“Where Should I Play This On My Bass?”

The bass can be a bit strange, right? In fact, nearly all string instruments have this strange feature where you can play nearly all of the notes in multiple places.

There’s not just one place to play one specific G – there are up to 4! There are even more options if you’re playing a 5 or 6-string bass.

So where are you supposed to play everything on your bass? Do you play it all in your first few frets? What about the upper part of the fretboard? Does it even matter at all?

These are all great questions, and they all affect the bass tone that you produce. Where you play something on your bass has a direct effect on the sound of every note.

That’s why in this lesson, you’re going to learn the hidden guidelines that you can use so you whenever you play something new, you know exactly where to play it on your bass.

Check out the lesson here:

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Remember the guideline – up higher on your E and A-strings will give you a ‘thicker’, ‘deeper’ sound whereas favoring the D or G-strings will thin the sound out a little and perhaps be more ‘aggressive’.

Exactly what you do and where you play everything on your own bass will depend a lot on the song. Sometimes you want a thicker, mellower sound. Other times you want to cut through a little bit and sound a bit thinner.

Neither is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ however –  it’s all about what serves the song the best.

If you struggle with not knowing exactly what notes you’re playing, you’re not alone. However, that does make it tricky to find other ways of playing the same thing and utilizing these guidelines.

That’s why I created the Ultimate Guide To Learning Your Bass Fretboard. You can sign up for it – totally free and discover the path to fretboard mastery. Once you go through the guide, you’ll know exactly how to play things in more than one place and over time, it’ll happen almost automatically.

Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!

Cheers,