# Learn Bass — Hands

> Interactive page: [`drills.html`](drills.html)

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](routine.md).

Each section on the page says which options it uses (BPM, Click, Root string, Root fret, Chart). 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](shapes.md).

**Golden rules:** (1) *Slow first* — 72 is honest; climb only when the attacks stay even. (2) *Play with the track for a pass, then alone* with Click only. (3) *One new motion a day.* (4) *Stay relaxed* — stop if the forearm burns.

**Sources:** Hal Leonard Bass Method Book 1 (open-string pulse, root–fifth, finger-per-fret) · Berklee bass-lab practice of locking the plucking hand to a click and the kick. Original exercises, not copied lines.

## Wake-ups — pulse and accents

Open pulse in quarters, eighths and sixteenths on the chosen root · accent every 4 · accent every 3 · four-on-the-floor · whole-note space · click only.

## String crossing and fretting

Open eighths across E ↔ A, A ↔ D, D ↔ G and the E–A–D–G cycle — keep i–m through the jump · chromatic 1–2–3–4 from the root fret · spider across two strings.

## Root, fifth, octave — and charts

R–5–8–5 · root–octave leaps · pedal + fifth · the chosen chart as root–fifth, then with octaves · walk seeds 1–2–3–5, 1–b3–5–6 and 1–3–5–b7 on one string.

## Ghosts, pocket and drive

Root + ghosts · snare ghosts · kick lock (roots on 1 and 3) · snare lock (2 and 4) · anticipation · syncopation on the & of 2 · gallop on the root · gallop climbing.

## Timing

**Displace root to the &** — bars 1–2 root on beat 1, bars 3–4 root on the & of 1. Feel the pocket shift.

**One perfect gallop cell × 10** — the track plays one cell, then a gap. Play one perfect cell in the gap, reset, repeat.

## Position and box reps

Pick a system and a shape, then Play walk. The full drills are on [Shapes & positions](shapes.md).

## Guided sessions

- **12-minute foundation** — open eighths · E ↔ A crossing · R–5–8 · chart root–fifth · ghost groove.
- **15-minute groove** — four-on-floor · root + ghosts · kick lock · chart + octaves · anticipation · whole-note space.
- **10-minute drive** — chromatic · spider · gallop on the root · gallop climbing.

## Closeout

One soft open E for a bar, then a full bar of muted silence. Leave the instrument quiet.

## 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.

- [Grooves & pocket](grooves.md) — kick lock, ghost-note grooves, space.
- [Walking bass](walking.md) — four to the bar through a chart.
- [Gallop](gallop.md) — the click lab, root–fifth moves, stamina bursts.
- [Lead bass](lead-bass.md) — phrases that land on a chord tone, double-stops, the groove/lead trade.
- [Muting & ghosts](muting.md) — sixteenth ghost streams, rakes.
- [Slap & pop](slap.md) — the coordination ladder.
- [Harmonics](harmonics.md) — the chime chain and pinch ladder.