BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 1 de 6

F R E T T I N G H AN D T E CH N I QU E

Las t time ar ound we dis cus s ed how to impr ove our technique by focus ing on the plucking hand, over coming the challenges
as s ociated with itís r ole in playing the bas s . T his time, we will focus on the fr etting hand as we continue to wor k at developing
and r efining the way our hands wor k together .

I f you have ever watched a gr eat clas s ical mus ician per for m, you have pr obably noticed s ome key elements in his /her playing.
Wor ld clas s clas s ical mus icians ar e s ome of the mos t dis ciplined player s with r es pect to technique. Much of the mus ic they
per for m demands intens e focus , dex ter ity, and cons is tency. I n s pite of the ex cellence demanded of them, however , a gr eat
clas s ical mus ician s tays ver y r elax ed and compos ed, and thes e tr aits allow him/her to r emain ex pr es s ive, dynamic, and mus ical
thr oughout a per for mance. Regar dles s of whether or not you ar e a fan of clas s ical mus ic, it is har d not to appr eciate the level of
technical mas ter y demons tr ated by its per for mer s .

Obvious ly, ther e is a lot to be gained as a bas s is t if we ar e to emulate the technical dis cipline of a clas s ical mus ician. I nter es tingly
enough, our bas ic technical appr oach as an electr ic bas s is t vir tually mir r or s that of a clas s ical guitar is t. For ex ample, look at the
way a clas s ical guitar is t holds his /her hands . Right and left hand pos itioning is vir tually identical to our s . T he main differ ence in
the plucking hands is that a clas s ical guitar is t plays us ing his /her finger nails ins tead of the finger tips . T he technique of the
fr etting hand, however , is bas ically the s ame. I n this ar ticle, we will attempt to incor por ate the r elevant as pects that apply to our
fr etting hands , s pecifically.

I n mos t applications , the bas ic technique of our fr etting hand r emains unchanged. For ex ample, whether you ar e us ing a finger
s tyle, s lap & pop, or muting appr oach with the plucking hand, the fr etting hand is es s entially doing the s ame thing. I íve put
together a lis t of 3 gener al guidelines to follow when wor king to clean up our finger ing:

1 . Avoi d u s in g a ì f l at f i n ger edî appr oach .

I n other wor ds , tr y to play mor e us ing the tips of the finger s . T his involves keeping the finger s of the fr etting hand s lightly
cur ved. (S ee Fig. 1)

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 2 de 6

T he r eas on for this is s o you can effectively minimiz e the s ur face ar ea coming into contact with the s tr ings and the finger boar d.
T he r es ult is better intonation and gr eater accur acy with your fr etting hand. T o demons tr ate this , think about how a fr etles s bas s
is played. Playing in tune r equir es one to pay par ticular attention to wher e the s tr ing contacts the finger boar d. A move in the
s lightes t dir ection for war d or backwar d with the fr etting finger will pull the pitch out of tune. T he mor e nar r ow the contact point
on our fr etting finger , the eas ier it is to play pitches accur ately. Although a fr etted bas s affor ds us the r oom to play in between
the fr ets without fear of pitch var iance, this concept is s till valid; a flat finger ed appr oach pr es ents a gr eater r is k of our notes
ìfr etting outî if our finger s ar e too far for war d or backwar d. (Obvious ly, this r ule does not apply if we need to ìbar î a chor d or
s ome other s hape on the bas s . I n ins tances like thes e, it becomes neces s ar y to flatten the finger s at leas t tempor ar ily.)

2 . K eep you r t h u m b at t h e back of t h e n eck.

Whenever pos s ible, tr y to avoid br inging your thumb over the top of the neck. T he higher your thumb is , the mor e inhibited your
r each will be for your fr etting finger s , es pecially when playing the lower pitched s tr ings of your bas s . A good place to keep the
thumb is s omewher e midway at the back of the neck s o you can max imiz e s tability and r each. (S ee Fig. 2)

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Although your thumb effectively becomes an anchor for your fr etting hand, you DO NOT want to s queeze har d with it! T her e
s houldnít be any ex ces s ive for ce coming fr om your thumb when fr etting notes on the finger boar d. A good way to tes t this is to
tr y dr opping the thumb off of the neck while your playing. (S ee Fig. 3)

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 3 de 6

I deally, you s hould s till be able to fr et the notes us ing only your other finger s . I f youíve ever felt pain in the thumb j oint or palm
of your fr etting hand, tr y this tes t and s ee j us t how much you ar e depending on the s queez ing for ce of your thumb. Jus t as the
plucking hand can benefit fr om us ing a movable anchor , s o can the fr etting hand. While you play, tr y allowing your thumb to
fr eely s lide over the back of the neck in all dir ections s o that it is bas ically ìfollowingî your fr etting finger s . T his will ins ur e that
you ar e s taying r elax ed and s ubs equently offer you max imum r each in all pos itions .

3 . Main t ai n s pace bet w een you r pal m an d t h e back of t h e n eck .

