Play Double bass online
The largest and lowest-pitched of the bowed strings; it is held upright, standing or seated on a high stool.
Dizi
On a keyboard, the keys A S D F G H J K play the eight pitches of the scale.
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Turn your phone sideways or switch to full screen to see the instrument larger.
Keyboard keys
Add it to your home screen as a separate app: opens with one tap and works offline too. Free.
Keyboard: the up and down arrows select a course, Space or Enter plays it, plus and minus move the selected course's mandal by one comma.
Tap or swipe on the right side; tap the labels on the left to select a course. No sound on iPhone? Turn off silent mode.
Mandals
Lower or raise each pitch one comma at a time with the mandal levers. The setting applies to every course that has no setting of its own.
Course mandal
Tune a single course separately from the pitch setting. Courses you don't adjust follow the pitch setting.
About the Double bass
In brief
- Family: Bowed string instrument; the largest and lowest of the bowed strings
- Origin: Europe; thought to derive from the violone, the large member of the viol family
- Body and materials: About 180 cm tall; spruce top, maple back, sloping shoulders
- Strings: Usually 4, tuned in fourths E–A–D–G; 5-string models also exist
- Tuning / range: Sounds an octave lower than written
- Playing: Held upright, standing or on a stool; bowed or plucked with the fingers
- Music: Orchestra, jazz, popular music; in Turkish music, fasıl and radio ensembles
Getting started: types, sizes, tuning
History
The double bass, which came from Western music, entered the fasıl and radio ensembles of Turkish music in the 20th century, as well as urban and entertainment music, and took on the lowest voice of the ensemble.
Construction
It consists of a very large wooden body with sloping shoulders, two f-shaped sound holes, a long fretless fingerboard, metal tuning machines and an endpin that rests the body on the floor. It usually has four strings tuned in fourths.
How it's played
It is held upright, standing or seated on a stool; it can be bowed or plucked with the fingers (pizzicato). In Turkish music ensembles it is often plucked.
Useful while you practice
Project notes
- Pitch system: Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek pitches are shown on a scale dividing the octave into 53 equal parts (the Holder comma, ≈22.6 cents), a close approximation of the theory's Pythagorean-ratio pitches. Each pitch is computed as its letter position plus the mandal shift; reference A4 = 440 Hz.
- Interval abbreviations: B = bakiye (4), S = küçük mücenneb (5), K = büyük mücenneb (8), T = tanini (9), A = augmented second (12–13 commas).
- Sound: real kanun recordings, retuned to comma precision for each pitch. With the synthesis option, each course is generated as three slightly detuned strings.
- Mandals: per-pitch tuning is the default; any course can also be tuned separately. Makam presets are per pitch.
- Known limitations: pitch names are referenced to Rast (G); makam presets are awaiting expert review.
Frequently asked questions about the Double bass
How do I play the virtual double bass?
On this page, the double bass's long fingerboard is drawn and the pitches appear as finger positions on the strings; you play by tapping or sliding your finger. On the keyboard, A–K plays the first octave and Q–U the second. Very low notes may sound weak on a phone speaker; using headphones and enlarging the instrument by turning the screen sideways give better results.
What happens when I choose a makam on the virtual double bass?
The pitches of the makam you choose are laid out with their comma values for two octaves starting from its tonic; the tonic and dominant are marked in color. In an ensemble, the double bass mostly plays these fundamental pitches and the accents of the usul; on the virtual double bass you can try building the low skeleton of a piece by moving back and forth between the tonic and the dominant.
Is the virtual double bass's sound a real recording?
Yes. The sounds are double bass recordings from the Musical Instrument Samples archive of the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios (Lawrence Fritts; unrestricted use permitted). Each pitch is tuned with comma precision from the nearest note recording. Until the recordings load, synthesized sound plays; you can also switch to the “Synthesis” option.
How do I use the virtual double bass with pieces?
If you choose the double bass in the “Play it yourself” step of the “Learn this piece” section of a piece in the sheet music archive, the virtual double bass opens with the piece's makam. Listening to the piece's usul and placing the tonic on its düm strokes and the dominant on its tek strokes is a good exercise for building a simple bass accompaniment.
Source: Wikipedia