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Basic Bass Guitar Techniques

Okay gang, it’s time for Part 2 of the How to Play Bass Guitar tutorial. Last time we covered the real basics — like how to choose the right bass for you. Now let’s get into some playing techniques.

Holding the Bass

You have to learn to hold the bass correctly from the beginning.  This may seem like an obvious thing to learn, but many people develop bad habits from the onset and later regret it when they develop backaches.  Read this through and learn it right the first time.

Always use a strap.  Always. The strap is an essential part of your bass technique. It frees your hands and lets your back and shoulders carry the weight. Buy yourself the most comfortable strap you can find.  You’ll be so glad you did!

Adjust the strap so that the bass falls comfortably at your waist.  Everyone is a little different, experiment on what feels comfortable.

Don’t slouch, stand up straight.

Right-handed players should have their right hand actually plucking the strings.  The left hand fingers the notes on the frets.  It’s the opposite for left-handed players.

Keep your fretting hand on the neck of the bass with your thumb resting behind the neck, supporting your hand.

Avoid Hand Injuries

Carpal Tunnel is something you want to avoid.  You can be injuring your hands and wrists without even knowing it.  Sometimes the injuries show up much later in life.  Keep your wrists as straight as you can to avoid the pain!

Plucking the Strings

When playing the bass guitar, your fingers are numbered as follows:

T= thumb
1=index finger
2=middle finger
3=ring finger
4=pinky finger

Your plucking hand should be limp and in the natural curve your hand falls in.  Keep it loose and relaxed as much as possible.

Use at least 2 fingers to pluck the strings.  Typically the index (1) and the middle (2) fingers are used in an alternating fashion.   Be consistent and alternate those fingers (1-2-1-2-1-2) when plucking the strings.  Make sure you don’t pluck with just one finger by itself.  Though it seems easy, you won’t be able to go far with that technique.  Also, there are no “up-strokes” or “down-strokes” like there is in basic guitar playing.  You pluck each string towards your face.

Timbre

Practice plucking the strings in different places to see what kind of tone you get.  If you pluck close to the neck, the string will give you a fat, warm tone.  If you pluck near the bridge, you’ll get a brighter tone.   Being aware of this will help you to be a better player in the long run, though as a beginner you might just want to play in the same place for awhile.

Plucking Motion

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is wanting to pluck the strings out away from the guitar.  The resulting tone is usually thin and ‘beginner’ sounding!  The best way to pluck is to roll your fingers over the string, following through towards your palm.

That covers some more basics. Next time we’ll talk about some more intermediate techniques, like muting and more. Stay tuned!

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