Double Bass String Instruments

The double bass is the largest and lowest bowed string instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. It is used extensively in Western classical music as a standard member of the string section of symphony orchestras and smaller string ensembles. In addition to its use in classical music, it has been widely used in other genres such as jazz, blues, rock and roll, and bluegrass.

The instrument's standard English name, "double bass," comes from the instrument's Italian name contrabasso (contrabass). Because the cello is the bass member of the orchestral bowed string instrument family, and the double bass is pitched a minor sixth lower (and is approximately twice the size), the latter instrument is properly called "double bass."

The instrument is known by several other names (especially when used in folk, bluegrass, and jazz music), including string bass, upright bass, standup bass, acoustic bass, bass viol, contrabass viol, bass violin, doghouse bass, dog-house, bull fiddle, hoss bass, and bunkhouse bass.

The double bass is often erroneously considered to be a member of the violin family of string instruments, even sometimes being referred to as "bass violin." In reality, however, it is generally regarded as the only modern descendant of the viola da gamba family of instruments, a family which originated in Europe in the 15th century, and is more properly described as a "bass viol."

The double bass is closest in construction to the violone (literally "large viol"), the largest and lowest member of the viola da gamba family. Unlike the violone, however, the fingerboard of the double bass is unfretted, and the double bass has fewer strings (the violone, like most viols, generally had six strings, although some specimens had five or four). Before the 20th century many double basses had only three strings, in contrast to the five to six strings typical of instruments in the viola da gamba family or the four strings of instruments in the violin family.

The double bass' proportions are dissimilar to those of the violin; for example, it is deeper (the distance from top to back is proportionally much greater than the violin). In addition, while the violin has bulging shoulders, most double basses have shoulders carved with a more acute slope, like members of the viola da gamba family. Many very old double basses have had their shoulders cut or sloped to aid playing with modern techniques; before these modifications the design of their shoulders was closer to instruments of the violin family.

The double bass is also the only modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths (like viola da gambas), rather than fifths.

The issue of the instrument's exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, and the supposition that the double bass is a direct decendent of the viola da gamba family is an issue that has not been entirely resolved.

In his A New History of the Double Bass, Paul Brun asserts, with many references, that the double bass has origins as the true bass of the violin family. He states that, while the exterior of the double bass may resemble the viola da gamba, the internal construction of the double bass is nearly identical to that of other instruments in the violin family, and is very different from the internal structure of viols.