Drop C on a 3/4 upright without classical extension

[julietgreen]

Someone has asked me to play a (very simple) bass part to a bit of Bach. I have a basic double bass such as is used for jazz etc. The Bach part goes down to C. Is it feasible to drop the E string down? I know I can try it and see, but I wondered if it was something that was ever done.

[NickA]

Helps to have a long scale and hefty strings. 

 

My 4/4 bass does drop D fine, drop C ok.  A friend's 3/4 goes too loose even on D.

 

Lots of orchestral stuff goes down to C and many people tune CGDG to play it plenty of them on 3/4 basses.  It must depend in part on setup.  Got to try it and see.

[pete.young]

Or transpose the notes below E up an octave.

[NickA]

On 12/04/2022 at 17:18, pete.young said:

Or transpose the notes below E up an octave.

Yes, for the occasional note. Some stuff just needs to go down there ( Maxwell Davies' Orkney wedding, Vaughn Williams London symph, Elgar Sea Pictures. ).  I remember trying to play Bach magnificat without down tuning and all the string crossings made it too tough... had to go CGDG.