Editing Double bass (section)

===Regular tuning===
[[File:(Portrait of Teddy Kaye, Vivien Garry, and Arv(in) Charles Garrison, Dixon's, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947) (LOC) (4976467461).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Double bass player [[Vivien Garry]] playing a show in New York City in 1947]]
The double bass is generally tuned in [[Perfect fourth|fourths]], in contrast to other members of the orchestral string family, which are tuned in [[Perfect fifth|fifths]] (for example, the violin's four strings are, from lowest-pitched to highest-pitched: G–D–A–E). The standard tuning (lowest-pitched to highest-pitched) for bass is E–A–D–G, starting from E below second low C ([[concert pitch]]). This is the same as the standard tuning of a bass guitar and is one octave lower than the four lowest-pitched strings of [[guitar|standard guitar tuning]]. Prior to the 19th-century, many double basses had only three strings; "Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889) favored the three-stringed instrument popular in Italy at the time",<ref name="oocities.org"/> because "the three-stringed instrument [was viewed as] being more sonorous".<ref>{{Cite wikisource |editor-first= Hugh |editor-last= Chisholm | chapter = Double Bass | wslink= 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica |plaintitle= [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |edition= Eleventh |year= 1911 |publisher= Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Many [[cobla]] bands in [[Catalonia]] still have players using traditional three-string double basses tuned A–D–G.<ref>[http://www.coblabaixllobregat.com/Contrabaix.htm Three-string double bass in the cobla band] Website of Cobla Baix Llobregat</ref>

Throughout [[Classical music|classical]] repertoire, there are notes that fall below the range of a standard double bass. Notes below low E appear regularly in the double bass parts found in later arrangements and interpretations of [[Baroque music]]. In the [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] era, the double bass typically doubled the cello part an octave below, occasionally requiring descent to C below the E of the four-string double bass. In the [[Romantic music|Romantic]] era and the 20th century, composers such as [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], [[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni]] and [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]] also requested notes below the low E.

There are several methods for making these notes available to the player. Players with standard double basses (E–A–D–G) may play the notes below "E" an octave higher or if this sounds awkward, the entire passage may be transposed up an octave. The player may tune the low E string down to the lowest note required in the piece: D or C. Four-string basses may be fitted with a "low-C extension" ([[#C extension|see below]]). Or the player may employ a five-string instrument, with the additional lower string tuned to C, or (more commonly in modern times) B, three octaves and a [[semitone]] below [[middle C]]. Several major European orchestras use basses with a fifth string.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billbentgen.com/bass/5_string-basses.htm |title=Bill Bentgen – 5 String Basses |publisher=Billbentgen.com |access-date=21 July 2012}}</ref>