Flat fretting fingers, not fat, flat!

Hi all, how did you develop a better fretting hand, at this stage physically not able to hold my fretting hand completely flat over the strings of my bass, so when playing the B and D ( on the A string for instance ) with index and pinky on the a string my middle and ring Finger curl up I don’t how to get to a point where I can get a flat set of fingers hoovering over my strings ? I don’t know if this comes naturally to other but I would like ( and need) to work on this, I just don’t know where to start. Any ideas ?

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If it’s a wider fret spacing try micro shifting. Try D-F first then drop a half step once you can get the spread down. It takes time to build up finger strength.

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At least yours curls! My middle finger used to stick out like I was saying hi to my highschool buddies :rofl:

Not sure I’ve mastered that enough to start playing at church but a couple of thoughts:

Don’t press so hard. Think of pulling your hand into the strings at minimum pressure to make the note. Play near the fret.

I think it’s more about relaxing than forcing them to uncurl.

Where is your thumb? With bass they say it should be in the middle of the back of the neck. I have big hands so I break that one a lot but it’s a good goal.

Does it change if you are sitting/standing? Playing while sitting down is hard for me.

Also watch your wrist isn’t bent too much and your arm/shoulder are comfortable. That’s where it all starts.

There is a good YouTube video on bass ergonomics I don’t have the link but you can find it. Some good tips in there.

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If I were to do that (when I try to do that), my fingers are long enough that my wrist ends up at a not so comfortable angle. I tend to keep my thumb in a spot where the tip likes to play peek a boo over the top of the fretboard. Usually, when I’m not being lazy, behind my index finger. Like a guitar player. That way I can keep my wrist more straight-ish.

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Hold your hand in a natural and relaxed shape. Then position your arm/wrist to put your hand on the frets in that comfortable position. Aka - “Microshifting”.

One-finger-per-fret does NOT mean holding your fingers static over a 4-fret span. It just means using a separate finger for each fret, but shifting your hand into the proper position properly aligned and as close to the fret as practical.

Watch my demo below:

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Here’s another video I made for someone else talking about relaxing your hand and laying it flat and showing how I do that:

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