102102 BASS MAGAZINE BASS MAGAZINE ;; ISSUE 4ISSUE 4 ;; bassmagazine.combassmagazine.com
Jump Head
Patrick is a
professional bassist,
bass educator, clini-
cian, composer and
author, having pub-
lished several classic
bass books, among
them Bass Guitar for
Dummies, Bass Guitar
Exercises For
Dummies, Improve
Your Groove: The
Ultimate Guide
For Bass, and Daily
Grooves for Bass.Right-Hand Rhythms
A
ny time someone asks you to play a
major scale, where do you start? In all
likelihood on the low root, playing the
notes in ascending order from the lowest to
the highest. Right? Same for a groove.
After dedicating the past three columns
to your fretting hand, it’s high time to concen-
trate on the hand that’s actually pulling the
strings. This is the right hand, unless you’re
playing lefty. The striking hand (as I prefer to
call it) is your lean, mean time-keeping ma-
chine, in addition to being largely responsi-
ble for the tone you get from your bass.
Your first order of business is to find a
nice “sweet spot” for striking the strings so
you’re able to produce a good, balanced tone
that has the right amount of low, mid, and
high frequencies — full and punchy, withgood definition (almost sounds like a wine
review, eh?). The most common technique
for striking the string is to alternate between
the index and middle fingers of the strik-
ing hand, and the ideal spot to strike your
strings to accomplish the perfect tone is gen-
erally between the two pickups, closer to the
bridge pickup. If your bass has a single pick-
up, strike the strings between the pickup and
the end of the neck, closer to the pickup. Try
moving your hand around a bit and listen
for the sound that works best for you. Once
you’ve established your position, it’s time for
some exercises to get a smooth flow going.
Since time is of the essence (and I mean
the art of keeping time), I recommend prac-
ticing these exercises with a metronome. Set
the metronome to about 80 beats per min-
ute (BpM)and match the clicks by striking the
open G string, alternating between your in-
dex and middle fingers. Make sure that both
striking fingers get the same volume and tone
out of the string. Next, do the same on the
D string, then the A string, and finally the E
string (and if you have a 5- or a 6-string bass,
by all means use the additional strings, as
well). You don’t need to involve your fretting
hand at all; just play the open strings.
Once you’re comfortable matching the
rhythm of the click, double your strikes, still
alternating between your index and middle
fingers. Play two evenly timed notes for each
click: one of the notes on the click, the oth-Beginner Bass Base | By Patrick Pfeiffer
Ex. 1Ex. 2