Fretting for Beginners
Fretting is one of the most important concepts around learning proper bass techniques. If you just picked up the bass guitar, you need to get the ground rules of clean fretting prior to anything else. What do you in fact want to be familiar with? Well here are some essential guidelines and instructions:
Keep your nails clipped and tidy. It is nearly impossible to play bass guitar with claws. Make sure you trim your fingernails prior to even picking up your instrument.
Discover your finger numbering. On bass guitar, your fretting fingers are numbered. One is the pointing finger. Two is the center finger. Three is your ring finger. Four is your pinky.
Arm positioning. You want your arms to dangle relaxed at your sides. Try not to get into the routine of resting your elbow on your leg when you sit down. Also, see that there is no tenseness in the shoulders.
Protect your wrist. As numerous musicians are subject to hand or wrist injuries ensure, you take notice of your body if you feel throbbing. It is normal for your fingers to hurt and be sore in the beginning, but you should never feel shooting or other types of piercing pain in your wrists.
Have your palm away from the bottom of the neck. Your hand should not meet the bottom of the neck. Instead, there should be a tiny pocket of air.
Press softly. Always try to push with token pressure while still getting a bright and keen tone.
Learn to adjust and tighten up your rhythm. This may perhaps seem logical, but it is harder than it seems. You need understand the difference between, say, 40 beats per minute compared with 60 beats per minute.
And as a final point, remember to rehearse, run through and practice. Learning bass techniques can be time consuming, but ultimately you will become familiar with your instrument.
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