Unorthodox Instructionals Part 2 – Franz Simandl’s New Method For The Double Bass

This is the second of a series of posts from Tom Kenrick’s blog about unique books that many bassists would not have considered for study. I’ve flipped through this one before. Its Simandl’s “New Method For The Double Bass“. The method was published about a century ago, but the one I looked at was printed in the 1980’s. I remember people on Talkbass not liking it as much for electric bass, but I think its looked at as the double bassist’s equivalent of the Suzuki method for violin.

One of the things Kenrick talks about in his post is the one-finger-per-fret manner of fretting hand positioning vs. Simandl’s 1-2-4 fingering. Here’s something about it from Adam Neely that I referred to a lot when I picked up my bass:

• Ergonomics and what to do with your hands

And here’s a little about the mandl, Simandl, so you can get a handl (sorry, I had to):

• 1-2-4 & Simandl