Where do I put my thumb on the French double bass bow?

[matteomirri]

Hey Jason! great video as always!
From my personal experience and being a french bow player since the beginning, what clicked for me about the bow hold (I use the Italian way) is to transfer the weight to the stick from the part that is opposite to the knuckles in the palm of the hand.
I mean:
Down bow= use the little finger knuckle

Up bow= use the index finger knuckle

[catherinefrechette-gregoir]

I've been using the italian technic without even nowing at when I learned by myself and when I decided to be more serious and take some lessons, the teacher told right away that it was wrong and drive me to the thumb position you explain in that video... what end out to a serious injury that still really slowing me down in my practice. Seeing that video (and the one you propose) I realise it wasn't a wrong position but just an other kind - italian - that is maybe more suitable for my morphology (I'm smaller size that what's usually expected for a double-bassist) thanks a lot, I will give a try next practice! I love all your technical vidéos, really usefull and your humour (your so expressive, that's amazing!)

[normanlotz]

I've started experimenting with the italian grip. When you use italian, your index finger is on the leather wrap called the grip. Why is it called a grip? That's why the leather is there!!! Ever wonder why the leather was there when your index finger rests on the silver winding with a standard bow grip? The benefit from italian is that by moving your hand back, you get a little more bow hair to play with. Even half an inch can make a difference. I play a some german bow, and always appreciate the extra playing length of the german bow grip where non of your hand is over the hair. Reducing the amount of your hand that is over the hair makes long legatos easier - gives more 'air' to the sound. The downside is you have to deal with the extra bow weight distribution at the tip. I'm still experimenting with it. NB The first knuckle of my right thumb is always at 90 degrees.

[stevebadachmusic]

long ago I remember seeing Edgar Meyer put his thumb on the outside of the frog when he was doing double stop chugging (I'm sure you've seen it too). It's nice to have a few different ways to hold the bow! I also like the way Xavier Foley sort of casts traditional holds out the window. Works for him anyway!

[thelegendofabram]

I love you videos.
Even being a german bow bass player.
I guest ask for a similar video but with german bow it's too much to ask

[UnivEnglish]

Hi Jason. I really wonder why bow luthiers usually make the frog come to a point right where the thumb goes. It hurts. Why not make it rounder? Thanks for this video. The thumb has always been a source of pain/fatigue for me. A different bow with better balance has helped. Also, BTW. When you take about where the thumb goes, the bow is hiding your thumb and we can't actually see where the thumb goes. It may also be helpful to talk about which direction we need to put pressure on with our thumb in order to hold the bow. Is the force towards the stick or diagonal to it (i.e. sort of 45 degrees towards both the stick and the frog?) For that matter, why do we need to hold the thumb against the frog? Is it so that we can have control over the rotation of the stick (i.e. have it slanted at an angle to the string at times?). If so, how do we facilitate rotation? Maybe this is all more advanced stuff, but no one has ever explained this to me. We are supposed to figure it out ourselves? Do it naturally? If you could clarify this, it would be very much appreciated.

[Captain_Rhodes]

bending my thumb is so hard for me. when I do it the bow slides away from where I want it to be. But if I keep it straight it starts to hurt after a while. Why is this stuff so hard? can someone just invent a bow that doesn't takes years of suffering? ;-)