Will they hate me?

I think it's been mentionned, and probably overlooked, but... detuning the string until it "almost falls off" you may as well ask the double bass players to "whomp" on their seats.

A detuned string with no tension in it creates no sound.

Try strumming an elastic without first stretching it a bit. Same principle.

Yeah you'll only hear a little rattling noise, if that. It might be louder with pizzicato.

What about dropping the string down a few notes? I haven't done this but I might have to at some point. What I have done though, is specified that the double basses all have that low 'C' string, for range purposes. They're probably gonna hate me for that, if it ever sees the light of day.

i think the double bass players' lives are hard enough. lol.

But they aren't just beating the string, they're also raising the pitch gradually with the other hand.

Originally Posted by crazydiamond

But they aren't just beating the string, they're also raising the pitch gradually with the other hand.

the thing is, releasing the tension on the string as you described means that you can't DO anything about the pitch. you can't "raise the pitch" other than by re-tensioning the string. there's no physical movement the left hand can do that will affect the pitch of a string once it has been released to the point you are asking.

why don't you look at some electronic alternatives to get the effect you are looking for, instead?

Someone said try to find another means to make it by abusing the percussionists' resourcefulness! I like that, hahaha. But electronic could also work, hm.

Or you can record just ONE contrabass doing this, and then play it back amplified, that way you only make one contrabass angry, not the entire section.

If you are "whomping" on this loose string, you'll get more of the sound of the hand whomping than the string actually vibrating. Have you actually TRIED this on a bass or have somebody demonstrate it for you? I would suggest you do that, you'll most likely find that it isn't exactly an effective technique. Whereas it might be only slightly audible on higher instruments, on a bass... it will be so low that it will become impossible in a concert setting without amplification. And yes, they WILL hate you for having them retune their instruments. Scordatura can be effective... such as retuning the E string of a violin down to Eb so that the tone colour changes considerably, but this difference isn't pronounced in the contrabass and since that doesn't work and this loosening of the string completely that you describe wouldn't be very audible, I would suggest looking into either percussion effects, or trying something else entirely.

Originally Posted by SSC

Someone said try to find another means to make it by abusing the percussionists' resourcefulness! I like that, hahaha. But electronic could also work, hm.

Or you can record just ONE contrabass doing this, and then play it back amplified, that way you only make one contrabass angry, not the entire section.

Like the last chair.

"Practice harder next time, bitch."

Haha.

mission half-impossible for bassists!

I've done similar things when playing with my band ( shameless self-plug for a band that doesn't even exist anymore) - a string broke, and i "whomped" on it for about 6 minutes, usin the slackness to get microtones and whatnot... course then i had the unenviable pleasure of restringing it during the show...