Chapter 2 – Technique

Your technique, more than any other aspect of your playing, affects the
sounds that you create using the bass. Your technique directly impacts on the
quality, quantity and duration of the notes that you play, and better technique
affords you greater control over your instrument, allowing you to express your
musical ideas more clearly.

It is worth noting at this point that technique is a means to an end, not an end
itself. Technique is a tool that allows you to express the sounds that you hear
in your head on your instrument, not a substitute for musicality. Our goal in
pursuing technique is to reach a level where the only boundary to what we
play is the extent of our imagination rather than our physical limitations.

The information presented in this chapter regarding technique should not be

viewed as the only way to do things. The very fact that everyone is built
differently means that there cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ approach to bass
technique - if you pick five of the world’s top bass players and really scrutinise
their technique then you will see that they all have differing methods of
approach regarding the left and right hands. Having said that, there are a
number of factors that remain constant throughout the various approaches to
playing the bass.

The method outlined in this chapter is designed with the emphasis on firm
technical foundations. Focusing on the fundamental aspects of playing and
perfecting the basic elements of technique is essential to building control and
dexterity on the instrument. One of the biggest misconceptions regarding bass
playing is that it requires strength and a great deal of physical effort – this is
simply not the case. The emphasis of this method is on playing without any
unnecessary tension or excess force, using the hands in a natural, controlled
way that enables you to remain relaxed while playing.

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The Left Hand
Your left hand approach has a massive effect on the notes that you produce
and your overall tone. While it is true that you can create a number of tonal
variations by varying your right hand attack, the fundamental quality of the
notes that you play is determined by your left hand fretting technique.

Let’s take a look at the basic left hand position:

What do we notice here? Firstly, your left thumb should remain on the back of
the neck, roughly in line with your middle finger. Your thumb should not stray
over the top of the neck (producing the ‘monkey grip’) unless a) bending a
note, b) applying hefty vibrato or c) wearing your bass slung extremely low
and playing simple root-orientated lines. At all other times your thumb should
remain out of sight, resting lightly on the back of the neck.

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Now let’s look at the fingers of the left hand. For a moment, let your left hand
relax completely – notice how your fingers naturally curl over towards the
palm? This is the same position that your fingers should be in when playing,
using the natural curve of your fingers and allowing the left wrist to remain
straight.

Notice the difference between playing with this natural, relaxed hand position
and the one shown below, where the wrist is excessively bent and the fingers
are curved and stretched into an unnatural position.

Besides looking uncomfortable and

unnatural, consistently playing with an
overly bent left wrist and overstretched
fingers can be extremely damaging to
your body and your playing.

The more you bend your wrist, the less

blood can flow through to the fingers,
which means that your hand works less
efficiently. Playing with the wrist bent
unnaturally also greatly increases the
strain placed on the muscles and
tendons in your hand, wrist and forearm,
dramatically increasing the likelihood of
developing an injury.

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The ‘One Finger-per-Fret’ System
Chances are that if you’ve ever picked up a bass guitar magazine,
instructional book or DVD then you will have heard of the ‘one finger-per-fret’
system of fingering. You may also be familiar with chromatic finger exercises
such as the one shown below:

The classic ‘1234’ finger exercise – one finger per fret

While it is extremely important that you have a level of control, coordination

and independence in all four fingers of your left hand, applying the ‘one finger-
per-fret’ religiously to all the music that you play is not always desirable. This
is especially true when playing in the lower portion of the fretboard, between
the first and fourth frets. Because the spacing between the frets is much
larger here than further up the neck, using the ‘one-finger-per-fret’ system in
this area means that you have to stretch your fingers excessively, placing a
large amount of strain on the left hand. We already know that this is bad
news, so what can we do instead to minimise the stress placed on the left
hand?

The answer is to adopt a slightly different fingering approach for passages

played within the first four frets of the instrument. Since the vast majority of
players spend the bulk of their playing time in this area of the neck, it’s worth
taking the time to develop a fingering system and hand position that makes
playing in this part of the fretboard as effortless as possible.

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In the lower portion of the neck, maintaining a natural, relaxed hand position
gives us a three-fret span because of the increased distance between the
frets:

Using a fingering system adapted from the double bass, which is more
physically intensive to play compared to electric bass, resolves the issue of
creating unnecessary tension in the left hand by using fingerings that allow
the hand to remain in a natural position. Compare the two fingerings shown
below for a one-octave F major scale in first position:

F major scale - ‘one finger per fret’ approach

F major scale - alternative fingering approach

The second fingering maintains the natural three-fret span of the left hand,
reducing the amount of physical effort required to play the scale.

