I see what you’re talking about.
I would say - keep an eye on it, stay aware of it, keep on the path toward perfect technique annnd - don’t let this stage get in your head.
Perfect technique and posture in the left hand is a long time in the making.
Everything you’re doing there looks good for beginning technique.
Great, really.
A lot of the fine points, the relaxation, the flexibility and the finger strength come from time time time and playing playing playing.
As long as it’s something you’re aware of and constantly checking on, you’re in a very good place to launch into playing.
And for more in depth review/comments, post a video of you actually playing a piece. It’s much easier to analyze and watch and assess when we can see how things are moving.
Thanks @Gio I really appreciate the encouragement. This has been the “thing” that’s been bugging me since the beginning. I wondered sometimes if there wasn’t something wrong with my wrist. Everything else seems to be coming along, except for this awkward feeling with my wrist/hand/fingers (which should not be, I’m left handed after all).
I’ll work on that video and post it soon. I haven’t posted a video in years, so take me. bit fo that. Again, I really appreciate the encouragement; it really helps!
@howard this could be a game changer. I quickly grabbed my bass to hold it while watching and it felt right. I’ll have work with it, and like Gio says it will be a conscious effort for a while to get it down.
Interestingly enough, YouTube suggested an old video on @JoshFossgreen old channel. So I plan to watch that one as well!
Well, I think I might be starting to put it together, all these pieces of advice from everyone and some head scratching.
I was starting to feel pretty good until I hit the improv lesson. The improv was no problem, it was accessing the notes above the 12th fret with my fingers. I spent 40 minutes studying, try to figure out what I was doing wrong. Why can’t I do what others seem to do so effortlessly. Take this video at 1:48, when she goes right up past the 12th fret:
So effortless! So easy! But, what I finaly saw was clearly she’s coming under the neck so effortlessly, and here I am doing this contorted thing. I’m coming at it from the left at an angle:
Maybe I’m such a big guy that I can’t get access with the bass sitting on my right leg. I watched Ben Burleigh ( a big guy) play as blind folded bass reviewer on some bass review video on the Bass Buzz channel, and I saw him holding a bass a bit more centered to his body, so I tried it, and I can now access those high frets without stretching my fingers so hard. I can do it on my right leg, but I really have to turn the neck away and up to get access. I just really want to sit the thing on my right leg like most people.
All of us have to find what works best for us. I play on my left leg. No particular reason other than that’s what’s most comfortable for me. I even did it that way back when I was thin.
@eric.kiser Oh, I know she’s real good, but I really like to look capable players and see how they do what they do. Interestingly enough, she only has two videos on her channel and the vids are 5 years old. I wonder what happened to her?
As for me, just came back from another 20 minutes with my bass. Thanks to you and everyone on this thread, I can play the major scale down low smoothly and comfortably now. Just need more practice, it’s coming along very well. I feel unstuck know, and I feel comfortable moving along with the course. I just felt I needed to address this before I moved forward.
As far as those frets go above the 12th fret, I feel the key for me is to get my arm as perpendicular to the neck as I can. Some how watching bassists like Gio, Josh and others, their arm seems to somehow come up from behind the neck at just the right angle so that natural position for the wrist possible (thanks @howard Howard for the video!)., Being big doesn’t help, but I agree with you it probably wouldn’t make a difference, your frame is your frame. Now that I am aware of arm angle relative to the neck, I can do this two ways: 1) Sit is on the left leg, which is really comfortable, or 2) saw the lady in the video drop her left shoulder to help her gain access to those upper frets, so if I drop my shoulder and move the neck forward I can do it, but not quite as comfortable.
I can’t thank you all @eric.kiser, @Gio, and @howard for your help with this. It means a lot to me. I want to make music in a very bad way. It’s been a life long dream, and after 54 years, I just want to do it. I can feel the groove, and I can improvise inside my head. I wanna put those from my head into hands on this bass!
There are all sorts of body movements and adjustments that I have to make to get to different areas.
The best way I’ve found for working through these shifts is with set exercises that make me move from 1st fret all the way up my fretboard and back again.
I like to do exercises that don’t involve any scales or brain power to remember, so that I can focus only on fingering technique and position shifting.
I do one I call the Spider Climb.
I start on the first fret of the E string and play frets 1-2-3-4
Then, A string: 2-3-4-5, then D: 3-4-5-6, then G: 4-5-6-7 once I’ve hit the G string, I bounce back towards the E string, always moving up one fret at a time - so -
after G: 4-5-6-7, it’s D string: 5-6-7-8 and so on and so on.
I usually stop when I get to the 13th fret of the G string, then go back.
G: 13-12-11-10, D: 12-11-10-9, and reverse the excercise.
If you can shift through all the positions on the way up, you’ll get an idea of what your arms and body need to do to accommodate the access to the upper register.
Thanks @Gio I’m going to do it tonight. Watching that video I was thinking there’s got to be a transition-- but how does she do it? Answer: we’re all made differently, but do the Spider Climb and work it out! It’s just going to take effort, that’s why I hit the brakes in module 7 thinking, “Quit pretending! You need to figure this out, else you’re going to limp through these lessons as they get harder.” So, I did spend nearly an hour analyzing everything I do, taking pics, etc. I’m sure the Spider Climb is going to help me work out the last kinks. I"ve gotten a lot better already since starting this thread.
(Developing Safe Left Hand Technique for Bass Guitar)
And the takeaway I get from that is: I worried about the thumb too much. When letting go with it I can easily wrap my hand around and reach the 17th fret with the pinky. Hope I got that right.
It does. I spent 15 minutes with it and then 5 or 6 minutes with the major scale. It’s a good exercise not only for the reason stated, but it also gives me the opportunity to work on fretting clean notes as well! I’m going to use this as a warm up before Josh’s lessons going forward.
I have to agree that neck has to be up, else it’s misery, and there’s a good point about leaning. I agravated an old back injury last week (right side lumbar), and I think I may have been leaning into it too much and too long.
I haven’t decided what I’ll end up with yet; I need to work through it. I think in the end, I have to accept that people are built differently, and as much as I want to hold the bass like Josh (after all you want to imitate your teacher), you have to with what works. I’m a stocky 6’2" in that I have short legs for a man my height ( 30" pant length), so I have a long middle. I have to work with that, so I study other accomplished bass players with similar builds to see what they are doing. Ben Burleigh is a great example, but he’s holds it differently in many cases, and I think that goes back to what Gio was getting at earlier.
… of everything having to do with killer bass playing. He’s a hero of mine in these parts as well. You can find him on Facebook too - he’s been posting remote-recorded videos recently, and his playing is dynomite. Also a good example to see him in different positions, postures, and playing all over the neck.
Thanks @Gio for that excercises. I have been looking for, and finding some quality excercises to help with positioning, strength and dexterity. I am adding this to what I have going now.
Do you have any other suggested excercises you do, or recommend?
Maybe a thread dedicated to this. Sharing the excercises, and explaining what they are, and what they are helping to achieve?
I did too. Most of all I was happy that Josh, Gio and Ben gave some love to the entry level basses. It’s ok to run with a Squier; I’ve been very happy with mine after I upgraded the electronics ( Fender pots, Switchcraft jack – which was broken) and Seymour Duncan pickups. The only thing that will take that bass out of my hands is Fender with a smoother satin neck!
