Playing Bass Wrong

[TNCreature]

Damn, I wish that I had Spidery Fingers.
Welcome to TB, and welcome to the bass!
Lots of great info I this post. Enjoy!

 

[HardNHeavy]

Welcome aboard,
spidery isn't a bad thing unless you know exactly where your going with conviction. from that vid i'd say get your hand closer to and around that neck to really feel those strings vibrate or not. You'll be using them to do mutes on occasion. Wrap ya hand round that thang

 

[SloFingers]

Play chromatic scales along each string ... so 1st finger, 1st fret - keep it there while you then go to 2nd finger, 2nd fret (still fingering the 1st fret) - then go to 3rd finger, 3rd fret (while still keeping the previous two fingers on their frets) - then go to 4th finger, 4th fret (while holding down all four fingers on their respective frets). Repeat on the next string. Fingers can't fly if holding down the strings. This trains the muscles to stay close to the fingerboard.

The exercise is easier on guitar, but your fingers look long enough for doing it on bass. I don't have large hands, but I can do it, so I expect many people can. If it's difficult in 1st position, just move up a few frets to where it's comfortable, and do it there. The essential thing is holding all the frets down as you go, whatever position it's in. Do that a little bit every day, it becomes automatic to keep the fingers close to the board. Good luck!

Btw, thumb position looks pretty good already.

This^^
My instructor called this "The one finger drill". I practiced this using a consecutive 4 frets (say 7-10), on the D & G strings. Let all notes "ring out" (sustain) on the G string before moving ONLY one finger at a time to the A string and back. Easy to do while watching TV and cured my flying fingers in about 2 months.

EDIT** Making sure to finger right in front of the fret wire.

 

[monti2889]

I haven't read other comments, because they're quite long....this one may be too, but we'll see.
First, there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play. If what you're doing is causing pain, cramping, or other discomfort... obviously that's your body telling you to find a better way for you to accomplish that task. Some technique ideas that may help, forget about the "one finger per fret" rule, at least for now. You can develope that later as you try to build speed. Start with training your fretting hand about how much pressure you need to fret a note. The easiest way to do this, is remove your thumb from the back of the neck. Either let it float behind the neck...or usually when I do that excercise, I relax my thumb and it ends up riding along the bottom edge of the fingerboard.
Other technique issues to focus on are keeping your wrists straight and relaxed...this is most commonly a symptom of positioning. By that, I mean where and how you hold the bass. I was taught the "body amp" position...I find that's very limiting and requires more work to transition to play in a standing position. I personally prefer classical positioning, but that can pose problems for people with shorter arms. The best advice I can give is...start in a standing position with your bass. When you sit down, your bass should not move (much). The strap you use should be at least 3.5" wide, that will help with fatigue much more than one thinks.
For plucking hand, same wrist straight. And walk your fingers, each step should get you into position to take your next step. Get used to this motion and move closer to the neck, then closer to bridge. Be mindful of how the overall tone changes, but also how the strings change in feel. Also, be mindful of which part of your finger does the plucking and how you can pluck with the soft pad of your fingers and get a soft attack, or pluck with more nail and get a harder (more pronounced) attack.
When you're learning....focus more on ear training vs music theory. No matter what you do or play, there is some rule in music theory that will explain what you did, so that stuff will come naturally. In order to train ears, there are a few shortcuts to find the notes...like focus on learning notes from the nut to the 5th fret on each string....after that everything repeats. Your 5ths are directly above your current note, or down a string and up(towards the body) 2frets...octaves are similar, from a linear approach we are 12 frets up, but we are also, down 2 strings and up 2frets (right below the 5th we were just playing). There are a ton of different patterns around the neck, I would be mindful of them, but not focused on them. It's also a good idea to learn how these notes look on an F clef AND tablature. Learning sheet music is great for visualization and timing.
I want to wrap this up, but there's so much more to explore...I'll leave with addressing the comment about buzzing and choked notes. Hopefully some of the previous tips will help, but bass differs from guitar when it comes to fretting and sounding out the notes. You still want to press the string behind the fret, but instead of using the tip of your finger, you want to use the pad of your finger just below the tip. The softer part of the finger will help mute some of the unwanted overtones from the string vibrating against the fret. Also, this could be a symptom of not your technique, but an instrument that is not setup properly.

 

[Killing Floor]

Spidery?

Anyway, try raising the angle of your bass. Raise the headstock. Check in a mirror to see if that straightens your hand across the strings.

