Fretting is one of the key concepts behind learning clean bass techniques. If you just picked up the bass guitar, you should want to pick up the basics of decent fretting prior to everything else. What do you have to understand? Well here are some useful directions and information:
Keep your nails clipped and tidy. It is incredibly difficult to play bass guitar with claws. Ensure you pare your fingernails before even picking up your instrument.
Memorize your finger numbering. On bass guitar, your fretting fingers are numbered. One is the pointing finger. Two is the median finger. Three is your third finger. Four is your pinky.
Arm positioning. You want your arms to hang loose at your sides. Decide not to get into the Habit of resting your elbow on your lap when you sit down. Also, make sure that there is no tightness in the shoulders.
Care for your wrist. As many musicians are subject to hand or wrist injuries ensure, you should listen to your body if you feel soreness. It is common for your fingers to sting and niggle to start with, but you should never feel shooting or other types of serious pain in your wrists.
Keep your palm away from the underside of the neck. Your hand should not contact the underside of the neck. Instead, there should be a small pocket of space.
Push softly. Always try to push with minimal force while still getting a fresh and precise tone.
Learn to contrast and tighten up your tempo. This may possibly seem obvious, but it is harder than it seems. You must know the contrast between, say, 40 beats per minute compared with 60 beats per minute.
And finally, remember to rehearse, exercise and practice. Learning bass techniques can be time consuming, but in time, you will become familiar with your instrument.
Keep your nails clipped and tidy. It is incredibly difficult to play bass guitar with claws. Ensure you pare your fingernails before even picking up your instrument.
Memorize your finger numbering. On bass guitar, your fretting fingers are numbered. One is the pointing finger. Two is the median finger. Three is your third finger. Four is your pinky.
Arm positioning. You want your arms to hang loose at your sides. Decide not to get into the Habit of resting your elbow on your lap when you sit down. Also, make sure that there is no tightness in the shoulders.
Care for your wrist. As many musicians are subject to hand or wrist injuries ensure, you should listen to your body if you feel soreness. It is common for your fingers to sting and niggle to start with, but you should never feel shooting or other types of serious pain in your wrists.
Keep your palm away from the underside of the neck. Your hand should not contact the underside of the neck. Instead, there should be a small pocket of space.
Push softly. Always try to push with minimal force while still getting a fresh and precise tone.
Learn to contrast and tighten up your tempo. This may possibly seem obvious, but it is harder than it seems. You must know the contrast between, say, 40 beats per minute compared with 60 beats per minute.
And finally, remember to rehearse, exercise and practice. Learning bass techniques can be time consuming, but in time, you will become familiar with your instrument.
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