Warming Up

one of the biggest problems bass players have is not warming up. warming up isn't just playing songs you know your playing scales its about getting the blood pumping in your fingers and hands. Think of it like your working out at the gym, before you get into the workout your stretch and warm up your body. Yours hands are the same because if you don't warm up your hand can cramp up or you can cause damage to your hands. so lets dive right into the warm up.

to begin your warm up stretch your fingers. literally put down your bass take a miniute and strech your fingers out. The next step is to do something that makes no musical sense at all. for example begin by playing 1234 on the E then on the A,D and G string and then play the same thing back down. doing this for a minute or so will get for fingers going. next take the same concept playing 4 notes per string but instead of playing 1234 switch up the finger ordering such as 1324,2314,4312 ect. and go up and down the strings.

Now when doing this if your hand is hurting at all stop and strech because you could do damage to your hands. also if you are just starting dont play these starting at the first fret begin somewhere around the middle of then neck because that is where the least amount of string tension is. The last warm up technique is isolating fingers that you struggle with. for example one of my weaknesses and just about all other bassisist  have a problem with their third and fourth finger. to work on this just alternate between the two up and down then neck. if you just take 10 miniutes to force yourself to warm up your playing will be tighter and more consistiant. also if you dont have a bass near by you can strentgthen your fingers with hand and grip exercisers.
thats all for this lesson if you have more questions you can email me at papabear82191@gmail.com