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Taking the Fifth:
How Tuning in
Fifths Changed My Experience
Playing the Double Bass
by Dennis Masuzzo
Published in Bass World, June 2003;
American String Teacher,
August 2002;
Classical New Jersey Society Journal, February 2001.
Tuning
the double bass in fifths has brought me closer to how I always
imagined the instrument could respond and sound.
Most stringed instruments,
except the double bass, are tuned in fifths or open chords. For
example, violins, violas, ‘cellos, mandolins, and tenor banjos are
tuned in fifths. Guitar tuning mixes fourths with an interval of a
third. The electric bass, however, is tuned in fourths because of its
relationship to the double bass.
In the article “Quintessential
Quarrington” that appeared in the fall 1998 issue
of Double Bassist, Joel Quarrington explained the
advantages of playing the double bass tuned in fifths (C-G-D-A) instead
of the traditional tuning in fourths (E-A-D-G). Quarrington, Principal
Bassist of the Toronto Symphony, described how tuning in fifths could
improve intonation, make the instrument respond faster, and provide a
simple means of achieving low C without an extension. Using a
combination of solo and orchestra-tuning strings, I experimented with
fifths tuning on an inexpensive plywood bass. There was a consonant
overtone resonance of open strings and harmonics I had never
experienced—I was hooked.
Tuning
the bass in fifths does not change its characteristic sound. The
differences are subtle and may be more noticeable to the player than to
the listener. I heard a new clarity to the sound of the bass tuned in
fifths, and felt the instrument resonated more
warmly and naturally. Notes played with the bow, as well as plucked,
seemed to lose a halo of muddiness or “boom” surrounding the center of
the pitch. Perhaps when conductors request less bass, they
are searching for less boom.
Joan
Miller, PhD, a former Bell Labs mathematical acoustician and violinist,
was interested in finding an acoustic explanation for my preference for
the bass tuned in fifths. She developed a chart that illustrated the
sympathetic vibrations of open strings for the instrument in both
tunings and explained, “The frequency range between the lowest and
highest string is greater when the bass is tuned in fifths, and there
are more opportunities for fundamentals and their partials to stimulate
open strings. For this reason, there are more cases of sympathetic
vibrations with the instrument tuned in fifths, a fact that may enhance
the resonance of the instrument.”
Dr.
Miller also introduced me to Carleen Hutchins, who has made a set of
instruments known as the Violin Octet. I had heard of her work in 1971
when I was a double bass student of David Walter at Juilliard. Hutchins
designed her Octet based on the resonances of the violin. The first six
of the eight instruments are tuned in fifths, while the Small Bass
Violin and Contrabass Violin are tuned in fourths. I told her why I
believed they should all be tuned in fifths. She agreed in principle,
and suggested that I write an article about my experience playing the
double bass tuned in fifths.
For
every challenge of fifths tuning (relearning three of the four strings
and a new fingering system); there are many advantages, including the
ability to play low C without an extension and a sense that the
instrument vibrates more naturally. Intonation is one of the best
reasons to play the bass tuned in fifths. I feel a connection with the
other stringed instruments as though we are speaking the same language.
Learning
a new fingering system for fifths tuning poses a problem initially; but
if you have proficient knowledge of the
fingerboard, across as well as up and down in fourths, you might enjoy
the challenge of finding fingering solutions for fifths tuning.
Occasionally, I shift farther to reach a given note; otherwise I use
the same fingering system in fifths tuning that I use when the bass is
tuned in fourths. It’s a small sacrifice for playing an instrument I
enjoy more than ever.
I
discuss fifths tuning with my students, although I teach them to play
the bass tuned in fourths to provide them musical training with
appropriate and necessary traditional skills. More experienced
bassists, however, might benefit from and enjoy learning fifths tuning.
It is easier to learn to play the bass tuned in fifths on a second
instrument to avoid changing strings. Writing out scales, arpeggios,
and fingerings gave me something useful to practice every day. In
addition, to become familiar with fifths tuning, I read through
orchestral excerpts, chamber music, solo pieces, ‘cello music
(including the Bach ‘Cello Suites), and the ‘cello/bass parts of
Beethoven symphonies. I did this because I think of the bass tuned in
fifths as a completely different instrument; I’m not transposing but
playing the tuning.
