The Guitarist’s Guide To Learning And Playing Bass

The guitar has several types that can be played differently. The rich sound of bass guitar is the backbone of every band that holds the beat in harmony. With just a little effort on research and practice, you would be able to play your favorite songs, including various famous numbers such as ‘The Ocean’ from Led Zeppelin, the secluded bass track ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ from John Entwistle, and ‘I’m Broken.’ From Pantera. Read the below mentioned tips carefully, and play the bass like a thunderstorm roars, as suggested by my Guitar Lessons Los Angeles module:

Five Basic Tips on How to Play Bass Guitar

1. Get Familiar with the Bass Anatomy and Tuning Basics:

You should learn the role played by various parts of the bass. In order to tune a bass guitar, you can take help of either a tuning device or a tuning fork. A bass guitar constitutes of four strings, namely E A D G. To start with manual tuning, you should ensure that E sounds the lowest pitch and G being the highest one. Tuning your bass guitar needs to maintain the order from lowest to highest sound pitch. However, you can identify the tuning basics by referring to the formula, Everyone Admires Dignified Guitarist (EADG).

2. Get Familiar with the Amplifier:

You should know how amplifier connects to your bass guitar. Make it sure that your audio cable is duly connected by plugging one end into your bass guitar and the other end into the amplifier. Now, turn on the amplifier and adjust the tuning of your bass guitar to produce the most pleasant sound.

3. Perfect Body Posture to Hold and Play the Bass Guitar:

The best body posture helps you to play the guitar most pleasantly as suggested in my Guitar Lessons Los Angeles. Playing it while sitting or standing needs strap adjustment besides forming the most comfortable body position that allows free movement of your hands, fingers and other body parts. Place your left-hand fingers over the strings between the fretboard and the other end where it produces maximum sound.

4. Get Familiar with the Plucking and Muting of the Strings:

Plucking simply needs the index and middle fingers of your right hand. The most common plucking movement to isolate the sound can be achieved with Index-Middle-Index-Middle finger (MIMI) pattern, where your right-hand thumb can be used the back side of the bass. Similarly, plucking the string with a pick involves holding the pick between the thumb and the index finger. You can pluck the string using the pick downward and then upward across the string. Also, my Guitar Lessons Los Angeles teaches to mute strings using any of your hands in a manner that a string does not vibrate with another.

5. Get Familiar with the Notes on the Uppermost String Using First Four Fingers:

As you have learned the basics of playing the bass guitar, now you should focus on learning the most basic notes played on the uppermost string, including the open one while using all of your left-hand fingers placed subsequently over each fret beginning from playing open till the fourth fret down the neck from the headstock. You can start with (E Open)-F-F#-G-G# over E (the topmost) string, and then you can follow the same pattern by continuing for each string (A Open)-A#-B-C-C# over A (top second) string, (D Open)-D#-E-F-F# over D (top third) string and finally the (G Open)-G#-A-A#-B.

I hope, you have learned enough of bass guitar basics in order to start your journey into the ocean of the most incredible sounds. Just keep on practicing and refer to my Guitar Lessons Los Angeles module or my website in case you get stuck anywhere.