5 String Bass Exercises

[Rita Seliba]

Allof these exercises are simple but deep, and they touch upon fundamental principles of quality bass playing. Most of them have endless varieties to them. They can be learned on different strings, in different keys, with various bowings, dynamics, and articulations.

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Intonation is the ever-present demon that every bass player fights, no matter what their skill level, and I can say that it is the number one thing that I work on every day. That being said, I assure you that my intonation is not close to what I wish that it was, and probably never will be! There are a few warm-up exercises that I do each time I pick up my bass, and I'd like to share my absolute favorite with you. (I showed this one to Mark the other day -- I'm sure his wife loves hearing it! )

I'm not sure where I first learned this exercise; I believe it may have been at some master class in college. I'm sure some of you are familiar with it: the infamous -- and disgustingly named -- "Vomit Exercise." To do it right, a few things: this needs to be played Arco (using a bow) and you'll also need a metronome and a tone generator (many metronomes have this built in). This exercise focuses on accurate position shifts, and, if done correctly, may sound rather unpleasantly like a cat barfing up a hairball.

Set the metronome (your best friend) on a slow tempo -- 60bpm or less -- and get that tone generator blasting an A. Now that the room should be so loud that you can't think, it's time to give this a try. Starting with your first finger on the A on your G string, begin bowing half notes. I like to sit on this for a minute or so the first time through, so that my right arm can get into the groove of the tempo. Once you feel comfortable, we're going to play an A major scale up the G string, always alternating back to the A between each note of the scale. In time with the metronome, play the exercise using quarter notes (Click the diagram at the right for notation). Hold on! Here's the catch: the entire exercise will be played with your first finger ONLY. The first few shifts will be something like this: A-B-A-C#-A-D-A and so on. Once you reach the octave, it's time to do the same in reverse.

Take the exercise slowly, listening to (and tuning) the intervals against the droning A... this exercise is all about intonation and position shifts. Remember to keep your bow "in the string" and in constant motion with half notes; try to make the shifts as cleanly and quickly as possible, allowing no space in-between notes. For your first time, I would suggest playing the exercise only up to the D or E and continuing on after you have become comfortable with those first few intervals. Once you've "mastered" this (I'm at about 3 years and counting, so good luck with that!) try it on every string, and even with each finger.

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A big take away I got from the video is why bassists handle the neck the way they do ( flat fingers). You can always tell when a guitarist picks up a bass. Watching this bass review is an excellent example:

Great tips. The flat hand is going to be a problem for me. I have a hard enough time getting solid tones (no buzz) when I fret with the finger tip (pinky mostly). More finger exercises needed, I guess.

@JoshFossgreen great video.

I just returned from an extended vacation and had dropped my bass off for a set-up before hand. I knew my action was high, but I had gotten quite used to it that way. After picking it back up the last two days and playing, I can see how with the lower action, I will be able to increase speed especially in string crossing.

Unfortunately I now have to completely re-learn muting as I am now having string vibrations.

I am frustrated but never defeated and will go back to the beginning modules in the course to review as well as gain my confidence back.

Truly appreciate your dedication and passion.

Some time in the 1990s I purchased the popular Hot Licks video Finger Fitness by Greg Irwin. Back in the 80s and 90s, instructional VHS videos were all the rage and every hotshot bass player of the day would have their own release.

These digital pairs are each taken across from E string to G string (starting at the 5th fret) and back down again but a fret higher. This is repeated rising a fret each time until reaching the 9th fret. Then the pattern moves back down, one fret at a time until resting back at the 5th fret. The exercise is obviously easier to understand when you simply play it as written.

I thought this may help someone if you need to strengthen one of your hands, its pretty simple , just get a good thick rubber band and place it around the outside of your fingers and do open hand exercises.

I do 3 sets each day of as many times as I can open my fingers, rest then do another set.

This will not stop me from playing my bass guitar,,, as a matter of fact playing bass helps take my mind off the chronic pain I live with.