After
seven weeks of practicing in fifths tuning, I performed the Nutcracker
with the New Jersey Ballet. The many hours of preparation and
fingerings paid off and I was comfortable playing. During the Nutcracker
run, I had a church job for which I could not get
music in advance. I had played the same pieces many times before with
my bass tuned in fourths and believed I could sight read them with my
bass tuned in fifths. The result, unfortunately, was many wrong notes.
Old habits die hard!
Six
months later, I performed Verdi’s Joan of Arc with
the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Carnegie Hall. When I got the music, I
found it took no longer to learn the parts with the bass tuned in
fifths. Fourteen months after my introduction to fifths tuning, I
performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and
felt confident I could play any piece of music with my bass tuned in
fifths that I would normally have played with my instrument tuned in
fourths.
Much
of my musical work is with the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New
Jersey, where I typically perform eight shows a week. Because of
limited space in the orchestra pit, substitute players for bass and
percussion usually play on instruments that remain in the pit. The bass
I use for these performances is tuned in fourths to accommodate the
substitute bassists, so I must alternate between the different tunings
on a regular basis. In addition, I occasionally encounter music that
must be played using fourths tuning because of the harmonics and open
strings, such as the Hindemith Sonata and other modern works. The
tuning would still be E-A-D-G, or solo-tuning F-sharp-B-E-A, for these
pieces, creating the need to alternate.
I
change tunings and instruments depending on the situation or the
performance: when I’m in fifths I think; when I’m in fourths I use my
instincts. My fingers have been playing in fourths for so long I don’t
have to consider where the notes are, but must concentrate more on
fingering when I’m playing in fifths.
In 1996 I began using wound gut
strings, which I prefer for their warmer sound. Coming
up with string solutions for fifths tuning in wound gut is even more
challenging than for steel strings, but it’s worth the effort. The
following are strings I originally used for tuning in fifths:
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C |
Eudoxa
silver on gut B string (medium or thin) for a five-string bass
tuned
up a half step to C
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G |
Eudoxa chromesteel F#
string (fourth string from the solo set) tuned up a half step to G
(there are no solo-tuning strings in gut that I know of) |
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D |
Pirastro Olive gut D
string from the orchestra set |
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A |
Pirastro Olive gut G
string from the orchestra set tuned up a whole step to A. I tuned it up
slowly over a period of about a week. It was a little tight, but I
liked the sound better than a solo A steel string. |
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Encouraging
string manufacturers to produce fifths-tuning string sets in steel and
gut is the next step in making fifths tuning more practical for
bassists. In addition to the Thomastik Spirocore Red Mitchell string
set, Velvet Strings of Switzerland makes the Compas 180 and Garbo
string sets for tuning in fourths and in fifths. For the past couple of
years, I’ve been using the Compas 180 synthetic core strings and they
have agreed to offer their Anima wound gut strings for fifths tuning in
the near future.
In
March 1999, I met bassist Joel Quarrington after his solo performance
with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. I described to him some of my
discoveries about playing in fifths. We discussed his efforts to spread
the word about fifths tuning through his website, master
classes and solo performances. At the end of our conversation
Quarrington said, “Welcome to the Fifths Club!”
My
friend Joe Cascelli, age seventy-three, had been playing the bass since
he was fifteen. We played a concert together and he said, “This is the
last time I’ll play the bass; I’ve thought about it a lot and have
decided I want to retire.” I said he should keep playing as long as
people wanted to hire him and that I hoped he would change his mind. At
the end of the first rehearsal, I told him my bass was tuned in fifths
and that I had taken off the extension. After the
concert he re-tuned his bass in fifths and decided he wanted to play
again, but his friends had already given him a retirement party. I said
“Hey Joe, what are you going to tell everyone when they see you at the
next rehearsal?” He replied, “I’ll tell them I’ve retired from playing
- in fourths!”
Dennis
Masuzzo (b. 1953 in Norfolk,Virginia) received his BM and MM as a
student of David Walter at Juilliard. Dennis is a freelance bassist,
teaching privately in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. He plays a
guitar-shaped double bass made in 1833 by Vincenzo Lucarini and uses a
Kurt Dölling German bow.
Contact Dennis Masuzzo
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