Next Level Bassist Left Hand

Jordan Anderson
A Balanced Approach
Like a lot of people from my generation and before, I started
learning to play bass using the Simandl method. However, I
found this approach to learning the bass musically stale and
unrewarding. Not too much later on in my studies, I was introduced
to the Rabbath method by my private bass teacher Nancy Bjork.
Immediately, I felt a musical connection with the exercises and noticed
a fingering system that allowed for many more left hand options that
Simandl never explored. Nancy then introduced me to Paul Ellison
and sent me off to Domaine Forget, a camp where he was teaching.
At Domaine, Paul continued to emphasize the Rabbath philosophy of
having fewer positions by anchoring the thumb. This could encompass
a range of notes by extending above and below the typical Simandl
position. Paul also stressed the importance of drawing the sound
starting from your back, pronation in the bow hand and learning
to torque the bow into the string at the tip.
I also met Hal Robinson at Domaine Forget,
and he started showing me some of his own
approaches to the Rabbath method and use of
the left hand pivot. He also opened up my
approach to vibrato, as well as his approach
to drawing a big, round and focused
sound, always with musicality in mind.
One of the big impressions Hal left on
me was to never forget about the musical
side of practicing. He said even during
slow practice one should be aware of the
phrasing and expression at all times. Hal
also brought to light some fresh applications
for my thumb in the left hand and the
right hand. Eventually I started to come
up with my own concepts. When Edgar
Meyer came on the scene, he really blew the
lid right off standard, traditional bass technique.
His approach allowed a lot of people to re-imagine
what they could do with the bass from a technical
and musical standpoint.
The Rabbath books were very useful as a student.
I went through the Simandl and Storch-Hrabe books, but I don’t use
them any longer. I don’t feel like they offer any new information to me
as a professional or have much bearing on the technique I promote to
my students. If my students are required to play excerpts from those
books at auditions, we usually change most of the fingerings that are
printed. Perhaps the most important book-based resources I recommend
are Boardwalkin’ and Strokin’ by Hal Robinson (available from
Robertson and Sons Violin Shop). However, probably the one thing
I use more than books is plain, old, meat-and-potatoes scales and
arpeggios. That’s the foundation of my bass playing. I know there are
scale books out there that offer fingerings but I have a routine that
I have customized for myself. As far as etudes, I don’t have any real
reference books. So after scales and arpeggios, my advanced students
look to the Bach cello suites for their technique building and my
beginning and intermediate students look to scales, arpeggios, and
isolated excerpts from the solo literature.
Practicing
On a day with a lot of practice time, I start with long bows, metronome
set to 60. I try to sustain each bow as long as possible - maybe 6 clicks
per bow. I go back and forth on each string to really see how long I
can sustain notes. I whittle it down to 5, 4, 3 clicks per bow before
changing up. When I’m down to 2 clicks each, I’ll subdivide the bow
into different segments. I’ll try to draw a down bow for 2 clicks and
then an up bow that stays in the lower half of the bow. I then move this
exercise further out to the tip for the same effect in the upper half of
the bow. My goal is to control the bow through the most basic, simple
legato strokes. Then I’ll go down to one click per up bow and one click
per down bow. This time I break the bow into lower
third, middle third and upper third. My next step
is string crossings, using the same basic system
as the long tones. I don’t go much faster than
1 click per bow. I’ll start with a quarter note
down bow on the E string, slurred to a
quarter note on the A string. Then a legato
up bow quarter on the A string, slurred
back to the E string. I’ll repeat this 2-string
exercise between A and D, and D and G.
I will then repeat the whole series in the
upper half, but starting up bow on the G
string and slurring to the D string,
eventually working my way back to the E string. I even
try the same exercise attempting to slur E string to D
string by temporarily rolling the bow over the A string
and back as well as A string to G string and back. This
exercise can be reversed as well to start up bow on the
G string slurring to the A string and back while staying
in the upper half of the bow. At this point, my right arm
is feeling very good, my body is feeling prepared, with my
feet grounded and my back engaged. Finally, I’ll start to add
the left hand.
With scales and arpeggios I like to relate the keys of the pieces I’m
working on to the scales I practice each day. If the piece I’m working
on involves E minor, then I’ll practice that scale/arpeggio as well as
the relative major (G Major), and the parallel major (E Major). I start
these with the metronome still set to 60, and I always begin without
using vibrato. I usually start with 2 clicks per note (half notes). I’ll
work my way through the scale, and then go back afterwards and add
vibrato. Then I begin to slur two notes in the scale at one click per
note, and finally move to separate bows on each quarter note. I can’t
always make it through all the scales every day, because I usually have
time constraints on what I need to practice for the day. In a perfect
world, I would have enough time to start my scales in half notes, and
SUMMER 2014 NEXT LEVEL BASSIST
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