Bass Playing Tips

A bassist's responsibility is to be the foundation of the song.5 string bass guitar image by fisher from Fotolia.com

Electric bass players have the distinction of being the ones who musically anchor the harmony of the song with the rhythm. It takes both skill and practice. There are a few helpful tips for those who are beginning on the bass or are making the jump from another instrument. Regardless of playing style or whether you play with your fingers or a pick, these tips can help novices better play their new instrument.

Strap It On

A simple and often overlooked tip when it comes to the electric bass is how one wears the bass on a strap (provided most playing is done standing versus sitting). The trend tends to be R&B, jazz and funk players shorten their straps, thus bringing the bass higher on the chest and allowing for easier access to the strings. Many rock, punk and metal players wear their instruments quite low to add a coolness factor and stage presence. Regardless of how your bass idols wear their basses, experiment with different strap lengths. You want to find the right length that allows both your fretting and plucking hands to reach all the strings/frets comfortably, without overstretching.

Basses are inherently different from guitars, with larger necks and fatter strings. It may seem like a Herculean effort to try and get your fingers to fly across the fingerboard, but there's an easier way: fan your fingers out. By splaying the fingers of your fretting hand outward, each fret will be covered by one finger on your fretting hand (index over the 1st fret, middle over the second and so forth). As you move up and down the neck, maintain this hand position to keep your playing fluid and to try to minimalize missed and misplayed notes.

To know how to play your bass it to know where all the notes are and where to get to them without much fuss. There are several fingerboard shapes that can be memorized that will always sound harmonically balanced and will help you create bass lines, even if you're playing and find yourself getting lost. Provided you're in standard tuning, remember the root note's octave is only two frets and down two strings. Add the fourth and the fourth notes of the chord to the root and octave, and this simple basic pattern will help create a line in every genre of music. For example: the A is on the 5th fret of the E string, so it's octave (higher in pitch) is on the 7th fret on the D string. The 5th and 7th frets on the A string are the 4th and 5th (the D and E) notes of the chord. Practice this pattern up and down the neck with different roots, and you'll discover a simple, easy-to-use harmony.