Also, I take issue with “wrong”. We’re all made differently. Our arms and fingers are different. If you hold your neck level, I can’t see your full arm, it looks like the reach/angle is causing your arm to twist. Hold your arm straight out in front of you palms up. Now rotate your hand so the thumb falls outward, counter clockwise left hand if you’re right handed. That’s what it looks like your hand is doing. If you elevate the headstock you’ll counter that arm twist to a more comfortable state.
Good luck.

 

[Runlikegregg]

Maybe just try to play less with your pinky until you have a bit more strength?

 

[fretlessman71]

Some people have a harder time than others when it comes to moving their fingers one-at-a-time, or getting pressure on one finger without resorting to using their whole hand to squeeze (which doesn’t really work anyway).

Any time that you move one finger, and it causes another one to move in response, it signals that some technique exercises would likely be very helpful.

Here are a few simple exercises I give to students for this:

Take an object like a six-sided die, or even a 9V battery, and hold it between your thumb and one finger. Squeeze it as hard as you can and hold for 3 seconds:

Then, squeeze it again, but this time, try to keep all four fingertips in a line:
Repeat for all four fingers on your fretting hand.

Here's another one: place all four fingertips on the G string (anywhere), each on its own fret :

Move your index finger to the D string, then your middle, then ring and finally the pinky. Then move the fingers one-at-a-time back to the G string. No need to pluck the strings. Do your best to only lift one finger as you go; a great way to do this is to concentrate on the 3 fingers you aren’t going to move, and squeeze them. The finger you’re trying to move by itself should pop right up. (This is easy for your index, but very hard for your ring - be patient!)

 

[aprod]

I haven't read other comments, because they're quite long....this one may be too, but we'll see.
First, there is no "wrong" or "right" way to play. If what you're doing is causing pain, cramping, or other discomfort... obviously that's your body telling you to find a better way for you to accomplish that task. Some technique ideas that may help, forget about the "one finger per fret" rule, at least for now. You can develope that later as you try to build speed. Start with training your fretting hand about how much pressure you need to fret a note. The easiest way to do this, is remove your thumb from the back of the neck. Either let it float behind the neck...or usually when I do that excercise, I relax my thumb and it ends up riding along the bottom edge of the fingerboard.
Other technique issues to focus on are keeping your wrists straight and relaxed...this is most commonly a symptom of positioning. By that, I mean where and how you hold the bass. I was taught the "body amp" position...I find that's very limiting and requires more work to transition to play in a standing position. I personally prefer classical positioning, but that can pose problems for people with shorter arms. The best advice I can give is...start in a standing position with your bass. When you sit down, your bass should not move (much). The strap you use should be at least 3.5" wide, that will help with fatigue much more than one thinks.
For plucking hand, same wrist straight. And walk your fingers, each step should get you into position to take your next step. Get used to this motion and move closer to the neck, then closer to bridge. Be mindful of how the overall tone changes, but also how the strings change in feel. Also, be mindful of which part of your finger does the plucking and how you can pluck with the soft pad of your fingers and get a soft attack, or pluck with more nail and get a harder (more pronounced) attack.
When you're learning....focus more on ear training vs music theory. No matter what you do or play, there is some rule in music theory that will explain what you did, so that stuff will come naturally. In order to train ears, there are a few shortcuts to find the notes...like focus on learning notes from the nut to the 5th fret on each string....after that everything repeats. Your 5ths are directly above your current note, or down a string and up(towards the body) 2frets...octaves are similar, from a linear approach we are 12 frets up, but we are also, down 2 strings and up 2frets (right below the 5th we were just playing). There are a ton of different patterns around the neck, I would be mindful of them, but not focused on them. It's also a good idea to learn how these notes look on an F clef AND tablature. Learning sheet music is great for visualization and timing.
I want to wrap this up, but there's so much more to explore...I'll leave with addressing the comment about buzzing and choked notes. Hopefully some of the previous tips will help, but bass differs from guitar when it comes to fretting and sounding out the notes. You still want to press the string behind the fret, but instead of using the tip of your finger, you want to use the pad of your finger just below the tip. The softer part of the finger will help mute some of the unwanted overtones from the string vibrating against the fret. Also, this could be a symptom of not your technique, but an instrument that is not setup properly.

