What do you think is the best way to warm up

[papabear82191]

when ever im waring up i always kinda switch it up from chromatic scales to practicing pentatonic and weird stuff like the spider exercise but im wondering what do you all do to warm up or do you warm up at all. Also if your looking for some great bass tips i have a blog at Bass Guitar Tips

keep it grooving and keep it low

[WilliamSandoval]

I play "Born under a bad sign" faster and faster.

[BassMan4Him]

Blanket, or hot hands

[fearceol]

Before I even pick up the bass, I spend five minutes or there abouts, doing gentle stretches. IMO, going straight into doing the spider exercise from the very start, without doing stretches first, is not good. The spider is not a warm up exercise in itself IMO. After the stretches I usually do some chromatic scales etc., but the stretches are the most important thing in warming up. Here is a link to fellow TB'er Chris K's site, which deals with, among other things, keeping the hands in good playing condition.



Chris K | Shakin' the grounds


EDIT : Had a quick look at your site. I appriciate that your intentions are good, but in the R/H technique section, you advise people to keep their thumb on the pick ups. With this technique the wrists are bent at a severe angle, which can lead to all kinds of wrist and hand problems later on.

[MikeBC]

Originally Posted by BassMan4Him

Blanket, or hot hands

My favorite is to stand by a Vermont general store's pot bellied stove.

[Joe Nerve]

I like jacuzzis. But you always feel colder when you get out.

[Jpeachbass]

A director/Pianist turned me on to this. Do your light stretching. Then instead of hot water, run your hands under cold water for 10 to 30 seconds. I tell you what, this got rid of all of my fatigue issues and my joint pain. And playing live 5 hours a day 7 days a week on a ship, joint pain is just something you get used to. About every hour during the break ill do this. The whole warm up for me is stretch, cold water, quick stretch, the mode ex, and stretch. Works for me.

[papabear82191]

Originally Posted by fearceol

Before I even pick up the bass, I spend five minutes or there abouts, doing gentle stretches. IMO, going straight into doing the spider exercise from the very start, without doing stretches first, is not good. The spider is not a warm up exercise in itself IMO. After the stretches I usually do some chromatic scales etc., but the stretches are the most important thing in warming up. Here is a link to fellow TB'er Chris K's site, which deals with, among other things, keeping the hands in good playing condition.



Chris K | Shakin' the grounds


EDIT : Had a quick look at your site. I appriciate that your intentions are good, but in the R/H technique section, you advise people to keep their thumb on the pick ups. With this technique the wrists are bent at a severe angle, which can lead to all kinds of wrist and hand problems later on.

thanks for checking out the site but as far as the right hand goes i was suggesting to more or less find a comfortable spot on your bass like for example i like to to play alot of rock and i like playing in between the pick ups and i use my thumb on the pick up only when im hitting the E but when i move up i move my thumb up the strings as well. im just courous what you do for leverage when you play or do you just not support your hand with your thumb?

[madmatt]

A couple of bowls and a beer.
Oh, waitaminute...

[Matthew_84]

Originally Posted by papabear82191

thanks for checking out the site but as far as the right hand goes i was suggesting to more or less find a comfortable spot on your bass like for example i like to to play alot of rock and i like playing in between the pick ups and i use my thumb on the pick up only when im hitting the E but when i move up i move my thumb up the strings as well. im just courous what you do for leverage when you play or do you just not support your hand with your thumb?

Not to speak for the guy who prompted ur response, but I thought I'd share what I do. I don't support my thumb at all. I found out that when I support it on top of a string that I can make an unwanted noise when I take it off. So I lean my thumb against the lower strings to mute them, and I simply slide my hand and thumb with it, up and down the strings, which severely helped clean up my sound. When I'm on the E, I keep my thumb floating as if there were more strings to lean it against, this makes my transitions smoother as well.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by papabear82191

im just courous what you do for leverage when you play or do you just not support your hand with your thumb?

I use the floating thumb technique described here :



YouTube - ‪Todd Johnson Bass Guitar : Floating thumb technique‬‏

[papabear82191]

thanks alot for the link it makes sense and i see what you mean about the muting aspect of the technique and im gonna try this for a little while in my practicing and see how it goes.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by papabear82191

thanks alot for the link it makes sense and i see what you mean about the muting aspect of the technique and im gonna try this for a little while in my practicing and see how it goes.

You are welcome.

[OmnitzGarima]

Originally Posted by madmatt

A couple of bowls and a beer.
Oh, waitaminute...

well ... ... I just play a little to warm up, nothing in particular.

[Skitch it!]

Span your hands out to their full extent, not forcibly, then clench them into a fist and hold them there for a few seconds, but not too much pressure. Do that a couple of times and then shake your hands out loosely, piano calisthenics, but don't over-do it.

[enricogaletta]

For me the best way are two:
if I have short time to warmup I play three "bass songs" for three main techinique, a classical piece for fingering, one for slap and one to mix slap, fingering e tap. It doesn't matter the tempo, if you are in Alaska with -30C° it's much better start with slow tempo, otherwise you won't get any result :-)
If I have longer time I play a recap of some stretching exercise, all scales in all positions on all fingerboard, same for the arpeggio and I apply the same rule to slap technique, off corse is a 30-40' warmup and i just make a short summary. If you need more info let me know and I would like to help you.
Cheers.
Enrico
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