Tunings
Dr. C. Nicolai counted 12 different tunings in his article "Das Spiel auf dem Contrabass" ("Playing the Double Bass") which appeared in 1816, although it is known today that significantly more were in circulation. The fourths tuning even-tually became established in the middle of the 19th century, and there was no further discussion of the subject for a hundred years. But now, against the back-
ground of the impressive history of our instrument, modern bassists are again experimenting with different options. The American jazz bassist Red Mitchell was the first to reintroduce the fifths tuning. Renaud Garcia-Fons,