I used to have a private guitar lesson before and my mentor taught me this exercise as well and this is effective, even now before I play my instrument I stretch first until I feel the blood runs into my fingers and you will see the good result of it. The best recommendation to follow this advises!

I won't have an instrument until the week of filming most probably, so I'm trying to come up with some method of at least approximating the finger positions for each note, just so my surprise/fear isn't total when I first pick up the upright ;)

At the moment I'm doing exercises where I'm treating 2 frets as one [you wouldn't want to listen to it, but it gives me a feel for the longer scale].

Would anyone possessing both an electric & upright [I'm going to have to assume it will be a 4/4 not a rockabilly 3/4 size] be able to approximate the actual relative positions of maybe the first 7 'frets' on an upright as compared to a regular electric?

I know it can't be accurate, but if someone could even confirm treating 2 frets as one will do for now in terms of simply how far I need to be reaching to approximate the correct position, that might be a start.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about matching the 'notes' merely the fret positions/distances for a visual-only guide.

This is pretty close to the way people play double bass, but not 100% true. The most common technique people study (and the one I've been studying) is the one Franz Simandl wrote in his books New method for string bass.

Basically he goes the "safe" way, assuming you are an average person, not a 2-meter-tall person with giant fingers (like Ron Carter), where he can use the fingering us commoners use on the electric bass. What he does is that he uses the fingers 1,2 and 4 for the first eight positions, the fingers 1,2 and 3 for the ninth, tenth and eleventh positions and thumb, 1 and 2 (occasionally the 3rd as well) for the thumb position (which starts at the octave).

IMSP has the aforementioned books, so if you have the time you can practice some basic exercises from the first one (on the first positions), where you will be able to see the fingering to figure out how you should behave on the upright bass.

If you know the scale length of a string instrument, then you can calculate the position of each fret by taking the distance from the bridge to the previous fret (starting from the nut) and dividing it by 21/12 or 1.059463 (ignoring practical details like string height, gauge and tension, which do affect intonation but have only limited impact).

Roughly speaking there are 2 kinds of upright bass, depending upon where the heel of the neck starts. On a "D" bass when you hold the first string and slide down the neck your hand will naturally stop when you get to D on the G string. On an "Eb" bass the heel will stop you at Eb. So the heel will show you where the 7th or 8th fret is.

One thing that should help when you have a very short time to prepare is: write position markers on the side of the neck in pencil. Frets 5, 7, 9, 12, etc. just like the dot inlays on fretted instruments are very useful to have marked. And pencil marks are easily removed when you return the instrument.

That's still too much to use "one position per finger". What works well for me in the lower regster is "three position for four fingers", keeping fingers 2+3 together as a single virtual finger and stretching 1 and 4 as far as they will comfortably go. I'm sure this will look fairly authentic. See for example -hand

I ended up not getting hold of a bass until we were actually on set for the first day of shooting.

By the time actor/camera rehearsals were completed & they were ready to roll, I'd developed enough of a feel for it that it was actually no great effort.

We shot the same scene for a week - by which time I could do it in my sleep ;)

Consider a student who is new to the bass or perhaps one who is having some difficulty with the bow. Here are some steps I might take to help facilitate a comfortable bow hold. I like to start students with some gentle hand movements as a simple warm up. We warm up by gently moving the hand up and down at the wrist. I then have them flip their hand over so the palm of their right hand faces the ceiling. All their fingers should be relaxed and naturally curved (image 1). I point out that the shape of their hand in this position is similar to the shape of the hand needed for a solid bow hold.

Prior to working with the bow, it's helpful to practice the steps that I'll outline below with a pencil. Many classroom methods start students by practicing their bow hold with a pencil. Assuming students are playing a bit with the bow, I might first have the student hold the bow, by the stick, in their left hand. Second, I have the student place their right hand fingers on the stick of the bow and let them hang on the stick at the second joint (image 2). This gives the student the sense that the first, second, third, and fourth fingers should be connected to the bow. Third, have the student now slide their right hand back toward the frog placing their thumb on the frog of the bow. Fourth, make sure the students thumb is slightly bent or "bumpy" as in image 3.

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