The double bass, or upright bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument of the viol family in the modern symphony orchestra. The double bass is played either with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). Read more…

The double bass, or upright bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument of the viol family in the modern symphony orchestra. The double bass is played either with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). While classical music uses just the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, in jazz, blues, and related genres, the bass is typically amplified with a bass amplifier. The double bass is a transposing instrument and sounds one octave lower than notated. All instruments are set up by our string technician prior to despatch to ensure that they are ready to play straight out of the box. The double bass is the only modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths, rather than fifths; its strings are E - A - D - G (low to high) Double basses. Read less…