Bass-only techniques

Strict i–m alternation

Index/middle as a clock. Non-negotiable for even 8ths and gallops. Lab: Fingerstyle.

Floating vs anchored thumb

Thumb mutes lower strings while fingers play higher ones — a bass default, rare as a primary guitar habit.

Rest stroke vs free stroke

Rest stroke (land on the next string) = punch. Free stroke = lighter, faster string jumps.

Raking

Drag across muted strings into a target note for aggression without new pitches. Detail: Muting · rakes.

Slap & pop

Thumb strike + snapped string. No true parallel in the guitar room’s core path. Lab: Slap & pop.

Dead notes as rhythm

Ghosts (x) are part of the groove grid — pitched silence with attack. Guitar chucks exist; bass ghosts are continuous 16th language.

• Left-hand mute blanket — unused fingers kill sympathetic ring on long-scale strings.
• Pivot fretting — keep a finger planted as an anchor while others shift for root–fifth moves.
• Guide fingers — slide lightly along a string to the next root without lifting out of position.
• Hammer / pull as bass glue — connect roots without extra right-hand attacks (use sparingly in pocket parts).

Root–fifth

G|----
D|----
A|--2-   fifth
E|-0--   root

Moveable. Gallop or pulse the root; answer with the fifth.

Play root–fifth Stop

Root–octave

G|----
D|--2-
A|----
E|-0--

Thickness for choruses without muddy thirds.

Play root–octave Stop

Root–fifth–octave roll

One-at-a-time roll across the shape — lead-bass colour, not a strum. See Lead bass.

Pedal under moving chords

Hold a low tonic/dominant while harmony changes — arrangement tool unique to the floor instrument.

Four short loops, all on A. Each is one of the techniques above with nothing else going on, so you can hear what it adds.

Ghosts between roots

Root on every beat, a muted x on every &. The ghost is lighter and dead — fretting hand touching, not pressing.

Play ghosts Stop

Rake into the root

Drag one finger across the muted G, D and A strings and land on the low E string root. Three clicks and a note, all in one motion.

Play rake Stop

Anticipation

A for three beats, then D arrives on the & of 4 instead of beat 1. Half a beat early is the difference between a line that waits for the band and one that pulls it.

Play anticipation Stop

Octave jump on the hook

The same rhythm twice, low then an octave up. Same notes, a different section of the song.

Play octave jump Stop

• Kick lock — place attacks on kick; everything else is decoration. Grooves.
• Space as a note — programmed rests; full mute, not lazy sustain.
• Anticipation — hit the next root on the & of 4. Write grooves · templates.
• Gallop cells — metal drive language. Gallop.
• Walking quarters — jazz/blues chord-tone lines. Walking.

A pedal holds one bass note while the chords above it move. On A in eighths, under A · G · D · A in the guitars, the bass does not move at all — the tension comes from the chords leaving it and the release from them coming back. Keep the eighths dead even and the volume flat; a pedal that grows louder stops being a pedal and becomes a riff.

Try it with the Backing band on a four-chord loop: pedal the key's root for the first two chords, then follow the roots for the last two.

• Natural harmonics — nodes at 5 / 7 / 12. Harmonics.
• Pinch / artificial harmonics — metal accents; harder on bass than guitar.
• Slides into chord tones — vocal-like entries for fills.
• Vibrato on sustained lows — slower and wider than guitar vibrato usually wants.
• FX as expression — wah / OD / swells for lead-bass sections — musical intent first, pedals second.

1. Drop out — silence for 2–4 bars before a chorus hit; the entrance is the fill.
2. Octave jump on the hook — same rhythm, higher register for one section.
3. Unison with kick only — strip melody; become a second kick drum.
4. Counter-melody under the solo — sparse, low, and rare; see lead-bass restraint rules.

1. 5 min — i–m open strings + floating thumb mute.
2. 5 min — root–fifth shapes moving around the neck on a click.
3. 5 min — write one verse/chorus pair for a 4-chord loop (method).
4. 5 min — add ghosts or a gallop cell to the chorus only.

Move on when all of these are true on a normal day, not your best one:

• Ghosts between roots at 90 bpm with every ghost clearly quieter and pitchless.
• A rake lands on the root on the beat, not after it.
• Anticipation on the & of 4 against a click, four times in a row, without rushing the bar before.
• An eight-bar pedal in eighths, even in time and volume from the first note to the last.