BASS-ic Tips #1 by Woody

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with your bass-ic questions.

1. One of the most bassic and important "foundational cornerstones" (is that redundant enough?) for playing consistently is to make sure your strap length is consistent, and comfortable, in all playing and/or practicing situations. In other words, when you sit to play, your strap should not change its position from when you're standing...the fewer parameters, the less your body has to adjust to changes, the more relaxed and consistent you can play. You can't wear your axe low to the ground and then expect to play the same sitting down...right? Trust me.

2. Through the years I've found that warming up, even away from the bass, helps me to be ready for any situation, playing-wise. Any hand specialist or physical therapist will certainly be able to give you exercises that can increase one's potential for healing or, in our case, staying in bass-ic shape. The stress of live gig situations and/or playing too hard or fast, or repetitious phrases played at length, can cause a great deal of damage over a relatively short period of time. I'm no doctor, bear in mind, but anything we can do to reduce the possibilities of that is worth it...right? Here are some bass-ic exercises I've found that seem to work for me:

a.  This first exercise is based upon opposing two muscles isometrically. Holding your right hand in your left hand (see photo below), place your left thumb on top of your right thumb and, pushing out with your right thumb, push down opposing it with your left thumb.  Continue with each finger, opposing with your left thumb.  Then switch hands.  Don't push too hard, though, as you may cause damage with too much pressure.  This is only to warm up the muscles.

b. The second exercise is done by squeezing the sections between your joints together for a few seconds each. Each finger has 3 separate sections for you to squeeze.(see photos below)

d. This final exercise looks similar to an old age "bust" exercise, but it actually is used to pull each set of fingers apart from a typical grasp, or closed fist. Switch hands and repeat, holding a few seconds each. (see photo below).

  Also remember to try to relax when you're warming up on the bass before a gig---take it slow. Let your muscles feel every nuance of your touch with your axe. It's like sight-reading ---take it slow to make sure you're not learning a bad habit.

3. Now here's a scale form I've found extremely useful, even when you're playing in a pop context, etc. It's called a half-step/whole-step diminished scale. Bassically a jazz scale, it has ties to "legit" contemporary composition as an octatonic scale form---in other words, it has 8 tones rather than the standard 7 tones you find in a major or minor scale. It's always good to have a reference point, ear-wise, for how a scale sounds, too. I used the motif from an old "Mission Impossible" theme by Lalo Schifrin to help me get the sound of this scale in my head. Here's what the scale looks like (try both fingerings listed below the staff, moving up chromatically, all the way up the neck...remember the 0's are open strings, so you'll have to adjust to the 2nd fingering pattern [1-134] when you move to start the pattern on your low F):

     Remember to start out slow. This scale can be used over a standard V7 chord to add a little sparkle to your bass line. Just be sure you know which alterations ( flat5th's, flat9th's, #5th's, etc.) the harmonic instrument is adding to the chord structure, so you'll have no conflicts, note-wise.

            Woody's BASS-ic Tips # 1:  Printable Page

  Woody's BASS-ic Tips # 2

Special thanks to Joyce Poore for use of her Woody photo,
 and to Ed Duncan for providing "exercise photos" on Bass-ic Tips pages.

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