{"id":3389,"date":"2025-11-23T14:12:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T13:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/?p=3389"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:23:19","slug":"left-hand-double-bass-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/","title":{"rendered":"Left Hand Double Bass Technique Without Tension"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Emilse\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Relaxation Part III \u2014 Left Hand Without Tension<\/strong><\/h1>

A memory that changed the way I understood technique<\/h2>

When I was thinking about left-hand technique, a memory came to mind. And I want to start there, because maybe you went through something similar too.<\/p>

When I started at the conservatory, I was already \u201colder\u201d \u2014 not a kid like most of my classmates.
At that time, it felt like something \u201cbad,\u201d like it put me at a disadvantage\u2026 but later I realized it wasn\u2019t.
I was old enough to study with more awareness and discipline.<\/p>

Once, I was auditing a violin class and I saw a teacher hit a student\u2019s fingers with a pencil to correct their technique.
For everyone else it was normal: a teacher correcting. And I was there like \ud83d\ude31\ud83e\udd2f what?? Is no one going to say anything? Is this okay??<\/p>

But yes\u2026 it was normal.
And one day, in a class, it happened to me.<\/p>

My teacher hit my fingers very gently with a pencil \u2014 but I wasn\u2019t going to stay quiet \ud83d\ude24 I didn\u2019t care if it was soft or not.<\/p>

I said, \u201cCould you explain the difference between the different ways of placing the finger? Because honestly, I don\u2019t understand. And hitting me with a pencil doesn\u2019t really help me learn.\u201d<\/p>

He just replied, dryly, \u201cThat\u2019s not the right finger position.\u201d \ud83d\ude12<\/p>

That day I understood two things:
My teacher wasn\u2019t really interested in teaching (at least not me).
If I truly wanted to play well, I had to figure it out on my own.<\/p>

Why left-hand tension makes everything harder<\/h2>

And studying five hours a day wasn\u2019t enough \u2014 I needed to understand how the body works with the instrument (or the other way around). In this case, how to strengthen the left hand without creating tension.<\/p>

With the double bass, we depend on our natural strength.
The strings are thick, the notes are far apart, and the instrument itself is huge.<\/p>

When we play with overextended fingers \u2014 bending backward \u2014 we lose that natural strength.
That makes us press with the thumb, and everything becomes slower, heavier.
Nothing flows.<\/p>

A simple way to find natural strength in the left hand<\/h2>

My advice:<\/p>

Imagine your hand forming a \u201cC.\u201d
The fingers in a soft semicircle, like a little claw resting on the string, bringing the instrument slightly toward your body \u2014 that way the hand stays stronger and more stable.<\/p>

The thumb simply supports, relaxed, around the level of the second finger, without pressing.<\/p>

That small curve (flexible fingers, relaxed thumb) makes your hand stronger and is the foundation of a healthy technique.<\/p>

Awareness, breathing, and the bigger picture<\/h2>

If you think about it, it all comes down to body awareness, relaxation, and breathing.<\/p>

My friend Eli discovered that when she learned how to float \u2014 and I discovered it with the bass.<\/p>

We all breathe, of course, but doing it consciously changes everything: it calms the mind, frees the body, and improves your playing.
But that\u2019s a story for another newsletter.<\/p>

On the bus back to Madrid \u2014 a tapping exercise to build left-hand awareness<\/p>

P.S. If you don\u2019t know who Eli is, that means you missed the previous emails \ud83d\ude42\u200d\u2194\ufe0f<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Subscribe to my newsletter for the double bass community and receive weekly study ideas, exercises, videos, and lots of motivation to keep advancing with the double bass.<\/strong><\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe here<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how to strengthen your left hand on the double bass without tension using natural positioning, awareness, and healthy technique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"yoast_head":"\nLeft Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Left Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Emilse Rios\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-23T13:12:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-26T15:23:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emilse Rios\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emilse Rios\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/\",\"name\":\"Left Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-23T13:12:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-26T15:23:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d7beb84a81a83cfe438075fcfc451b1e\"},\"description\":\"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1709},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Left Hand Double Bass Technique Without Tension\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/\",\"name\":\"Emilse Rios\",\"description\":\"Double Bass Player | Online Courses\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d7beb84a81a83cfe438075fcfc451b1e\",\"name\":\"Emilse Rios\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7770b6297a4760ac3c798741c2e1877eed3d4bf4f1a51a8d705f74e55a1a6d46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7770b6297a4760ac3c798741c2e1877eed3d4bf4f1a51a8d705f74e55a1a6d46?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emilse Rios\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/author\/emilse\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Left Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios","description":"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Left Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios","og_description":"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.","og_url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/","og_site_name":"Emilse Rios","article_published_time":"2025-11-23T13:12:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-26T15:23:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1709,"url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emilse Rios","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emilse Rios","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/","url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/","name":"Left Hand Double Bass Technique | Emilse Rios","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-11-23T13:12:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-26T15:23:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d7beb84a81a83cfe438075fcfc451b1e"},"description":"Discover how to improve left-hand double bass technique without tension by using natural strength, awareness, and relaxed positioning.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Usada-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1709},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/left-hand-double-bass-technique\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Left Hand Double Bass Technique Without Tension"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/","name":"Emilse Rios","description":"Double Bass Player | Online Courses","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d7beb84a81a83cfe438075fcfc451b1e","name":"Emilse Rios","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7770b6297a4760ac3c798741c2e1877eed3d4bf4f1a51a8d705f74e55a1a6d46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7770b6297a4760ac3c798741c2e1877eed3d4bf4f1a51a8d705f74e55a1a6d46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emilse Rios"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/emilserios.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/author\/emilse\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3440,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions\/3440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilserios.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}