the feel of the music while making it more comfortable to play on the double bass.