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It's possible to squeeze the heck out of the neck with left hand, and the only results are that you're
inviting tendonitis and making the bass very difficult to play. By learning about accuracy in tip #47
and teaching your hand relaxation with tip #48, you can make left-hand fatigue a thing of the past
and greatly increase your mobility on the neck.

Try this experiment on a fretted bass. Put your first finger directly over the dot that's in between the B
and C on the A string. Your finger should be exactly in the middle between the two frets.
When you press down, the resulting note will be a C.
Play constant, repeated C's in the right hand. Try
letting up on the pressure and notice how quickly the
note wants to start buzzing. Go back and forth from
the clean C to the buzz to get a sense of the pressure
involved. Now move your finger up to the C so that
your finger is on or just slightly past the 3rd fret.

Play the constant C's and try letting up on the

pressure again. Notice anything different?
You should be able to tell that as you lift up it
doesn't want to buzz nearly as soon as when your
finger is directly in the middle between the frets.
Again, go back and forth from the clean C to the
buzzing.
As you lift up, try to stop just before the C starts to buzz. That amount of pressure, right before it will start
to buzz, is all the pressure that's needed to play a note on the bass. Is it less pressure than you normally
use? I thought so. Probably a lot less pressure.
By being accurate with the left hand and always having your finger in contact with the fret, you can use
a lot less effort to play the bass. Accuracy can be acquired just by being conscious of having your finger
in the right place every time you play a note. However, you still need tip #48 to teach your hand how to
reduce the amount of pressure involved. Check it out.

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 MI«IMI.IM f.

Now that you know how to locate your fingers in the left hand to allow you to use less pressure, you
need to teach your left hand exactly where that pressure point is for each finger. We'll start with the
2nd finger on a G (E string, 3rd fret). Make sure that you locate that 2nd finger just touching or slightly
past the fret you're using. Play constant repeated notes with the right hand just like in #47. Start out
with your finger just touching the string (no note should sound) and then gradually press down all the
while playing constantly with the right hand. Once the G stops buzzing and sounds cleanly, gradually
lift up with the 2nd finger until it begins to buzz again. Keep alternating buzzing and clean until you get
a sense of exactly how much pressure it takes to keep the note clean. Always be just on the verge of
buzzing. Once you think you have a handle on the pressure, play each note of the G major scale for at
least 30 seconds, just barely alternating between buzz and clean. Go up and down the scale at least
twice this way. It would be a good idea to start out every practice session with this exercise.
Here's an example of what the G should sound like:

•
Every once in a while, you can use this next exercise to test how well your fingers are learning the
pressure points. Play the same G major scale again. This time, just attack the note once with the right
hand, and with the left hand start out the note "clean" without buzzing. Then while it's sustaining,
barely lift up the pressure with the left hand until it just starts to buzz, and then return it to its "clean"
state. If your fingers have learned the pressure point, you should quickly be able to make it buzz but
be able to bring it back to clean without losing the note. If you release too much pressure while trying
to get it to buzz, the note will die out. Once you're able to play a scale anywhere on the neck with this
"clean-buzz-clean" kind of control, your left hand will be much more efficient. You'll be able to play
relaxed for hours at a time and move freely up and down the neck with very little resistance.
Here's an example of what the scale "pressure tesf' should sound like:

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