How to play a line
Reading a line tells you which notes and when. This page is about the other half: what your two hands do. One hand picks the notes on the neck, the other makes them sound.
Finger numbers
Your fretting hand (the one on the neck) gets numbers, and the fretboard on every line page can show them: switch it from Note names to Finger numbers.
Your thumb stays behind the neck, roughly opposite your middle finger. It's there to squeeze against, not to play.
One finger per fret
Park your hand so each finger sits over its own fret, and let the line come to you. On I'm Your Pusher your index sits on fret 2, so your middle covers fret 3 and your ring finger fret 4. Every note in the line is under a finger before you play it, and your hand never has to move. That's what "no shifts" means on a line page.
On a uke bass the frets are close together, so this is easy even with small hands. On a full-size bass, lines that span four frets may need a stretch, or a pinky where the page says ring.
The exercise that builds this is the chromatic run: four frets, four fingers, four strings, slowly. Every other shape on the scale pages is a subset of that position.
Pressing the strings
Press with your fingertip, just behind the fret, not on top of it and not halfway back. You need less pressure than you think: press until the note stops buzzing, then no harder. A note that thuds or buzzes is usually a finger too far from the fret.
Plucking: two fingers, taking turns
The plucking hand alternates index and middle, one note each, like walking. Rest your thumb on the E string or on the body so your hand stays put. Pluck across the string toward your thumb, not up and away from the instrument.
Strict alternation feels odd for a day and then becomes automatic, and it's what lets you play fast lines like Musical Massacre without your hand tiring.
Stopping notes
Bass is as much about when a note ends as when it starts. To stop a fretted note, ease your finger off the string without letting go of it completely. To stop an open string, touch it with a free finger of either hand. Rests in the notation are real: a line like Blister in the Sun depends on leaving a gap empty.
Practicing a line
- Slow first. Set the player to 50 or 75% and play along until it's clean, then step up.
- Loop the hard spot. Some lines have a practice button that loops just their trickiest bars.
- Mute the bass and play along. The drums keep you honest about timing.
- Then play with the record. Lines that have it can play along with the real song.
New to notation and tab? How to read a line →