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Now let’s examine fingerings for an F minor scale:

F minor scale - ‘one finger per fret’ approach

F minor scale - alternative fingering approach

Again, the one finger per fret approach results in an awkward and unnatural
hand position, while the second fingering uses small position shifts to maintain
the more comfortable three fret span.

In both cases, the alternative fingering allows the fingers to remain in a natural
position by reducing the amount of stretching required to execute the scale.
The use of supportive fingering is integral to getting the full benefit from this
fingering system.

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Supportive Fingering
Consider the alternative fingering given above for the F major scale. If we
examine the fingering for the first five notes, we see that all of the fretted
notes use the first or fourth fingers of the left hand.

The first finger of the left hand will naturally be the strongest finger, and so
does not require any help in fingering notes, but because of the way that your
hands are constructed, the fourth finger will be much weaker than the first.
Because of this, the first three fingers of the left hand are used to press down
on the string and support the fourth finger when fretting notes. This support
not only reduces the strain placed on the fourth finger, but also results in a
more secure fingering, which will ultimately produce a stronger, more even
tone from the instrument.

When the second finger is used, the first finger provides additional
support:

When the fourth finger is used, the first three fingers provide support:

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Chromatic finger exercises

Lets look again at the classic ‘1234’ exercise again:

‘1234’ exercise in first position

While this exercise is undoubtedly a good way to build control and finger
independence in the left hand, it should NOT be performed in the first position
as shown above. As we have already seen, applying the one finger per fret
system in this part of the fretboard is physically stressful, so should be
avoided at all costs. I have seen a number of tutors, method books and
instructional DVDs present this exercise as shown above – this is both highly
unnecessary and potentially damaging, SO DON’T DO IT!

The benefits of finger independence exercises can still be gained by playing

them higher up the neck, where the frets are closer together and the one
finger per fret system can be used while maintaining a relaxed hand position:

‘1234’ exercise in 8th position

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In this position, the left hand can comfortably achieve a four-fret span, with
one finger assigned to each fret:

So, in conclusion, the one finger per fret system can (and indeed should) be
used in order to minimise extraneous left hand movement when playing
passages that fall into positions above the fifth fret, where the left hand can
comfortably maintain a four-fret span without any unnecessary stretching.

However, in the area between the first and fourth frets the one finger per fret
system should be avoided at all costs. Instead, you should adopt fingerings
that allow you to maintain a three-fret span, using supportive fingering
wherever possible.

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The Right Hand
The debate as to what constitutes ‘correct’ right hand technique is as yet
unresolved, and there are a number of different approaches advocated by
educators, instructional methods and pro players. Part of the problem stems
from the fact that not everyone is physically identical, so what may be
comfortable to one person may be awkward for another. Combine this with
the fact that almost all the major bass manufacturers produce instruments that
vary in body shape and size as well pickup positioning and you begin to see
why no one right hand approach has become the ‘standard’ method.

As such, the method outlined below is not meant to be viewed as the definitive
guide to right hand technique. The approach that I recommend has been
developed as a result of my experience as a player and tutor, discussions with
a number of other professional bass players and interviews with health
professionals that specialise in the treatment of musicians.

This method is designed for players with basses that have Fender-like
proportions and pickup positioning (apologies to those readers with
Musicman-style basses!).

Hand Positioning
Stand with your bass hanging at a comfortable position (see chapter 1 for
guidelines regarding standing posture and strap height). With your shoulders
relaxed and level, bring your right thumb so it is resting lightly on the front
pickup of the bass. The aim is to be able to rest your right hand in this position
without bending the right wrist excessively – you may have to spend some
time experimenting with different strap heights in order to achieve this:

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Plucking
The way that you attack the string greatly affects the tone that you produce.
Our objective when developing right hand technique is to develop consistency
in terms of dynamics and tone regardless of what we are playing, and in order
to develop a consistent sound a consistent technique is required.

