How to warm up on bass guitar

The bass is the bedrock of most songs. It can provide the beat, the foundation and some of the funkiness to any song. It may not be glamorous as the six-string guitar, but and this is a big but coming, a bass can provide some instant cool. A guitarist will try to impress a room filled with friends with a 10-minute long solo from "Stairway to Heaven." That is long and sometimes choppy. A bass player can sound cool just by warming up because the instrument sounds cool.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A bass
• <br>A tuner
• <br>A metronome

How to warm up on bass

1. Make sure your bass is in tune. That can be done using a tuner, which are readily available at stores or online. This will help to make sure you are playing the right sounding notes.

2. Start with chromatics. For non-bass players or beginners, basically find your "A note" on your top string and work your way down the base one finger at a time. Repeat this on every string, and then reverse the order until you get back to the original note. Do this at a rate of about 100 to 120 beats per minute, which is where it may help to have a metronome ready to help you learn time.

3. Do some scales (besides the chromatic). Start with the lowest fret on your bottom string and work your way up and down the strings. Do this several times at a fairly normal speed.

4. Take a scale that you know really well, and play it straight for about two minutes straight. Try to do it as fast as possible,

Tips & Warnings

• Use all of your fingers to help limber them up for a show
• <br>Using a metronome is key because you want to be able to play in time once you start gigging with bands.
• Don't do anything fancy because this is about warming up -- not showing off