Double bass

The double bass is widely considered to be the largest and lowest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments. In reality, however, it is not. It is the only modern descendant of the viola da gamba family of instruments, a family which originated in the 15th century. Members of the viola da gamba family can be characterized most easily by the sloping shoulders (as opposed to the bulging shoulders of the violin).It resembles the other members of the family, but is much larger and has slight differences in shape. The instrument is known by several other names (especially when used in folk, bluegrass, Western and jazz music), including contrabass, string bass, upright bass, standup bass, acoustic bass, bass viol, bass violin, doghouse bass, dog-house, bull fiddle, hoss bass, and bunkhouse bass. A person who plays this instrument is called a double-bassist or contrabassist.

Double bassists

Notable classical double bass players of historical importance

• Giovanni Bottesini
• Domenico Dragonetti
• Serge Koussevitzky
• Edouard Nanny
• Franz Simandl (1840-1912) author of "New Method for the Double Bass"

Contemporary classical double bass players

• Fernando Grillo
• Gary Karr
• Franco Petracchi
• Bertram Turetzky
• Barry Green also author of The Inner Game of Music
• François Rabbath
• Allan von Schenkel
• Rodney Slatford
• Edgar Meyer
• Mark Dresser (1952-)
• Teppo Hauta-Aho
• Thomas Martin
• Jorma Katrama
• Hal Robinson
• David Walter
• Homer Mensch

Double bass players in other genres

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• Les Claypool
• Jimmy Blanton
• Wellman Braud
• Ray Brown
• Ron Carter
• Mark Hoppus
• Paul Chambers
• John Clayton, Jr.
• Mark Dresser
• Pops Foster
• Henry Grimes
• Charlie Haden
• Percy Heath
• Milt Hinton
• Bill Johnson
• Scott LaFaro
• Marshall Lytle
• Christian McBride
• Charles Mingus
• Bob Moore
• Scott Owen
• Walter Page
• William Parker
• John Patitucci
• Gary Peacock
• Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
• Oscar Pettiford
• Al Rex
• Alan Silva
• Jasper Somsen
• Slam Stewart
• Danny Thompson
• Jon Thorne
• Rob Wasserman
• Miroslav Vitous
• Chris Wood

:Also see List of jazz bassists, which includes both double bass and electric bass players.

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