text: All tutors at International Music School Cardiff are hand-picked, highly trained professional musicians with an enthusiasm for teaching their instrument. Lessons take place in our city-centre venue, and it is our vision to create a place where music tuition of the highest quality is delivered alongside regular professional concerts and public performance opportunities for our students.
  What should you expect from double-bass lessons?
  Learning the double bass is a very special journey. Discovering the many possibilities the instrument has to offer and learning how to play it requires patience, diligence and a sensitive and skilled teacher. Like with all other string instruments, a sensitive ear for tuning and intonation has to be developed early on. Posture is key in order to create a strong and pleasant sound.
  Being a double bass player will make you listen out for the architecture of music, much like playing the cello. Since you will mostly be providing the bass parts when playing in an orchestra, you will develop a sense of supporting others around you by providing a strong foundation for a whole group – a great social skill to learn early on.
  Children usually start learning the double-bass when they are age 10 or above, as even a ½ size instrument is still very big!
  A little bit about the instrument
  The double bass is by far the biggest member of the family of string instruments. It looks very similar to the cello, but it is much taller and heavier. As the name suggests, it is a bass instrument, and thus provides the lowest parts in all orchestral music.
  The double bass produces a warm, rich and mellow tone. It can be played either with the bow (arco) or by plucking its strings with the fingers (pizzicato). Similar to its little brother, the cello, the double-bass is supported by the knees of a seated player. However because of its much bigger size, bass players sit on a high stool rather than a chair.
  The double bass is an incredibly versatile and social instrument: it is used in most jazz ensembles and big bands, in concert bands and orchestras, which gives a bass player plenty of variety.