Born 1931 in Aleppo, Syria. Rabbath is a contemporary French double-bass player, soloist, and composer. He was born into a family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Edouard Nanny. The main differences in Rabbath's approach from that of the traditional double bass method of Franz Simandl is Rabbath's use of the left hand and dividing the entire fingerboard into only six positions. Playing the bass with six positions is possible by using a technique called pivoting. A pivot is a rocking of the hand to reach a new note where the thumb remains stationary . There is much controversy surrounding Rabbath's technique and its applications among bassists. Rabbath's method is geared towards playing solos and as such there is criticism that it is not as applicable for orchestral playing. His solo playing is geared towards his own compositions and the works of Frank Proto, written with Rabbath and his way of playing especially in mind.