Foundations

Bass: long scale (usually 34"), fretted or fretless, 4–6 strings. Sit or stand with the neck slightly up — the nut should sit near shoulder height so the fretting wrist stays relatively straight.

Fretting hand: thumb behind the neck (roughly opposite the middle finger), one finger per fret when possible (1–2–3–4 in a four-fret box). Keep the palm off the neck; only the thumb and fingertips contact wood/metal.

Plucking hand sits near the end of the neck or over the pickups. Most rock / metal bass here uses fingers (index + middle), not a pick — see Fingerstyle.

• Strap height — standing and sitting should feel similar. If standing feels like a different instrument, raise the strap.
• Neck angle — slight upward tilt reduces left-wrist bend on frets 1–5.
• Balance — the body should not dive; adjust strap buttons / strap locks if needed.

Pedagogy first: a painful setup teaches bad habits. You do not need a pro tech to start, but check:

• Action — strings high enough not to buzz, low enough that fretting does not fight you.
• Intonation — fretted 12th and harmonic 12th should agree; otherwise pitch lessons lie.
• String gauge — medium sets are fine for learning; ultra-light strings can feel “floppy” under gallop attack.
• Warm hands — 60 seconds of open-string i–m before anything fast.

From thickest (lowest) to thinnest (highest): E1 · A1 · D2 · G2.

• Shared tuner (bass · EADG) — or a clip-on.
• Same letter names as guitar’s bottom four, sounding an octave lower.
• Drop D and 5-string: Tunings.

Reference drill: tune open strings, then check fretted 5ths (E5 = A open, A5 = D open, D5 = G open). If fretted and open disagree, the instrument needs setup — do not “practice around” bad intonation.

Click each open string. Listen for even volume and a clean attack with no neighbor-string buzz. That is your baseline tone for every later drill.

Four lines — G on top, then D, A, E at the bottom (highest pitch on top, same convention as guitar).

G|--------
D|--------
A|--------
E|---0----   → open E

Numbers are frets. 0 is open. Rhythm is often implied by spacing or written above the staff — always prefer a click over guessing. More symbols: Reading & TAB.

G|----------------
D|----------------
A|--------2-------
E|-0--0-0-----0---|   original seed: root + gallop cell idea

Bass frets are wide. Do not stretch with a collapsed wrist.

• Fingertip pads — press just behind the fret wire, not in the middle of the fret space.
• One-finger-per-fret — default for scale boxes; pivot the thumb when shifting positions.
• Shift early — move the whole hand; do not leave pinky stranded three frets away.
• Mute neighbors — unused fingers lightly touch idle strings (see Muting).

Seed — chromatic box frets 1–4 on E, then A:

G|-----------------
D|-----------------
A|-----------------
E|-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-|  fingers 1 2 3 4

Two jobs: start the note (attack) and stop other strings (mute). Fingerstyle is the default engine for this room’s metal-oriented path; slap is a separate dialect.

• i / m alternation — never habitually double-tap the same finger at speed.
• Contact point — nearer the bridge = brighter / tighter; nearer the neck = rounder / fatter.
• Rest stroke option — pluck so the finger lands on the next string for punch.
• Thumb — anchor lightly on a pickup/string, or float for muting (both valid).

Deep dive: Fingerstyle.

• Role — lock with the kick; root motion before fancy fills.
• Right hand — fingerstyle attack, floating/anchored thumb, slap & pop.
• Groove tools — ghost notes, muting, rakes, space.
• Metal dialects — gallop drive, lead-bass lines, open-string drones, and harmonics.

Guitar room still helps for scale theory and fretting discipline; ukulele for light finger independence. Neither replaces bass pocket or slap.

Deep dive: Bass vs 6-string guitar — job, physics, habits to drop, one-week drill.

• Buzzing frets — not enough pressure, or finger too far from the fret wire.
• Sympathetic ring — open strings ringing under fretted notes → left-hand mute missing.
• Timing floats — playing “with the song in your head” instead of a click.
• Death grip — squeezing the neck; tone gets choked and stamina dies.
• Looking only at fretting hand — right-hand alternation falls apart unnoticed.

1. Open E / A / D / G — four even plucks each, i–m, with a click at 60.
2. Root on E fret 3 (G), fifth on A fret 5 — whole notes, then halves.
3. Add left-hand mute so idle strings stay dead.
4. Same root–fifth as eighths; still every attack lands on the grid.
5. Graduate to ghosts and gallop cells.

1. Week 1 — Tune daily. Open-string fingerstyle. Root–fifth on E and A. Record 30 seconds.
2. Week 2 — Muting + ghost notes. Simple 8th-note grooves with a click.
3. Week 3 — Gallop seed patterns (Gallop). Stamina bursts of 90 seconds.
4. Week 4 — One melodic line + natural harmonics (Lead bass).

• Open strings speak with a clear attack and a controlled decay — not a wash of open-string noise.
• Root–fifth shapes feel “planted”: both notes same volume, no buzz, rest between phrases is true silence.
• You can sing the rhythm of your part while the click is on.
• After a short session your fretting hand feels warm, not locked or tingling.

1. Tune E A D G.
2. Open-string i–m, one string at a time.
3. Root–fifth whole notes on E/A.
4. 10 seconds of total mute silence — prove the instrument can be quiet.

Practice gym · Bass vs guitar · Bass-only techniques · Write grooves · Fingerstyle · Muting