| "Proper" technique, at least in the way that it applies to instruments that have had a lot longer of a history than the electric bass guitar, typically refers to what academic powers have deigned to be the safest and most efficient means of playing the instrument and controlling what sound you produce. Usually they're correct, but because the bass is a relatively new instrument, and there are fifty thousand different ways of playing it, there isn't a general consensus on the best methodologies to tone production, speed, fingering, etc. This, in my opinion, isn't really important - somebody with an unusual method can arrive at the same results with somebody who doesn't use that method, and there isn't any sort of academic disdain for "improper technique" (well, not AS much)
What IS important here is one of two things. First and foremost, what should be considered "good" technique on the bass is what should be healthy technique. Things like bent wrists, unnecesary tension in the hands, wrists and shoulders and playing with an excessively hard touch (vice grip in fretting hand, digging in too hard in left) can cause serious injury in the long run, which will prevent you from playing. These sorts of things are definitely bad technique, no two ways around it. Yes you will see the heavy hitters play with bent wrists (Victor Wooten), and the heavy hitters play with a hard touch (John Myung), but in order to be there where they are today playing without injury they had to figure out how their bodies worked with their instrument without causing carpal tunnel. That's what the whole "NO BENT WRIST" thing is about, getting you to at least start thinking about safety.
The other component in my definition of good technique is "investigated" technique, and what I mean by that is technique which has had thought put into it. A person who has just started out hasn't put any thought into fingerings, and just uses whatever finger is available. A person who commits to a method, like one finger per fret or Simandl 124, in my opinion, has better technique than the first one. A person who has put thought into what sorts of fingerings to use on what patterns beyond simply thinking 1 finger per fret or 124 has attained an even higher level of technical ability. As long as there is thought put into the details, it's irrelevant if there is a uniform outcome - whatever you work on will, presumably, be the best for you, so long as you work on it. The masters of the instrument have put considerable time and thought into their own playing and developed their own unique voice in how they approach playing the instrument, in addition to playing the instrument. It is this "thought" that goes into the technique that should be considered what makes technique "good".
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