correct way to play bass?

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

hello everyone, can anyone point me towards a good website showing the correct way to play a bass the proper technique like? ive been playing 6 months now and i just want to make sure im doing it right as i heard it can lead to problems down the road if your not, thanks in advance!

Dord

TEMPLAR KNIGHT wrote: »

hello everyone, can anyone point me towards a good website showing the correct way to play a bass the proper technique like? ive been playing 6 months now and i just want to make sure im doing it right as i heard it can lead to problems down the road if your not, thanks in advance!

What do you need to know? left or right hand technique? (presuming you're a righty)

If you have questions ask away but it's difficult to answer such a general question.

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

i found a website i just wanted to make sure that i was holding it right and stuff, i heard if you dont hold it right it can mess up your hands or something haha, thanks anyway!

Dord

TEMPLAR KNIGHT wrote: »

i found a website i just wanted to make sure that i was holding it right and stuff, i heard if you dont hold it right it can mess up your hands or something haha, thanks anyway!

http://www.studybass.com & http://www.playbassnow.com are both very good sites you should check out.

In terms of technique the best approach for your fretting hand is one finger per fret. It's all to do with the economy of movement, you don't want to be jumping all over the place.

A good book that will help you in terms of exercises is one called "Bass Fitness". You should be able to get it online or in McCullough Piggotts in Dublin.

Rigsby

Hi Templer !

You are right to be concerned about technique, as bad technique can indeed cause problems at a later stage. While there is no "correct" way to play the bass, there are however, tried and trusted ways. The basic idea is to keep both wrists as straight as possible. Dord mentioned one finger per fret, and that is indeed the accepted technique, BUT, only use this method above the fifth fret. Doing it below the 5th is too much of a reach (unless you have hands like King Kong ). Also, try to keep the hands relaxed. Dont hold the neck in a death grip. It does not take much strength to fret a string.

Below are links for R/H and L/H techniques. Also, do a search on You Tube. There are lots of clips there. The clip below, for the R/H is called the "Floating Thumb". It is great in two ways. First, from a physical point of view, as the wrist is kept straight. Secondly, it combines a muting system, with the thumb muting the strings not being played. Hope this is of some help, and good luck with it.


L/H : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRoQuXlj9w


R/H : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVMBPmrblU

eoin5

I cant recommend the floating style enough for right hand, its a very comfortable way of playing. For left hand Dord is right you dont want to be jumping all over the place but dont be afraid of position changing either. Sometimes the right thing to do is to jump up five frets. Working on scales will help you a lot with your left hand.

Malice

The posts so far have been pretty much spot on so I won't repeat too much. I would just echo Rigsby's point about not holding the neck in a death grip. I used to do that but managed to force myself to stop and it really does make quite a difference.

What I did was I found the absolute minimum amount of pressure necessary to hold down a string and keep trying to use only that amount of pressure each time I held down a note. I found that, for whatever reason, I used to press my thumb quite hard into the back of the neck which often made changing my hand position a lot more awkward than it needed to be.

setanta74

This guy is great for beginners..

http://www.dmanlamius.com/

jarain

Malice_ wrote: »

The posts so far have been pretty much spot on so I won't repeat too much. I would just echo Rigsby's point about not holding the neck in a death grip. I used to do that but managed to force myself to stop and it really does make quite a difference.

What I did was I found the absolute minimum amount of pressure necessary to hold down a string and keep trying to use only that amount of pressure each time I held down a note. I found that, for whatever reason, I used to press my thumb quite hard into the back of the neck which often made changing my hand position a lot more awkward than it needed to be.

I used to do exactly this as well and still have a tendency to fall back into the habit during more demanding passages, which makes them more difficult to play (vicious circle!!).

Rigsby

jarain wrote: »

I used to do exactly this as well and still have a tendency to fall back into the habit during more demanding passages, which makes them more difficult to play (vicious circle!!).

I find that playing difficult passages very slowly at first, while deliberately emphasising good technique, really helps. It kind of reinforces muscle memory on the hands and fingers.