Beginner Bass Base: Right-Hand Rhythms

MASTER BASS EDUCATOR PATRICK PFEIFFER HELPS BUILD EVERY ELEMENT OF YOUR PLAYING WITH HIS BEGINNER BASS BASE COLUMN

By Patrick Pfeiffer

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN BASS MAGAZINE, August 2019

After dedicating the past three columns to your fretting hand, it’s high time to concentrate on the hand that's actually pulling the strings. This is the right hand, unless you’re playing lefty. The striking hand (as I prefer to call it) is your lean, mean time-keeping machine, in addition to being largely responsible for the tone you get from your bass.

Your first order of business is to find a nice “sweet spot” for striking the strings so you’re able to produce a good, balanced tone that has the right amount of low, mid, and high frequencies – full and punchy, with good definition (almost sounds like a wine review, eh?). The most common technique for striking the string is to alternate between the index and middle fingers of the striking hand, and the ideal spot to strike your strings to accomplish the perfect tone is generally between the two pickups, closer to the bridge pickup. If your bass has a single pickup, strike the strings between the pickup and the end of the neck, closer to the pickup. Try moving your hand around a bit and listen for the sound that works best for you. Once you’ve established your position, it’s time for some exercises to get a smooth flow going.

Since time is of the essence (and I mean the art of keeping time), I recommend practicing these exercises with a metronome. Set the metronome to about 80 beats per minute (BPM) and match the clicks by striking the open G string, alternating between your index and middle fingers. Make sure that both striking fingers get the same volume and tone out of the string. Next, do the same on the D string, then the A string, and finally the E string (and if you have a 5- or a 6-string bass, by all means use the additional strings, as well). You don’t need to involve your fretting hand at all; just play the open strings.

Once you’re comfortable matching the rhythm of the click, double your strikes, still alternating between your index and middle fingers. Play two evenly timed notes for each click: one of the notes on the click, the other exactly halfway between the clicks. Keep the volume of the notes even. Do this on all your strings.

Finally, play four evenly timed notes for each click of the metronome – the first note on the click, and the other three before the next click sounds. Again, practice this on each of your strings.

If the click represents a quarter-note, which is most often the case, then you're playing quarter-notes when you're playing one note per click, eighth-notes when playing two per click (twice as fast as the quarter-notes), and 16th-notes when playing four notes (twice as fast as the eighth-notes). Take a look at Example 1 for a visual. If you want to hear these rhythms in bass parts, listen to the intro and pre-chorus of Elton John's "Benny and the Jets" for quarter-notes, U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" for eighth-notes, and Vulfpeck's "Dean Town" for 16th-notes.

Once you have the individual rhythms solidly under your fingers, it's time to take this exercise to another level. Bassists commonly play a combination of quarter-, eighth-, and 16th-notes in any one song, so you need to be able to seamlessly maneuver among them. You can prepare yourself for this by practicing alternating rhythms as you're playing. Don't hesitate as you move from one rhythm to the next.

Turn on the metronome and start playing quarter-notes. Then, without stopping, play eighth-notes. After a while, switch to 16th-notes, still without stopping. When you're ready (still without stopping), work your way back to eighth-notes and eventually to quarter-notes. This exercise helps you keep track of all your rhythmic subdivisions while exercising your striking hand. Example 2 spells it out for you in notation form.

Alternate your sequence between quarter-, eighth-, and 16th-notes to break things up and keep it interesting. You never know when you need to go from a quarter-note rhythm directly to a 16th-note rhythm or vice versa. Example 3 shows you some common sequences to work with.

If you don't have your bass handy and you still want to exercise your rhythmic subdivisions, there's a way to do it using your feet, hands, and voice. Tap your feet in a quarter-note rhythm (you can also go for a slow walk), then clap your hands against your thigh in an eighth-note rhythm (twice as fast as your feet), and finally say "da" in a 16th-note rhythm (twice as fast as your hands and four times as fast as your feet). Pretty soon, your rhythmic feel will be as solid as a drummer's.