This section is only for people who know nothing about playing bass and need to start with the absolute basics. Most of this information can be found throughout the program in the various menus but it has been grouped together here to make your first experiences playing bass as smooth as possible.

The three most important things you need to know about technique are:

1. Where to position your right hand.

2. Where to position your left hand.

3. How to play notes using rest stroke.

Spend some time playing notes all over the finger board whilst aiming for a clean sound. Any difficulties getting notes to sound out clearly will most likely result from one of these two causes:

1. Holding the notes with your left hand too gently.

2. Having you left hand fingers on the frets instead of to the left of them.

The examples throughout enable Bass are written in tablature and /or Bass clef. Even more of a priority than reading notation is to learn the names of all the notes on your fingerboard as quickly as possible. This will help you to communicate with other musicians more effectively.

(Click here if you don't understand why there are different diagrams for sharps (#) and flats (b)).

The easiest pieces to start with are in the Rock section but you could begin with another style if you prefer.

Make sure that your bass is in tune or it won't sound any good no matter how well you are playing!

G string  

D string

A string  

E string