Lauren Pierce's Technique Collection

About the Collection

Lauren's collection features her three best-selling pedagogical e-books:

1. Scales, Scales, Scales: A Progressive Technical Journey for the Double Bass
2. Basstudes: 16 etudes for doubles bass
3. Please Play in Tune: How to Play Double Bass Without Annoying Everyone Around You!

And two bonus publications: 6 Steps to Learning A New Piece and Lauren's arrangement of "Maria" from West Side Story for double bass quartet.

When you purchase the collection, you will save compared to buying each book individually.

Who are these books for?

Beginner to Advanced double bassists will benefit from Lauren's in-depth yet easy-to-understand approach to learning Scales as the cornerstone of one's technique, and refining it through etudes, by providing a framework and real-world examples for playing in tune.

Some exercises and etudes will be too difficult for the beginning student. The advanced student will likely not require guidance on one-octave scales. We encourage you to scroll through the preview images below to view the table of contents and sample pages from Lauren's books.

What You'll Receive

•A PDF copy of each publication
•An audio guide to the Etudes
•MIDI files to assist in working from Please Play in Tune

About the Books

1. Scales, Scales, Scales

Scales are the building blocks of music – they have also been the building blocks of my technique. This book demonstrates how scales can be a vehicle for exploration and growth on the instrument throughout your double bass life.

In this book, I provide a method for not only practicing scales for your daily practice but also a guide for gradually increasing your skill level over time. 

My goal in writing this book was to provide you with a framework for structuring your scales practice in the short and long term and teach you how to push yourself to grow in a way that leads to lasting change, not just fleeting success.

As the title suggests, this book begins at a beginner level - one-octave major scales and gradually moves to a more advanced level - two-octave thumb position scales and two-octave "up the string" scales.

The book is designed for you to work at your own pace and repeat and revisit as many sections as needed, just as I have throughout my career. 

2. Basstudes

I’ve organized the etudes in this book into three large sections:

1. Bowing
2. Left hand technique
3. Right and left-hand coordination

You can think of each of these large sections as miniature courses on their particular technique and the book as a whole as an entire course on the instrument. The etudes are ordered progressively within each section, so the first one is the easiest, and the last is the most complex.

Everything in this book is meant to compound, so everything you learn is cumulative. This is why I recommend going through this book in the order I’ve arranged, beginning with The Bow, then Left-Hand Technique, and finally, Right and Left-Hand Coordination. I arranged the etudes in each section very intentionally, as well as the order of these large sections.

I include a copy of each etude with my fingerings and a blank copy for you to explore with the fingerings you develop.

The book is in bass and treble clef.

3. Please Play in Tune

When we talk about good intonation, what are we really talking about? Ideally, it's playing right at the center of each pitch, but what goes into being able to do that?

Here’s what I think:

1. Your ear
2. Your technique
3. Your response

I’ll elaborate on each of these concepts throughout the book, but in short, your ear allows you to know what’s in tune, your technique makes it easy to put your fingers down in the right spot, and your response allows you to fix your mistakes in the moment.

Each of the above points has a chapter in this book with exercises to help you strengthen each skill. Some of the exercises might seem boring or pointless or even way too advanced for you, but I encourage you to have an open mind and try them anyway. Something I’ve noticed in my own practice is that the things I’m sure won’t work end up giving me the biggest gifts.

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