Practice Organization: Making a Good Sound

I've often thought that playing any musical instrument is a juggling act of many skills and it's impossible to get everything right. But I usually strive for perfection, whether I get there or not. It does help to have certain hierarchy of priorities with rhythm and intonation at the top.

One of the most overlooked aspects of playing is the attention to tone. Often, bass players are so physically involved in playing the instrument, that the quality or appropriateness of their own tone is the last thing they'll think about. Here's a news flash: it's one of the first things that listeners pay attention to. This is particularly true if the bass is played in a solo situation, such as recitals, auditions, chamber music, juries, and those times the conductor wants to hear the basses alone.

Tone is subjective, and you have to decide for yourself what you think is good (or appropriate). But what the player hears and the listener hears are very different, so it's a good idea to have someone you can trust to give you an idea what you sound like. Some good recording equipment can help, too.

Before I try to define a good tone, I'll try to explain how to manipulate tone. Whatever sound you get from the bow rubbing across the string should be consistent from frog to tip. In order to keep it consistent, the following 3 things should also be consistent:

Pressure
Placement
Speed

In order to keep the resulting pressure of the bow on the string, we need to press harder at the tip and less at the frog.

The placement refers to the place on the string where the bow makes contact, keeping the distance from the bridge the same throughout the bow stroke.

When the bow speed is unchanged from attack to release, we avoid the swell of sound in the middle of the stroke.

When we play actual music, this is a real challenge because we need to change the placement depending on the ideal place for each note. We may need to press harder or speed up the bow down because of a crescendo, or we just want to get the bow back to the frog for an accented note. We might play a little closer to the bridge than is ideal because we want to be in the sweet spot for the next high note. In reality, we will move around, but it's part of the compromise process. It's one of the reason we call this an "art".


When I try to have an ideal practice session, the first thing I'll do is tune, maybe play a few familiar riffs, and get down to the first order of real business: Long Tones. I'll usually use a midi setup(I promise to explain midi soon), but at least use a metronome and an electronic tuner in this process.

Set the metronome to the slow speed, (no more than 80, and down to 20 if it goes that low) and play each note of a scale for 4 counts. You should run the entire range of the instrument, but it might be the best use of your time if you limit the range to the pieces you are actually playing. Play each note as loud as you can,which may not be very loud, throughout the entire stroke. The pressure, placement and speed should remain the same throughout the stroke.

You will notice that the bow is more efficient on the lowest notes. As you go up in the range you may need to go for fewer or faster counts, and place the bow closer to the bridge because the string length you are playing on is shorter and thinner. The object here is to get each bow stroke to be consistent within itself in regard to tone and volume. The next challenge is to perfectly connect the notes at the bow change, not to mention playing in tune at each shift and string cross.

I can't say what is a good sound, but I think we should develop the skill of playing with different tones, and know how to make the changes when called for. Try a faster stroke with less pressure, and a placement far from the bridge for a loud but easily blending sound. Practice playing very softly with very little hair on the string. But really concentrate on that slow stroke with lots of pressure near the bridge, and see if you can get a bright, loud and pleasing tone in one efficient stroke. You may not need to press as hard as you think, but you do have to be very consistent.

When you practice this, keep in mind that you are pushing the limits; the limits of good taste, and your physical limits. Expect to have some failure at both, otherwise you're not really pushing it. Also, don't really think of it as failure, but a discovery of where the limits are.