Hello I’m new here and new to bass (Christmas bass). I hear that pressing with your thumb is a bad thing and not much pressure is needed. I try to keep my hand as relaxed as possible, but I have to push relatively hard to play without buzz. I also find it hard to press frets without pressing with my thumb, especially on the lower notes. I hear that a high action is a common issue but I want to know if I just have to get a stronger hand before I have any adjustments.
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Having a good setup on your bass is essential for everyone, but especially for newbie players.
Most basses don’t come with a good setup, so you might want to look into finding a good guitar tech or luthier near you who can do the work for you. Later, you’ll be able to do it yourself.
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High action is one thing, but if you are fresh off the boat then it takes some time to develop the muscles, strength and stamina. Pictures your fretting hand like a Wolverine your knuckles should face directly away from you showing you the palm with 4 fingers pointing up. That’s the foundation of the fretting hand kung fu. It’s best to fret a note parallel to the fret not angle. You’d get maximum leverage. Work at it and it would natural to you soon.
As for finger pressure it’s natural to press too hard when you are new or new to the song and learning. You’d want to fret a note and plug it. Each time lighten the pressure until you hear a buzz or a dead note that’s the sign that the pressure is too low then back it up till you hear the note again, see it take so little pressure to play the note. Do this slooooowly to every note you play soon you won’t be practicing anymore, you’d be playing.
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Welcome to the community!
As others have said, your action may be too high so I would highly recommend getting your bass set up by a professional. Take it to your local music shop and they’ll take care of it for you. Playing with super high action is wildly uncomfortable and will discourage you, so I’d reccomend a set up ASAP.
Also it is quite normal when first starting out to fret your notes way too hard. I have been playing for almost a year and I still fret way too hard when learning a new song since I’m hyper focused on hitting the right notes. Once you spend more time with the bass your fretting hand will strengthen significantly.
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As other have mentioned, a good set up on your new bass is a great first step. Being a beginner, as GREAT second step, I would suggest investing in the Bass 2 Badass course (B2B) that @JoshFossgreen provides here. Many of us have taken it and it is a great course for a bass beginner. You will learn a lot!!..
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This!
It’s really hard to stay relaxed in the beginning @Benjammin but rest assured, it will come.
Slower than you hope but it will. We’ve all been there brother.
Try to shake and stretch out your hands a few times while playing. The kung-fu death grip will subside
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Can you post a pic of the distance of strings at first fret and 15th fret?
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Believe it or not I was there in your shoes last week. I tried playing left handed. That’s is hard, hard, hard because I don’t have developed muscles on my right ( fretting hand) and my hand is fretting like Bill Knight, lol. You just have to keep at it it will come to you.
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@Benjammin Welcome.
I did not see any mention of a strap in the other posts. Sooner or later you will probably need to get one.
I play sitting and standing with a strap and can actually fret notes and chords without using my thumb at all on the back of the neck. My thumb is just used to stop the neck from being pushed back when I fret a note or chord so only minimum thumb pressure. I also use my thumb for muting string(s).
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Setup, but before that, you may want to try a lighter string gauge and then do the setup.
I started using a balanced set of 40-95 after a couple of months of playing. It made playing so much easier (and I switched only from 45-105).
I’d say it is defo worth a shot:
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Hail @Benjammin and welcome to the forum!
You’ve identified lots of great things to work on but - to reiterate what other folks have said - it will take time.
Part of it you already mentioned - your hand has to build the strength and coordination before these things go away.
There are great suggestions here, and my favorite might be @John_E - just take the time, try and be really conscious of your body and any pain or discomfort, shake things out and relax if it gets bad, and keep on moving forward!
The setup will be important, but only if you’re starting from a very bad setup.
A bit of height in the action is good - particularly for beginners as you learn to control your right hand - so that you minimize the buzz from plucking. But too much height and it’s almost impossible to hold the string down.
If it’s too low, with a real slick, experienced-player-setup, it can be frustrating to hear buzz every time you pluck with your right hand, until you learn the right touch.
It’s a noisy, buzzy instrument. Embrace that! And get a setup if the action feels like it is fighting against you fretting a note.
And relax, and practice.
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