We’ll start by working on getting an even tone from each string individually:

With your thumb resting lightly on the front pickup, play a steady stream of 8th
notes on the E string, alternating between the index and middle fingers:

Your aim here is to play ‘through’ the string:

Index finger playing ‘through’ the string, coming to rest against the pickup

The choice of which finger you lead with is entirely up to you – I prefer to lead
with my middle finger, but many other players lead with their index finger. In

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order to truly develop your technique you should be able to lead with either
finger and still achieve a consistent sound.
Now we’ll repeat the previous exercise, this time playing steady 8th notes on
the A string. Your thumb can remain resting on the pickup.

Again, you will achieve a full, rounded tone by playing ‘through’ the string,
letting your fingers come to rest against the E string once they have played a
note.

The Rest Stroke

This method of bringing the plucking fingers to rest on the string below once a
note has been struck is an established part of classical guitar technique,
known as a rest stroke.

The advantages of using rest strokes are:

• Improved economy of motion, since each finger only moves between

the string being played and the string below.

• Greater consistency, as each finger always travels the same distance

when playing a note.

• Improved right hand string muting, as the fingers come to rest on the
unplayed string beneath them, which prevents any unwanted ringing.

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Now let’s look at using rest strokes to play on the D and G strings.

In order to maintain the angle at which your finger attacks the string you
should move your thumb from the pickup to rest on the E string. Again, this
helps to mute unplayed strings.

Practice playing steady 8th notes on the D string, focusing on creating an even
sound by playing through the D string and letting your fingers come to rest on
the A string after each note.

For notes on the G string, the thumb should again be moved to rest on the A
string. You should find that in this position the top side of thumb can easily be
used to mute the E string at the same time:

Thumb resting on the A string while simultaneously muting the E string

When practicing notes on the G string, focus again on playing through the
string and letting your fingers come to rest on the D string, while your thumb
rests in a natural position muting the lower strings.

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Putting It All Together
Now we can bring all of the previous exercises together to see how this
method works when playing across all four strings. We’ll start with a major
scale played through one and a half octaves up to the fifth degree. For the
sake of simplicity this example is shown in the key of C, but this fingering can
be applied to major scales in all keys. The * indicates a position shift.

In order to make this as clear as possible, we’ll examine the scale on a note-
by-note, string-by-string basis.

The first two notes, C and D, are played on the E string, with the thumb
resting on the front pickup.

E, F and G are played on the A string, with the thumb still resting on the
pickup and the fingers of the right hand playing through the A string and
coming to rest on the E string.

A, B, C and D are played on the D string, with the thumb resting on the E
string and the right hand fingers playing through the D string and coming to
rest on the A string.

E, F and G are played on the G string, with the thumb resting on the A string
and the right hand fingers playing through the G string and coming to rest on
the D string. The right thumb also mutes the E string.

If you’ve never used rest strokes in this way before, or you’re not used to
moving your right thumb to mute the strings then this exercise may be difficult
at first. Play the scale slowly, ascending and descending, ensuring that your
right hand is in the correct position at all times. Eventually playing rest strokes
and moving your thumb will become a habit, meaning that you won’t have to
constantly monitor your right hand to make sure that it behaves properly.

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The ‘Finger Path’
As you play across the four strings of the bass from low to high, the fingers of
the right hand will have a tendency to work with the forces of gravity and
move down in a straight line. This means that, because of the angle at which
your bass hangs on the strap, the distance between your thumb and your right
hand fingers will increase as you move up each string. By the time you reach
the G string, you thumb will be almost perpendicular to your plucking fingers
(depending on your physical makeup, obviously).

This movement is completely natural, so don’t fight it! When playing on the G
string you may notice that the angle created by your hand works to counteract
the difference in length between your index and middle fingers, resulting in a
smoother and more even attack when plucking.

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Raking
Since economy of motion when playing is one of our top priorities it makes
sense to limit the number of movements made by the right hand fingers when
playing a series of notes. When you encounter a passage that involves
moving down a string, you can use raking to save energy and improve the
fluidity of your right hand technique.

Let’s revisit the one and a half octave major scale that we used to get our rest
strokes in shape. Using a strictly alternating approach when descending gives
us this:

Now we’ll try the same thing again, but when we move down a string we’ll use
the same finger to play both notes. For example, when moving from the E on
the G string to the D on the D string, the right hand middle finger plucks the G
string and then the D string in one smooth ‘raking’ motion rather than coming
to rest on the D string.

Here’s the descending scale using raking throughout:

Again, it’s important to try this starting on both the index and the middle finger
in order to develop a more rounded right hand technique.

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