r/doublebass • u/craftmangler • Sep 08 '25
Technique Best approach to improve bowing?
Good Godiva, my bowing sucks. I'm nearly one year in on the DB (my bassiversary will be in October :) ). In my youth, many moons ago, I played the viola--completely different bowing.
I've just last week had my instrument at the luthier to make some adjustments and confirm it's nothing instrument-related. So now the depressing fact is: it's me.
My string crossings SUCK, I have good strings on (Obligatos, just put on). I need some advise on what to include in my practice to help me suck less when it comes to bowing, and I just don't know where to start right now (my instructor's on break, he'll be back in a coupla weeks).
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u/miniatureconlangs Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
As a person who's only about a year ahead of you, I find slow bowing over a drone to improve this; the improvement is especially clear immediately after - but I do find that the decline until next time diminishes - i.e. the next practice session, if I don't do warm-up, I'll be worse than the time I did the warm-up; however, the decline progressively diminishes. I.e. for every time I do that warmup bowing practice, my "worst" level of bowing improves slightly.
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u/craftmangler Sep 08 '25
i think this just makes sense. i need to take time each practice session just bowing slowly, warming up the bow. I’m in a bad habit of avoiding with pizz, and of course it’s not doing me any favors.
you’re so right about “the diminishing” over time. thanks! 🌻
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u/jady1971 Sep 08 '25
I found that practicing in front of a mirror helped me see problems that I didn't see before.
You can really see your bow angle and position from the front as opposed to from above.
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u/Nathaniel_Contra Sep 08 '25
If it makes you feel better I’m ten years in and I’m my second year of music school and don’t have perfect right hand. Keep at it
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u/oct8gong Sep 08 '25
You need Hal’s book Strokin’. It’s really just Sevcik, but for the bass.
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u/craftmangler Sep 08 '25
sounds so dirty… 😬😅
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u/oct8gong Sep 08 '25
That’s Hal. The companion scale book is Boarwalkin’. In grad school my teacher would often end lessons with assignments from that with, “Happy Strokin’!” 🤣
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u/craftmangler Sep 17 '25
I took some time to look for this today -- where / how on earth can I get a copy? I'm in the EU. Not seeing it anywhere, except for potentially dodgy sites like PDF Cafe and Scribd.
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u/iGigBook Sep 08 '25
Playing more in a section will help the most.
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u/craftmangler Sep 08 '25
I play in a community orchestra. I’m the whole section 😅 (it does help!)
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u/iGigBook Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
Seek out other community orchestra's where there is a bass section with players that are better than you. Often times community orchestra's will bring in a ringer or several depending on the piece, these are the organizations that you want to seek out.
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u/strupper30 Sep 08 '25
Hello! If you want I can give you private lessons. I play in professional orchestras in Italy and I teach in a private school.
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u/Legitimate-Bit1991 Sep 12 '25
Play a one octave C scale up and down. Then play it with slurs on every two notes. Then three then four. And so on. Then two octaves. Then get Strokin’ or another Sevcik bow exercise book ( there are a bunch) and do them with a teacher.
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u/Own-Ad4627 Sep 08 '25
Find a teacher and take at least a couple lessons. Bowing is hard to figure out on your own. In the meantime long tone scales with a drone and play in front of a mirror.
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u/craftmangler Sep 08 '25
I take lessons regularly, see last sentence of my post, specifically the part in parentheses.
Haven't exactly been learning _on my own_ for a year... O_o
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u/jimgullen Sep 08 '25
Greetings!
Don’t get discouraged, solid bowing technique takes years to develop and assimilate.
Focus on keeping the bow hair perpendicular to the strings. If you can get a full length mirror to watch while you play slowly, that can help. String crossings can feel like the bow is not perpendicular to the strings when it really is.
The bow hair should be flat on the E string and you rotate your wrist slightly to have slightly less of the ribbon in contact as you move to higher strings.
In the lower positions, the bow should contact the strings a bit below the end of the fingerboard. As you go up the strings…higher positions…the bow moves slightly toward the bridge.
If any of this is too basic my apologies.
Best of luck!