Petite pièce pour contrebasse pizzicato en double-stops

"Pretty Slow-Lille" is a small piece that I wrote in 1995, while residing in Lille, North of France. Lille is a small and quiet town, but has a special atmosphere and the citizens are welcoming and generous people. In this framework, I worked as a professor and had the opportunity to create a sextet with some local musicians. Together, we performed a number of concerts, including a piece for solo double-bass.

Double-stops pizzicato – I've always been very sensitive to this special technique, which I do love – maybe because the first instrument I played was a guitar. It stimulated me to look for various applications on the double-bass. Two notes played simultaneously are able to suggest many harmonies and create particularly expressive atmospheres, even if they are no proper chords. This technique is very useful for the double-bass player that improvises and accompanies, especially in duo – with a singer or a (monodic) solo instrument – or in trio – for example, with the inclusion of percussions. Of course, one can use it also with polyphonic instruments, such as piano, guitar, vibraphone, accordion, etc., if played with the right sense of « retenue » and with the necessary « savoir faire » in the choice of the stops and the various harmonic densities.

Here are some examples of this technique:

• - CD « A SIP OF YOUR TOUCH » - NTCD 402 (Piantranese, solo double-bass; But not for me, duo with Dave Liebman; Do you feel what I feel, duo with singer Rachel Gould)
• - CD « ROSES & ROOTS » - NTCD 373 (Roots Routes, duo with drummer Joey Baron)
• - CD « DOUBLE TAKE » - RMCD 4502 (I’m a fool to want you, duo with guitarist Joe Diorio)
• - CD «UN COUPLE EPATANT - CAVALE – APRES LA VIE » - Universal 067 028-2 (Riccardo Del Fra's soundtrack for Lucas Belvaux's trilogy)

The peculiar aspect of « Pretty Slow-Lille » is its benefit for training purposes:

for the intonation: thanks to the D (open string), as a constant presence and reference point in the first passage, where, on the 1st string, from G to octave G, all the notes of the chromatic spectrum are played;

for the quality of the pizzicato sound, to be achieved to obtain a round sustain, with the same duration between the lowest and highest note;

for the left hand, requiring a balanced touch and pressure, but also for the use of the fingers in the other hand. In fact, there are a number of possible options: two strings can be played with a simultaneous pizzicato, for example, with thumb and forefinger (or with forefinger and middle finger or with thumb and medium finger). The two strings can be played with pizzicato not simultaneously, for example, the lowest note is played firstly, as an appoggiatura.

As a matter of facts, there are many possibilities, also offering a number of rhythmic solutions.

Let me suggest 2 variants for the hand playing the pizzicato: in the first part, thumb on D, forefinger and medium finger alternating on G. The strings shall be simultaneously played with pizzicato. In the second part, thumb on the lowest note, forefinger and medium finger alternating on the highest note throughout the piece. Play firstly the lowest note with the thumb and the highest note with the forefinger or medium finger, as you prefer.The other hand shall not vibrate (during the rehearsal phase).

I hope you will enjoy the French taste of this piece.

Have a good music, Riccardo Del Fra