I want to share with you some simple
concepts just about playing the
instrument whether you've been playing
it for a while a few years or you just
picked it up there's a reason why you
wanted to play the bass and it's because
you love it and you love that deep bass
sound and you've also heard other bass
players that you really enjoy so first I
just want to talk about creating a nice
sound on the instrument so just take
your bass stand up and I just want you
to try playing your D string
play it a few times and now if you
notice my finger is going directly into
the a string I'm pulling I'm going into
the a string I'm not using too much
effort really just pulling it
and letting it go same with the a-string
now is the e-string there's obviously no
other string behind it so what I kind of
like to think of is a turning motion
like you were turning a door or the key
to a car and just turn it and keep my
thumb under the fingerboard turn it that
way so I can still get a nice big sound
now if I wasn't stopping if I wasn't
going directly into the next string and
I was pulling outward not only am I
using way too much energy because I
always say bass players we're not lazy
but we have so much work to do
we're always playing in the band
constantly planning behind everybody's
solos and all that we want to make it
easier on ourselves so instead of
pulling away and out I have nothing to
stop me from doing that and I can't
hardly play all night like this or even
play an up-tempo song like that no way
I'm gonna fall over so just use the
natural at your natural energy of your
whole entire arm you know from your
shoulder down and use gravity let
gravity do all the work for you
and just go right into the next string
and also I want you to notice my
strength my think my index finger is
going into the next string I'm not
lifting it up right after I'm not going
and again you can play however is
comfortable to you as long as you're
using that gravity you can approach it
from the side this way I'm using two
fingers the main point I want to get
across is are you getting the the nice
sound that you want and if you would
like to play a little bit softer that's
fine too
as long as it's that's what you're
hearing in your head the goal I want you
to achieve is that any sound that you
hear in your head that sounds good to
you that you want you should be able to
get it on the bass so just a little bit
about tone and sound production
obviously if the more my right hand
slips up the fingerboard the softer that
sounds gonna get so you can mess around
with that as well just so you know where
your sweet spot is as we like to say on
every instrument it's different some
people you might see play almost even
past the fretboard you don't have to do
that you don't have to play up here you
play where the sound sounds really great
to you and for me on this instrument I
kind of like this sound right here I'm
just at the edge of the fingerboard but
you just play around with that just play
your open strings
and then start to mess around if you're
if you're just picking up the instrument
again the bass then you start to mess
around was having that strong left hand
you know when one finger is down they're
all down so if my pinkies down all the
fingers behind it are down and think
about having that nice sound again that
nice big tone and again my right hand
gravity is doing the work for me in my
left hand I'm really digging into the
string not to the point that it's
painful but I'm really digging in and
all my fingers are in the position where
they would be if I'm playing I'm playing
an F natural right now my first second
and third finger are down we don't
really use our third finger in this
position but if I were to play my second
finger it should be on a natural
my first finger should be on e-flat so
that's another thing that's very helpful
with your left hand you always want your
fingers to be in the position that
they're that they're on top of if my
hand was scrunched up like this and I
was playing F and I was playing I wanted
to play e-flat
I'd have to shift my whole hand back and
kind of contort my arm a little bit we
just want to make it easier on ourselves
like I said playing the bass we have so
much to do already let's make it easier
and along those lines we also want to
keep our fingers close to the
fingerboard as best as possible so I'm
going to demonstrate this just by
playing an F major scale and I'm going
to do it a little bit sloppily okay that
was super sloppy it was still like for
the most part in tune but did you notice
how I shifted way too much took my hand
off the fingerboard way too much
unnecessarily I took my hand off there I
shifted there unnecessarily I collapsed
my hand which feels good at the moment
but boy am I gonna get tired after a
while playing like this the more I
shifted up my hand position scrunch and
then I get quite out of tune so I want
you to think about keeping your fingers
close to the fingerboard keeping them
almost like they're just floating over
the fingerboard
so I'm ready to play any note that I
want in that position also you can get
pretty close to this with keeping your
hands close to the fingerboard you might
slip up sometimes and lift your fingers
too much and not have your fingers press
down I'm playing see natural and my
first fingers up and my pinkies having
to do way too much work so practice your
scales slowly in a mirror too so that
you can see what's going on
also if all my fingers aren't pressed
down all the way when I'm playing with
my pinky or my second finger I have a
great potential to start buzzing the
string like this and the sound isn't
going to come out because I'm not firmly
pressing down with all my fingers so if
that happens to you and you start to
buzz and you're not sure why usually
it's your left hand and it's a really
simple issue to fix you just have to
remember mmm I need to press my hand
down so if you're having some of these
sort of complications while you're
practicing I always find it useful say
I'm having an issue with buzzing and
keeping my hand pressed down and maybe
keeping my right hand close to the
fingerboard I'll have on my music stand
in front of me just a little note while
I'm practicing my scales that says
strong left hand keep right hand lower
just as a little bit of a reminder and
that's totally cool to have because what
we want to have as a bass player is a
nice strong sound and to be completely
clear
thanks for watching the lesson and I
hope you enjoyed it if you want to learn
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