Bad advice from the get go. There is absolutely a right way and a wrong way to play the bass.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

An exercise that's helped me much over the years goes as follows:
- fret a note on the lowest string with your first finger
- leave the first finger down, fret the next fret up with the second finger
- leave the first two down, use the third to fret the next
- with all three down, play the fourth note with you pinky
- leave 2-4 down, move the first finger up one string
- now the second
- the third...
- keep going up strings

This can help finger independence big time.

It might be easier to start up the neck, maybe the seventh fret, until you get comfortable lower.

This is an older, but excellent book to build finger independence: https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489

I suggest the old school paper version over the Kindle edition.

Have fun!

 

[fretlessman71]

Bad advice from the get go. There is absolutely a right way and a wrong way to play the bass.

I submit that there are many "right" ways to play the bass, just as there are many "wrong" ways.

 

[aprod]

OP, looks like you are at the very beginning of your bass playing experience. You need to develop dexterity and technique. Play as much as possible, just to have your hands on the bass. It doesn't have to be musical. Once your hands are strong enough, then you can start learning theory.

 

[kevindahl]

In the video you are playing in the range that will cause discomfort especially in the beginning.

If you are cramping stop. Maybe try playing up the fretboard so you can play for longer.

 

[KenD]

Hey,
As the title reads, I’m playing my bass wrong. My fretting hand doesn’t sit right on the neck and my fingers don’t hit the notes right. I get a lot of fret buzz for an action bass and my hands cramp a lot.
I had bass lessons in the middle of the covid surge and my teacher said my hands were “too spidery”.

Don’t mind what I’m playing, the bass isn’t even turned on.
Video for reference.

Two things I noticed that stand out:
- your fingers are moving waaaaay too much when not actually forming a note
- your fretting arm/hand doesn't remain perpendicular to the fretboard and your palm sometimes rolls side to side.

There are tons of exercises on the net to work on this. I borrowed some from a couple of jazz guitar instructors and THEY WORK! Essentially, your hand must be perpendicular to the fretboard and your palm flat. Your thumb is behind the neck, not curled over the top (there is a lot of debate about where the thumb should be positioned behind the neck). Your fingers are to be curled and feeling loose, positioned about 1/4'" above the strings.

The various exercises walk you through playing individual notes BUT only moving the finger that will form the note. The challenge is to make the other three remain as motionless as possible so that they remain in position, ready to play the next note. It's damned hard at first but I did a couple of those exercises for about 10 minutes every day at the beginning of my practice routine and it eventually became engrained in muscle memory.

As Scott Devine says "Most students greatly over-estimate what they can accomplish in a week and greatly under-estimate what they can accomplish in a year."

Good luck! Persevere and be patient with yourself. It will come

 

[Thumpin6string]

From what I see, you haven't got your hand strength, dexterity and coordination where it needs to be, yet. I used one of these to help with all of these when I was not playing.

 

[AGCurry]

Maybe just try to play less with your pinky until you have a bit more strength?

The most common defect I see in bass guitar technique is avoidance of using the fourth finger. You would have someone play wrong in order to play right? You would have someone not use a finger that needs to be strengthened? OP is playing root and the 5 above it. Other than open strings, there is no easier or better way to play that than first finger - fourth finger. Anything else causes stretching.

Some will probably reply with "There's no wrong way." That may be true for a tiny group of really talented people; the rest of us should learn best practices.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I wonder how many famous bass players have something "wrong" with their technique?

 

[mike buzzetti]

try as tennis ball to strengthen your fingers ( squish it ) also I use the flats of some fingers to help spread the load . makes it easier to hit and not PULL the string out of tune/ 2 cents

 

[fretlessman71]

I wonder how many famous bass players have something "wrong" with their technique?

Hundreds. We should start a thread and build a list. James Jamerson for one... Only used one plucking finger.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Hundreds. We should start a thread and build a list. James Jamerson for one... Only used one plucking finger.

I think Jack Bruce did also!

 

[SloFingers]

An exercise that's helped me much over the years goes as follows:
- fret a note on the lowest string with your first finger
- leave the first finger down, fret the next fret up with the second finger
- leave the first two down, use the third to fret the next
- with all three down, play the fourth note with you pinky
- leave 2-4 down, move the first finger up one string
- now the second
- the third...
- keep going up strings

This can help finger independence big time.

It might be easier to start up the neck, maybe the seventh fret, until you get comfortable lower.

This is an older, but excellent book to build finger independence: https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489

I suggest the old school paper version over the Kindle edition.

Have fun!

^^ This is a much better description than my pisspoor attempt!
.