Bass Guitar For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

Cooking up a successful practice session on your bass guitar requires specific ingredients. Otherwise, you may spend half a day noodling away without making much progress. Here is a list of drills and skills to include each time you decide to practice:

  • Permutations: These exercises help limber up your fretting hand and increase coordination.

  • String crossing: Your striking hand gets a nice workout with this type of exercise.

  • Rhythm: Set your metronome and start subdividing the beat.

  • Chords and modes: You know you need them for everything you do, so you may as well get them under your fingers. You can start with just one or two a day, but make sure you mix them up. Don't do the same ones each day.

  • Groove: This is what it's all about: laying down a solid bass groove. Establish the groove skeleton, hit the groove apex, and move it all along with the groove tail.

After you cover these fundamentals, you can fill your practice session with whatever your heart desires, even just noodling. Success is guaranteed.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Patrick Pfeiffer is a professional bassist, bass educator, and composer. His former clients include Polygram, Red Ant Records, Arista Records, and other major labels as well as Adam Clayton of U2. He has recorded with George Clinton, Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Norman of the Coasters, Paul Griffin and Bernard Purdie of Steely Dan, and many other stars.

This article can be found in the category: