Shapes & positions
Bass needs movable shapes (like guitar boxes) and hand positions (like ukulele first-position walks) — without guitar CAGED. Shift the whole hand; invent the pitches for your song.
Shape lab
What each system is for
- Root–fifth — groove power shapes. Move them under any chart root.
- Root–octave — chorus thickness; still single-line friendly.
- Major one-octave boxes — three doors for major (E-string root, A-string root, C example).
- Minor pentatonic boxes — five overlapping doors (guitar-style), four strings.
- Hand positions — 4-fret cages (I / V / VII / IX). Chromatic walks train the fretting hand like ukulele position work.
Position rules
- Pick a start fret for finger 1 — that is the position.
- Stay in a 4-fret box unless the shape explicitly shifts.
- Shift the whole hand to the next door; do not stretch the pinky into pain.
- Mute unused strings — shapes only work if the rest of the neck is dead.
Am pent · boxes 1 and 2
Same root A, two positions. Box 1 sits at fret 5 with the root under finger 1 on the E string; box 2 starts where box 1's top notes end. Two notes per string, so each box is one finger stretch wide. Learn box 1 clean, then tour 1→2 and back.
Box 1 (frets 5–8): A C · D E · G A · C D
G|-------------------5--7-- D|-------------5--7-------- A|-------5--7-------------- E|-5--8--------------------
Box 2 (frets 7–10): C D · E G · A C · D E
G|----------------------7--9-- D|---------------7--10-------- A|--------7--10--------------- E|-8--10----------------------
G major · two doors, one shape
One octave of G major, G A B · C D · E F♯ G. Door A has its root on the E string at fret 3; door B has its root on the A string at fret 10. Look at the frets: it is the same shape one string over — two notes, three notes, three notes, fingers 2–4, 1–2–4, 1–3–4. Learn the shape once and every major key is a matter of where you put finger 2.
Door A · E-string root, fret 3
G|------------------------- D|----------------2--4--5-- A|-------2--3--5----------- E|-3--5--------------------
Door B · A-string root, fret 10
G|--------------------9--11--12-- D|---------9--10--12------------- A|-10--12------------------------ E|-------------------------------
Play each up and down. Then connect: end of door A on the D string, slide up the A string to fret 10, and start door B.
Arpeggio shapes — the chord, one note at a time
A bass line mostly plays the notes of the chord: root, third, fifth, and the octave or the seventh. These four shapes are movable like the scale doors — root on the E string, finger 2 at the root fret. Here they are on G: G E3 A2 A5 D5 · Gm E3 E6 A5 D5 · G7 E3 A2 A5 D3 · Gm7 E3 E6 A5 D3.
G|------------|------------|------------|------------- D|----------5-|----------5-|----------3-|----------3-- A|----2--5----|-------5----|----2--5----|-------5----- E|-3----------|-3--6-------|-3----------|-3--6--------
Major to minor moves one note: the third drops a fret, from the A string to the E string. Major to 7 moves the top note down from the octave to the ♭7. Put finger 2 on fret 5 and the same four are A, Am, A7 and Am7.
One shape through a progression
Root – fifth – octave – fifth is the first groove shape most method books teach, because it never changes: only the root fret moves. Here it walks A · D · E · A, a bar each. D and E move the shape to the A string; the fingers do exactly the same thing.
G|------------|-------7----|-------9----|------------- D|-------7----|----7-----7-|----9-----9-|-------7----- A|----7-----7-|-5----------|-7----------|----7-----7-- E|-5----------|------------|------------|-5-----------
Once it is steady, swap the octave for the ♭7 on the D chord, or play the bar in eighths. The shape is the skeleton; the song decides what hangs on it.
Shapes as grooves (not scale runs)
Take root–fifth at frets 0, 3, 5, 7. For each shape, play only:
- Root on beat 1, fifth on beat 3 — four bars.
- Then 8ths on the root only — four bars.
- Then gallop cell on the root — two bars + space.
Same shape, three song jobs. See Write grooves.
Position drills — 4-fret cages
Keep finger 1 on the start fret of the cage: that fret is the position. Play along with the example, then alone. Tempo follows the BPM in the shape lab above and the practice bar.
