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Technique!
Ari’s Key Concepts of Bass Technique
Conscious • Connected • Coordinated
Minimize Movement Maximize Relaxation
Breathe • Think ahead • Practice slowly with a click*
Keep posture roughly the same when standing and sitting
Left Hand
- Keep fingers close to the fretboard
- Plan fingering to optimize shifts
- “Feel at home” with common structures (scales, triads etc, music theory on the fretboard)
- Don’t squeeze the neck – provide counterweight with right arm Thumb is there to guide
- Don’t kink fingers*
- Place fingers close to frets*
- One-finger-per-fret position*
Right Hand
- Rest arm comfortably on bass body*
- Have a plan for your plucking pattern (middle/index alternating)
- Know your dominant finger
- Keep fingers close to the strings
- Make different plucking fingers sound as evenly as possible
- Pluck toward the bass for bigger tone
- Find strings without looking
- Have a plan for thumb placement
- Don’t kink fingers
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