Double Bass - Pitch

Pitch

The lowest note of a double bass is an E₁ (on standard four-string basses) at approximately 41 Hz or a B0 (when five strings are used) at approximately 31 Hz, within about an octave above the lowest frequency that the average human ear can perceive as a distinctive pitch. The top of the instrument's fingerboard range is typically near the D two octaves and a fifth above the open pitch of the G string (G4) as shown in the range illustration found at the head of this article. Playing beyond the end of the fingerboard can be accomplished by pulling the string slightly to the side.

Many double bass symphony parts and virtuoso concertos employ harmonics (also called flageolet tones). Both natural harmonics and artificial harmonics, where the thumb stops the note and the octave or other harmonic is activated by lightly touching the string at the relative node point, extend the instrument's range considerably.

Orchestral parts rarely demand the double bass exceed a two-octave range (an exception to this rule is Orff's Carmina Burana, which calls for three octaves and a perfect fourth). However, there is no hard limit to the upper range a virtuoso solo player can achieve using natural and artificial harmonics. The high harmonic in the range illustration found at the head of this article may be taken as representative rather than normative.

Five-string instruments have an additional string typically tuned to a low B below the E string. Occasionally, a higher string is added instead, tuned to the C above the G string.

Four-string instruments may feature the C extension extending the range of the E string downwards to C.

Traditionally, the double bass is a transposing instrument. Since much of the double bass's range lies below the standard bass clef, it is notated an octave higher than it sounds. This transposition applies even when reading the tenor and treble clef, which are used to avoid excessive ledger lines when notating the instrument's upper range. Other notational traditions do exist; Italian solo music is typically written at the sounding pitch, and the "old" German method sounded an octave below where notation except in the treble clef, where the music was written at pitch.