Compiled and written by Bass Player and Music Educator George Urbaszek

Remember the sopranos joke from the last newsletter? Well, subscriber Mal Zego from Australia has provided a bass version: “How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb? None, because bass players are never in the spotlight anyway!” Thanks Mal.

Speaking of spotlight, former student, Greg Royal, has been appearing on Australian Idol recently. He has been playing double bass on the big band numbers and bass guitar on some of the rock numbers. Good on ya Greg! Versatility certainly pays off.

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Here is today’s bass lesson

STRING CROSSING

We are often required to jump quickly to a neighbouring string within the same fret. On a bass with standard tuning this jump is the interval of a “perfect fourth”.

There are essentially three ways of string crossing within the same fret, each technique having its own merits and applications.

1. Jumping with the same fretting-hand finger
This is probably the most common technique for most applications. With good fretting-hand technique, such as arched fingers and the thumb in the “correct” position at the back of the neck, the “same-finger jump” is easy and non-fatiguing. The jump can be executed quite fast, with only minimal note clipping. It is great for County Music root-five lines and enables a “ghost-note bounce”, creating an excellent feel.

2. Barring
If you want notes to ring into each other, barring the same finger across two or more strings is a possibility. Often a neighbouring finger has to help push down the barring finger. One advantage of this technique is that you can bar two or more notes with the first (index) finger while playing higher-pitched notes with the other fingers, creating a drone-like effect with a melody on top.

3. Cross Fingering
This technique takes the fretting hand out of its normal position. The wrist moves to the left (for right-handed players) and the thumb wraps around the neck. Two neighbouring fingers (either one/two or two/three) fret two neighbouring strings. One major advantage of this technique is that we have complete control of our note lengths, and therefore our grooves. Another advantage is that we can usually synchronise left-hand/right-hand fingers, meaning that the same finger that strikes the string also frets it. This technique is great for Soul and Motown grooves where fourths jumps are common and very fast.

Here is a photo of the cross finger technique

I recommend you spend some serious fun time with all the listed string-crossing techniques to find what works best in which situations. Try the same groove using all three techniques to make a sound decision.

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All in Bass!
George Urbaszek

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