T he main pur pos e of this is to maintain cons is tency in hand pos ition, r egar dles s of what s tr ing you ar e playing. You will notice
that if your palm meets the back of the neck, it natur ally pulls your thumb over the top of the neck and tur ns your fr etting finger s
to a pos ition les s per pendicular to the s tr ings . (S ee Fig. 4)

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T his pos ition makes it much har der to play with cur ved finger s and contr ibutes to a lack of r each becaus e of the r ais ed pos ition of
the thumb. T o get a feel for a mor e beneficial hand pos ition, tr y placing your fr etting hand in a r elax ed open handed pos ition
away fr om the bas s (S ee Fig. 5),

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 4 de 6

and then s imply r ais e your hand to meet the neck of the bas s . As your hand meets the ins tr ument, your thumb s hould natur ally
move into pos ition about midway at the back of the neck, and your cur ved finger s s hould lay natur ally over top of the s tr ings .
(S ee Fig. 6)

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T his is a gr eat bas ic hand pos ition to get us ed to us ing, and you will want to maintain this pos ition r egar dles s of what s tr ings you
ar e playing on.

Her e ar e a couple of other mor e gener al points to keep in mind that will aid you in your technical development as a bas s player .
(T hes e philos ophies can be incor por ated into your plucking hand technique, as well):

Avoi d s h ar p w r is t an gles
T he impor tance of this can not be over es timated. S har p wr is t angles , combined with tens ion and fatigue, s ignificantly contr ibute
to bas s player s í hand inj ur ies , and thes e inj ur ies can s ometimes be ir r ever s ible. Although pr oblems s uch as car pal tunnel
s yndr ome, r epetitive s tr es s inj ur y, and tendonitis ar e beyond the s cope of this par ticular column, their pr evention is aided by the
avoidance of ex ces s ive s tr es s on the wr is ts . I n gener al, you want to keep your bas s at a height that allows a moder ate wr is t
angle for both hands . You will find that if your bas s hangs ex ces s ively low, a s har per angle is incur r ed by the wr is t of the fr etting
hand. I f you wear your bas s ex ces s ively high, the wr is t of your plucking hand will incur the s har per angle. Even if a player wear s
his /her bas s s omewher e in between, mos t end up s tr uggling with wr is t tens ion when they ar e playing in the lowes t r egis ter of the
bas s , clos es t to the heads tock. (S ee Fig. 7)

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 5 de 6

T he pr oblem is ex agger ated when a player tr ies to maintain a lar ge finger s tr etch in that ar ea, for ex ample the 5 fr et s tr etch fr om
F to A on the E s tr ing. (S ee Fig. 8)

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Figur es 7 and 8 ar e ex amples of the types of wr is t angles you s hould cons tantly avoid. An alter native s olution to cover ing this
dis tance with an uncomfor table s tr etch involves ìr eachingî into each s ucces s ive note while maintaining the s ame finger ing. Don't
wor r y about holding your hand in a s tr etched pos ition; ins tead, leave your hand in a r elax ed s tate, and as you play your notes in
or der one at a time, allow your thumb and hand to s lide into the nex t note. You can s till maintain a completely legato feel as long
as you r each s moothly and quickly. if you us e this appr oach you will pr otect your s elf fr om inj ur y while maintaining cons is tent
hand pos ition and pr oper technique.

S t ay r elax ed
T he benefits of r elax ation s hould be obvious to us as player s . T he tens ing up of our bodies r obs us of our endur ance, dex ter ity,
and technical agility. However , s taying r elax ed while playing is often eas ier s aid than done. Relax ation begins with the s houlder s .
Mos t player s that s tr uggle with tens ion in their playing us ually car r y mos t of their tens ion in their s houlder s . Nex t time you ar e
per for ming or pr acticing, take a moment to analyz e the height of your s houlder s , as well as the level of tens ion in your for ear ms
and hands . When you s top to take a br eak in between s ongs or ex er cis es , r elax and analyze this again. I f you dis cover a
s ignificant differ ence in the way your s houlder s , ar ms , and hands look or feel, you pr obably ar e playing with too much tens ion.
T he only way to get out of this is to ìpr actice r elax ing.î As s illy as it s ounds to ìmake an effor t to r elax ,î youíll find that the key is
to s imply maintain a cons tant s tate of awar enes s of how much tens ion you ar e car r ying at any given time. You can put this to
wor k for you immediately by incor por ating it into your pr actice r outine. While you ar e pr acticing, as s oon as you r ecognize that
your s houlder s or other par ts of your body ar e tens ing up, s top playing immediately. Dr op your ar ms to your s ides , r elax
completely, and then lift your hands to the bas s and s tar t playing again. As s oon as you feel your s elf s tar t to tens e up again, s top
playing and do the s ame thing. B y doing this , you ar e teaching your s elf to become mor e in tune with your body while becoming
mor e adept at s taying r elax ed.

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BASS PLAYER Lesson Three Página 6 de 6

I hope that thes e points will help you to get to the nex t level in your playing. Pleas e r emember that not all of thes e s kills can be
developed over night. T her efor e, it is vitally impor tant that you ex hibit patience as you wor k on thes e. What we donít want to do
is fall into our old habits out of fr us tr ation. Allow your s elf the fr eedom to make mis takes as you ar e developing, and above all
els e, tr y and have a gr eat time playing!

Until nex t time!

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