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Trouble playing while standing.

P

ptro

Oct 14, 2007
7
0
#1
Whenever I've practiced I've sat down while doing so. However, a few days ago I came to the realization that I'd have to play while standing eventually, and should start practicing that.
I soon encountered difficulty in this. Basically what's frustrating me is that the angle of my bass neck isn't vertical enough. It's almost completely horizontal, and because of this, I'm having to bend my wrist a lot on my fretting hand to be able to play decently. Everytime I try and readjust the strap it just slides back down
Any suggestions?
 
#3
thicker/wider strap will help. try shortening it too. if so just adjust the bass neck to the angle/hight you want and hold it there with your left hand - it'll wear you out eventually but you'll get used to it. But a thick leather strap and raising your bass a little would be a great way to start
 
#4
ptro said:
Whenever I've practiced I've sat down while doing so. However, a few days ago I came to the realization that I'd have to play while standing eventually, and should start practicing that.
I soon encountered difficulty in this. Basically what's frustrating me is that the angle of my bass neck isn't vertical enough. It's almost completely horizontal, and because of this, I'm having to bend my wrist a lot on my fretting hand to be able to play decently. Everytime I try and readjust the strap it just slides back down
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

+1 the new strap. Spend money on your strap. Cheapies won't do. Also, make sure it's high enough on your body, and that the neck is tilted your way. If you adjust your strap while you're sitting down to be tight, then it should be the same as you are when you're standing.

I play better standing up, and in fact hate playing sitting down. 25 years I've done it this way.
 
#8
For some reason it's cool to play with your bass hanging down at your knees. While that may be fine for metal players who don't necessarily need a lot of left hand mobility and lets them stretch their picking arm out it doesn't work well for people who need more freedom of left hand especially in first position. Always adjust your strap to where your bass lays when you are playing seated and when you stand up, voila! Correct height. Your friends might laugh at you because your bass is up high, but he who laughs last is probably the bass player who can play better then the other guys.
 
#12
yeah the only way to get better at playing while standing is just to do it alot.

normally im to lazy to get a strap all set up and stand. so normally i just play on a stool. it sucks though because i develop all these bad habits that i need to work out once i stand back up. yeah... fat and lazy = me.
 
#13
I love leather/suede straps. Nylon slips way too much! I never take my strap off my bass. Don't feel comfortable just holding it in my lap, basses can be slippery little fellas and thump onto the floor :(.
Definetly practice standing up if you're gonna gig standing up. Practice in the semi dark (or even in the dark). I found out the hard way that most gigs are in nice dark corners.......and when you're used to being able to see the frets and all of a sudden you can't it's trouble! I put some of those glow in the dark fret markers on my bass because of this :).
Also, check the angle you hold the neck at. I realized the other night....as I'm playing....that my bass had slid a bit on me and was leaning towards the floor a little bit (instead of angled up a bit towards me). That's all good until I went to play I Will Survive (cake version bass line) and got out of hand position and started the pattern one fret down (gack).. when I glanced down to fix my position I couldn't see the top 3 strings and had to real quick lean back and reset my bass. lesson learned...I'm looking at the fretboard too much for that song and gotta practice it with eyes closed a bit.
Practice your songs under the worst possible conditions because that's what you might run into at a gig.... standing up.... squashed in a corner where you have to angle your bass up more than normal... dark corner...bright flashy lights blinding you so you can't see the fretboard (effect lights always manage to be pointed my way)...turn off your amp and play without it.... build strength in left hand so if you have to you can keep playing just the left hand and use the right to reach over and replug in whatever cable a "patron" stepped on... or so you can adjust your eq when you have to...or so you can hold singers guitar up while a slipped strap is being put back on while they're singing (happened!)... bass players motto is *be prepared* :).

Plus, sitting down, bass tends to angle toward you so you can see the whole fretboard and standing up you can't-leading to variations on above scenarios of 'can't see" :).:hiding:
 

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