THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL
Introduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill
  Philharmonia

DOUBLE BASS


Section: Strings
Transposing? Yes

Construction
Range
Bowing
Plucking
Left Hand
Mute/Harmonics
Chords
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

 

Range

N.B. The double bass sounds an octave lower than written.
(The range given below is the written range).

The C extension extends the range downwards:

The tuning of the bass obviously affects the range.
The standard tuning is G2, D2, A1, E1, but other tunings are sometimes called for:
Here is a brief history of double bass tuning...
and some remarks about 19th Century 'solo' tuning

Select dynamic then click note to hear sound
(N.B. changes in dynamics may affect timbre as much as apparent volume level)

(N.B. for string players, sharpened and flattened notes are often two different pitches, depending on musical context. This is not reproduced in the audio clips above, which treat the enharmonic spellings as identical pitches).