UC San Diego

This paper seeks to provide a practical approach to understanding and executing intonation for the developing or advanced double bassist. Many of the ideas illustrated here are applicable to any player of a non-tempered instrument, but specific exercises will be presented within the context of the contrabass.

"Intonation" is a frequently mentioned concept within standard classical music training, yet many musicians have never learned the basic principles behind the tuning systems on which they rely daily. Instead, "perfect intonation" is a vague ideal, a goal which is constantly sought but never quite reached, namely because the musicians themselves are not truly aware of what they are pursuing.

In preparation for this paper, I managed to interview a small number of musicians about the way in which they learned to play in tune. Out of the interviews I conducted, I reached the conclusion that this topic is not thoroughly addressed in many educational contexts.

The following paper represents an effort to elucidate this complex topic by exploring and comparing the tuning systems of "just intonation" and "equal temperament," focusing on a tangible approach to playing just intervals on the contrabass through awareness of the overtone series and the natural harmonics of the open strings.