Playing standing up

[bass65]

When I play am almost always sitting down right from day 1 (3 months ago). I have tried to play standing up but I find it much more dufficult. Anybody else had dufficulty playing standing up, and how did you fix it so you could play standing up.
Thanks

[Thee]

When I play both guitar and bass sitting down, I always play with a strap, with it in the kinda "classical guitar/between the legs" position. That way the guitar's kinda in front of you, like it would be when standing up.

Also, just play standing up more often. I remember a slight learning curve, but it's real easy once you get the hang of it.

[Aaron Saunders]

I find it remarkably difficult to intonate in the lower positions when playing standing up with my fretless! I've only ever done one song live with it, but it was a sitting down acoustic duet of DMB - Crush, so I've never HAD to stand up with it, thank-god. I play my fretted standing up all the time, though -- no worries on that. It just takes practice. Try adjusting your strap so the height of the bass doesn't change when you stand up.

[CJK84]

bass65,

Are you adjusting the shoulder strap so that the instrument is high enough to play comfortably?

It looks cool to have the bass slung low, but makes it difficult to play.

Also, keep the head of the bass at least a little higher than the bridge (the instrument should not be parallel to the floor).

Some of the pros have the head much higher than the bridge. I prefer a somewhat more horizontal position (then again, I'm no pro!).

Also, keep your fretting hand thumb behind the neck of the bass. It should rarely, if ever, be positioned over the top of the neck - this limits the reach of your fretting fingers.

And play with a light touch - keeping your shoulders, forearms, and hands as relaxed as possible. Your fretting hand thumb, for instance, should be applying only light pressure to the back of the neck.

If you play fingerstyle, your fingers should usually be plucking the strings lightly (at least most of the time).

Keep the bass up kind of high, while playing with a relaxed, light touch.

Good luck!

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by bass65

When I play am almost always sitting down right from day 1 (3 months ago). I have tried to play standing up but I find it much more dufficult. Anybody else had dufficulty playing standing up, and how did you fix it so you could play standing up.
Thanks

Adjust your strap (if you have one) to where the bass is in the same place on your body while standing and sitting. This is considered "proper" It should also help you out since the bass will be in the same spot as when you were sitting.

[bass65]

I never thought about adjusting the strap I'll give it a go thanks for your replies

[MuzikMan]

Aside from adjusting the strap (most important) just keep in mind that practice makes perfect, so start standing up now. I faintly remember having the same difficulty 20 years ago but rest assured it is no problem now.

FWIW I really like the suggestion of bringing the hight of the bass up into a sitting style comfort zone. To me it feels much more comfortable higher than lower.

As far as looking cool goes forget about it. You'll look much cooler kicking ass with a higher bass anyway!