If you are in awe of the amazing tunes and sound of a bass guitar and want to play it on your own, here are some of the easiest tips to help you play the bass guitar with ease. It does take up a fair bit of time to get used to the sound and the techniques on how to play the tunes, but it is not rocket science to get used to the tunes with a fair bit of practice.
Step by step:
Let us take the steps to knowing about the bass guitar and its tunes one at a time.
- Get to understand the anatomy of the bass guitar:
The very first thing that is important to know about is what the different parts of the bass guitar are. Familiarizing with the anatomy of the guitar is the first step to learning the guitar. There are mainly six distinct parts of the guitar, body, neck, headstock, pickup, tonecontrols, and the bridge.
- How to tune the guitar:
Tuning a guitar is probably the most important step when it comes to learning the guitar. You can take reference tone from the standard tuning device or even a tuning fork to get the tune perfect. Generally, the tuning of the guitar is done from the lowest pitch, E to the highest pitch, G. The order of the mnemonic is generally E, A, D, G.
- Proper posture is very necessary:
Apart from familiarizing with the amplification of the guitar, another thing to keep into account is the stance when it comes to holding the guitar. It is best to strap the guitar along the shoulders for the best support, and the right hand can be placed above the strings in such a way and position where the sound is comparatively full and loud in between the fretboard and the opposite end of the guitar.
- How to pluck the bass:
The next step is to know how to pluck the bass using the index and the middle fingers. It is always best to have minimal wrist movements and also to alternate the finger movements between the index and middle fingers. The fingers can also be used as leverage on the back of the bass. The pick can be used instead of fingers as well.
- Muting the strings:
The next thing to learn about is how to mute the strings, so the strings don’t vibrate with one another because the tunes turn out to be not of the conventional tunes.
- Finally playing it:
Now when it comes to finally playing the tunes, the notes for the first four fingers are very crucial to know about. The timing is a very crucial factor in playing bass guitar as well. Tunes which are played off beat not only sound odd but are something that can ruin all the hard work put into playing the perfect tune. It is best to use a metronome and then practice playing the open E string along with the tunes to get used to it.