Position I · frets 1–4 chromatic
Your job: Play this TAB with the track. One finger per fret (1–2–3–4). Even i–m. Mute strings you are not on.
G|-1-2-3-4-----------------4-3-2-1- D|---------1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1--------- A|--------------------------------- E|--------------------------------- (then same idea on A and E — Play does all four strings)
Position V · frets 5–8 chromatic
Your job: Same pattern, cage starts at fret 5. Finger 1 stays at 5.
G|-5-6-7-8-----------------8-7-6-5- D|---------5-6-7-8-8-7-6-5--------- A|--------------------------------- E|---------------------------------
Position VII · frets 7–10 chromatic
Your job: Cage at 7–10. Do not rush; same evenness as Position I.
G|-7-8-9-10------------------10-9-8-7- D|----------7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7--------- A|------------------------------------ E|------------------------------------
Connect · V → VII → V
Your job: Two bars in Position V (root E fret 5 only, quarters), shift, two bars in VII (E fret 7), shift back. No buzz on the shift.
G|----------------|-----------------| D|----------------|-----------------| A|----------------|-----------------| E|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5|-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-| then back to fret 5 for 2 bars
Shape drills
The systems above, as loops you can play with: root–fifth under four roots, box 1 up and down, groups of three, one clean shift into box 2, and one shape played three ways.
Root–fifth tour
Your job: Shape = root on E string + fifth on A string (two frets up). Play only those two notes: root on beats 1 & 3, fifth on 2 & 4. Stay two bars at frets 0, then 3, then 5, then 7. Match the Play track.
open E (2 bars) G @3 (2 bars) A @5 (2 bars) B @7 (2 bars) G|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------| D|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------| A|---2---2---2---2--|---5---5---5---5--|---7---7---7---7--|---9---9---9---9--| E|-0---0---0---0----|-3---3---3---3----|-5---5---5---5----|-7---7---7---7----| 1 2 3 4 (root on 1&3, fifth on 2&4 — repeat for bar 2)
Am pentatonic · box 1
Your job: Play the ascending line, then descending. Slow and even. Land clean on A (E string fret 5).
G|----------------5-7-8-|-8-7-5----------------| D|------------5-7-------|-------7-5------------| A|--------5-7-----------|-----------7-5--------| E|-5-8------------------|----------------8-5---|
Am pent · 3-note groups
Your job: Groups of three ascending in box 1 (up three, start from next note). Play with the track.
G|----------------------------------------| D|------------------------5-7-5-----------| A|------------5-7-5---5-7-------7-5-------| E|-5-8-5--5-8-------8---------------8-5---| (seed — Play runs a longer grouping walk)
Box shift · Am pent 1 → 2
Your job: Ascend box 1, shift into box 2 from the shared frets, descend box 2. One clean shift — no buzz.
Box 1 up Box 2 down (from ~fret 10) G|----------5-7-8-| shift |-10-8-7----------------| D|------5-7-------| → |--------9-7------------| A|--5-7-----------| |------------10-7-------| E|-5--------------| |-----------------10-8---|
Groove the shape · root–fifth on G
Your job: Same G root–fifth (E3 + A5). Pass 1 = wholes. Pass 2 = 8ths. Pass 3 = gallop on the root only. Play runs all three passes in order — match each.
Pass A · wholes Pass B · 8ths Pass C · gallop on root G|----------| G|----------------| G|--------------------| D|----------| D|----------------| D|--------------------| A|-5--------| A|-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-| A|--------------------| E|-3--------| ×2 bars E|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-| ×2 E|-3-33-3-33-3-33-3-33-| ×2 R (hold) R 5 R 5 … long-short-short
Common faults
- Collecting five boxes before one is even.
- Looking only at TAB — look at the lit neck, then eyes away.
- Playing shapes with ringing open strings you forgot to mute.
Ready when
Move on when all of these are true on a normal day, not your best one:
- Am pentatonic box 1 and box 2 up and down at 80 bpm in eighths, and the shift between them without a gap.
- G major door A and door B from memory, and you can name the door-A root fret for any major key.
- The four arpeggio shapes on any root you are given, naming each note as you play it.
- Root–fifth–octave–fifth through A · D · E · A at 90 bpm, eyes off the neck.
Text twin: shapes.md