BASS LESSON ONE

This being your first bass lesson, we’ll start by getting you more acquainted with the bass itself. Now, first of all, I must insist that you use your index and middle fingers instead of a plectrum. The reason for this as that whilst in the short run, you might find it easier to use a plectrum, it tends to make the bass sound very tinny, whereas playing with your fingers gives it a much punchier and better sound.

The best way to practice this is just to play open strings using your fingers and move up and down the strings, alternating each finger. Over time, you will become faster with these fingers and you won’t even remember why you used a plectrum.

The next thing you should pick up is the 4-finger fret technique. It’s quite simply having 4 fingers on 4 frets on the fret board, preferably 4 frets that are next to each other, for example, on the A-string your fingers should be on the C, C#, D and D#. This really helps with moving about the fret board and getting your hand into the proper positions.

Finally, the last thing you will learn in this lesson is muting. Muting is mainly a funk based technique, but it’s also used within other types of music. The way muting works is as soon as you pluck a string, you instantly put your alternate finger on it, for example, if you pluck the string with you index finger, you instantly stop the sound with your middle finger. To continue alternating, you simply used the finger that’s muting you pluck the string.

So that is your first lesson. Practice these techniques as much as you can and be ready for lesson 2.