Hands the daily wake-up
Short loops for the two hands before any music: an even pulse, clean string crossing, the root–fifth–octave shape, ghosts that stay dead, and a few bars of timing. Press Play and play along — less reading, more reps. Which of these to play today, and for how long, is on Today.
Each section says which of the options below it uses. TAB is standard bass (G D A E, top
to bottom); x is a ghost — muted, no pitch. Position cages and box tours
live with the shapes they train: Shapes & positions.
Wake-ups Crossing Root–fifth Ghosts Timing Sessions By style
BPM + Click — almost every Play. Root string / fret — single-root drills (warm-up, shapes, ghosts, walks). Chart — only the two “Chart · …” cards (and guided steps that call them). Crossing pairs ignore root; they use fixed open strings.
Ready · change BPM anytime while playing
Wake-ups — pulse and accents
Uses BPM, Click, and Root string (pulse / accents on that string). Four-on-floor, space, and most pocket roots also use Root fret. Does not use Chart. Click only ignores root — metronome alone.
Open pulse · quarters
One note per beat on the chosen root. Mute fully between.
Open pulse · eighths
Strict i–m. Even attacks on the chosen open/root string.
Open pulse · sixteenths
Light touch. Start slow — evenness over speed.
Accent every 4
Eighths; dig on every fourth attack (weight on beat 1).
Accent every 3
Eighths with a 3-feel accent — fights the bar line.
Four-on-the-floor
Root on every beat. Pocket starter.
Whole-note space
One long root per bar. Feel the silence — don’t fill it.
Click only
No bass track — play your part alone against the click.
String crossing and fretting
Crossing cards use BPM + Click only — fixed open pairs (E↔A, A↔D, …), not Root string/fret or Chart. Chromatic and spider use Root string + Root fret (if fret is 0, chromatic/spider start at fret 5).
Crossing · E ↔ A
Open eighths. Keep i–m through the jump.
Crossing · A ↔ D
Same idea, middle pair.
Crossing · D ↔ G
High pair — watch for thin tone and float thumb.
Crossing · E–A–D–G cycle
Up and down all four opens in one bar.
Chromatic 1–2–3–4
Finger-per-fret on the chosen string, starting at Root fret (default 5 if 0).
Spider (two strings)
Adjacent frets across E/A (or A/D if root string is A+). Coordination.
Root, fifth, octave — and charts
Shape cards (R–5–8–5, root–octave, pedal, walk seeds) use BPM, Click, Root string, Root fret. The two Chart · … cards ignore root — they use Options → Chart only (plus BPM/Click). That is the whole job of the Chart selector.
Current chart: —
Classic bass shape under a movable root, then through the chart selected above. TAB under each card updates when you change Options.
R–5–8–5
Full shape on the chosen root. Pinky on the octave when you can.
Root–octave leaps
R · 8 · R · 8 — clean octave jumps, mute the fifth string.
Pedal + fifth
Root on 1 & 3, fifth on 2 & 4.
Chart · root–fifth
One bar per chord · R–5–R–ghost. Uses Options → Chart.
Chart · full R–5–8–5
Same progression with octaves each bar.
Walk seed · 1–2–3–5
Scale walk on one string from the root fret (major-ish seed).
Walk seed · 1–b3–5–6
Minor pent walk seed on one string.
Walk seed · 1–3–5–b7
Dominant / bluesy walk on one string.
Ghosts, pocket and drive
Uses BPM, Click, Root string, and Root fret for the pitched notes. Does not use Chart.
Root + ghosts
R x R x R x R x — pitched on beats, ghosts on &s.
Snare ghosts
Ghost grid; pitched roots only on 2 and 4.
Kick lock
Roots only on 1 and 3. Lock the heavy beats.
Snare lock
Roots only on 2 and 4 — backbeat placement.
Anticipation
Roots on 1 & 3, then & of 4 into the next root.
Syncopation · & of 2
Hit the offbeat, then settle on 3. Leave space on 1.
Gallop on root
Drive cell on the chosen root. Mute hard between cells.
Gallop climbing
One gallop cell per fret, climbing 0–3 from the root fret.
Timing
Uses BPM and Click. The notes are fixed — G on the E string, then open E.
Displace root to the &
Your job: Bars 1–2: root on beat 1. Bars 3–4: root on the & of 1 (offbeat). Feel the pocket shift.
On-beat Off-beat (& of 1) G|----------| G|----------| D|----------| D|----------| A|----------| A|----------| E|-3--------| E|---3------|
One perfect gallop cell × 10
Your job: Play hears one cell, then a short gap. Play one perfect cell in the gap — reset — repeat.
G|------| (silence) |------| D|------| |------| A|------| |------| E|-0-00-| ……… |-0-00-|
Position and box reps
Uses BPM plus the System/Shape pickers on this card. Ignores Root string/fret and Chart (shapes are baked into the chosen walk).
Pick a system and shape, then Play walk. TAB shows the walk for the selected shape. Or jump to the full shapes lab.
Guided sessions
Each step follows the same rules as the matching card above. Foundation/groove sessions include a chart step → that step uses Options → Chart. Drive session never uses Chart. All steps use current BPM / Click (and root where that drill type needs it).
12-minute foundation
- ~2 min — open eighths
- ~2 min — E↔A crossing
- ~3 min — R–5–8
- ~3 min — chart root–fifth
- ~2 min — ghost groove
15-minute groove
- ~2 min — four-on-floor
- ~3 min — root + ghosts
- ~3 min — kick lock
- ~3 min — chart + octaves
- ~2 min — anticipation
- ~2 min — whole-note space
10-minute drive
- ~2 min — chromatic
- ~2 min — spider
- ~3 min — gallop root
- ~3 min — gallop climbing
Stop session
Ends any guided sequence and all loops.
Session idle
Closeout
The last minute of any session. Uses BPM only.
Soft whole-note + silence
Your job: One soft open E for a bar, then full mute silence for a bar. Leave the instrument quiet.
G|----------|----------| D|----------|----------| A|----------|----------| E|-0~~~~~~~~|-(mute)---|
Drill rules
- Match the Play example first, then play the pass alone against Click only.
- Raise BPM only when the attacks sound even — not as a reward for surviving. Log the tempo that was clean.
- Use a visible timer. When it ends, stop — even mid-bar.
- Alternate hard and easy days: a gallop day, then a pocket day.
- Three collapsed takes in a row → drop the tempo by ten percent.
- If you cannot mute on command, do the ghost drills before anything fast.
- Sharp pain → stop the session.
- Record one alone pass a week. Evenness over speed.
By style
Once the hands are awake, each playing style has its own lab with a practice ladder. Pick one per session — four focused minutes beats a tour of every door.
- Grooves & pocket — kick lock, ghost-note grooves, space.
- Walking bass — four to the bar through a chart.
- Gallop — the click lab, root–fifth moves, stamina bursts.
- Lead bass — phrases that land on a chord tone, double-stops, the groove/lead trade.
- Muting & ghosts — sixteenth ghost streams, rakes.
- Slap & pop — the coordination ladder.
- Harmonics — the chime chain and pinch ladder.