Editing Double bass (section)

===Accessories===
[[File:Page 451 (A Dictionary of Music and Musicians-Volume 2).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|A wooden mute attached to the bass bridge to make the tone darker (a drawing from 1900)]]
Double bass players use various accessories to help them to perform and rehearse. Three types of [[mute (music)#String|mutes]] are used in orchestral music: a wooden mute that slides onto the bridge, a rubber mute that attaches to the bridge and a wire device with brass weights that fits onto the bridge. The player uses the mute when the Italian instruction ''con sordino'' ("with mute") appears in the bass part, and removes it in response to the instruction ''senza sordino'' ("without mute"). With the mute on, the tone of the bass is quieter, darker, and more somber. Bowed bass parts with a mute can have a nasal tone. Players use a third type of mute, a heavy rubber practice mute, to practice quietly without disturbing others (e.g., in a hotel room).

A quiver is an accessory for holding the bow. It is often made of leather and it attaches to the bridge and tailpiece with ties or straps. It is used to hold the bow while a player plays pizzicato parts.

A [[wolf tone]] eliminator is used to lessen unwanted sympathetic vibrations in the part of a string between the bridge and the tailpiece which can cause tone problems for certain notes. It is a rubber tube cut down the side that is used with a cylindrical metal sleeve which also has a slot on the side. The metal cylinder has a screw and a nut that fastens the device to the string. Different placements of the cylinder along the string influence or eliminate the frequency at which the wolf tone occurs. It is essentially an [[attenuation|attenuator]] that slightly shifts the natural frequency of the string (and/or instrument body) cutting down on the reverberation.<ref>{{cite web|last=Freiberg |first=Sarah |url=http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Instruments/CARE-MAINTENANCE/How-to-Tame-Annoying-Howling-Wolf-Tones |title=How to Tame Annoying Howling Wolf Tones / CARE & MAINTENANCE / Instruments / All Things Strings |date=13 May 2005 |publisher=Allthingsstrings.com |access-date=2015-12-23}}</ref> The wolf tone occurs because the strings below the bridge sometimes resonate at pitches close to notes on the playing part of the string. When the intended note makes the below-the-bridge string vibrate sympathetically, a dissonant "wolf note" or "wolf tone" can occur. In some cases, the wolf tone is strong enough to cause an audible "beating" sound. The wolf tone often occurs with the note G{{music|#}} on the bass.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=H. |last1=Dünnwald |title=Versuche zur Entstehung des Wolfs bei Violininstrumenten |journal=Acustica |volume=41 |issue=4 |year=1979 |pages=238–45 |url=http://openurl.ingenta.com/content?genre=article&issn=1610-1928&volume=41&issue=4&spage=238&epage=245}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1121/1.1913343 |title=The wolf in the cello |year=1973 |last1=Firth |first1=Ian M. |journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=457–463|bibcode=1973ASAJ...53..457F }}</ref>

In orchestra, instruments tune to an A played by the oboist. Due to the three-octave gap between the oboist's tuning A and the open A string on the bass (for example, in an orchestra that tunes to [[concert pitch|440&nbsp;Hz]], the oboist plays an A<sub>4</sub> at 440&nbsp;Hz and the open A<sub>1</sub> of the bass is 55&nbsp;Hz) it can be difficult to tune the bass by ear during the short period that the oboist plays the tuning note. Violinists, on the other hand, tune their A string to the same frequency as the oboist's tuning note. There is a method commonly used to tune a double bass in this context by playing the A harmonic on the D string (which is only an octave below the oboe A) and then matching the harmonics of the other strings. However, this method is not foolproof, since some basses' harmonics are not perfectly in tune with the open strings. To ensure the bass is in tune, some bassists use an [[electronic tuner]] that indicates pitch on a small display. Bassists who play in styles that use a [[bass amp]], such as blues, rockabilly, or jazz, may use a [[effects pedal|stompbox]]-format electronic tuner, which mutes the bass pickup during tuning.

A double bass stand is used to hold the instrument in place and raise it a few inches off the ground. A wide variety of stands are available, and there is no one common design.