How do you sit?

[fatgoogle]

Just picked up a stool yesterday in Ikea as i was getting sick of standing for 3-4 hours at a time.

After googling all morning and doing a lot of experimentation im still not sure about how to approach sitting and playing. One of the major problems seems to be my right leg getting in the way of my bow and comfortable getting into thumb position. I went with quite a tall stool at 74cm to the seat height. Im close to 6 2" so thought this would be good but now im thinking it might be too high??

Good things: Vibrato is a breeze as there's no weight on the thumb at all.

Im thinking of trying the cello like sitting position but what have you guys found to work?? Pics would be brilliant.

Cheers

Sam H

[ubassman]

I used to sit quite high on a stool with an extended end pin out 9 / 10 inches and with left foot raised - a bit like a classical guitarist. Recently I modified this and I sit cello style with both feet on the ground and a short end pin of about 4 inch max extension ( very similar to Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Mayer as below). Took a bit of getting used to but very easy to get to all parts of the bass and bow all strings and not a hint of aching muscles or back. Works for me!

[MandShef]

I sit with my left foot raised on the rung of my stool, right foot flat on the ground, but admit in long rehearsals that sometimes gets achy and I switch between that and cello style. I wonder, if you're having problems getting to thumb position, if you've adjusted your endpin to take into account the difference in height? You should set yourself up the same as when standing i.e. nut at about forehead level so when your hand is in half/first position you're not having to reach up and shoulder is relaxed, and you should be able to reach from there to all the way down your fingerboard easily. Your right hand should be able to reach your bowing position and still be relaxed with a slight curve in the arm. Everyone's different, so you'll have to experiment. I found this link which shows pics of different seated positions (the one I was describing is the first one (classic seated position):

[url="http://doublebassblog.org/2008/05/standing-versus-sitting-for-the-double-bassist.html"]http://doublebassblog.org/2008/05/standing-versus-sitting-for-the-double-bassist.html[/url]

[fatgoogle]

Cheers for the info. Some more experimentation needed. That Jason heath blog was a great help.

I think both feet on the ground is the way for me. So far ive found it helps me sit straighter then having one leg raised. Better go drag out the mirror and see what's going on.

Edited June 28, 2013 by fatgoogle