Warm Up For Bass Players

First of all, I will answer a question that I have been asked many time by students:

'Should we be warming up before playing the bass?'

From experience, the answer is a resounding yes!

But your warm-up routine does not have to be long or complicated, and a few exercises will usually suffice. 

Right from when I first started playing the bass guitar, I combined my warm-up exercises with technique practice and also used rudiments like scales and arpeggios. This way I could 'kill two birds with one stone' and really make full use of my warm-up routine.

Before a performance, I use warm-up exercises to get me in the zone, as well as to get my fingers moving. I find that certain exercises can help to bring focus.

You can use any exercises to warm up, but remember to get your fingers moving with slower exercises to start with.

 Warm-Up Exercises From My Book

I will now show you two exercises from my warm-up book which you can find in the GBS shop

Major Scale Warm-Up Exercise

This warm-up exercise is based around the major scale and once you get the pattern under your fingers, it’s a nice one to try and gradually increase speed with.

I suggest running the A Major Scale a few times before trying the exercise. Start on the 5th fret of the E string and use the following finger combination:

• E string: 2 - 4

• A string: 1 - 2 - 4

• D string: 1 - 3 - 4

  Octave Warm-Up Exercise

This exercise is based around octaves, and slides is harder than the last exercise so take your time with it.

Octave patterns are great to get the fingers of the plucking hand going. Octaves can also be demanding on the fretting hand, so take it easy at first and ease into the exercise.  I remember, relatively early in my bass playing career, playing the song 'Common People' by Pulp. The whole bass line is comprised of octaves, and at the gig, I felt like my left hand was dropping off from halfway through the song! If you want octave practise, then check this bass line out yourself.

To play the basic octave patterns from the exercise, make sure that you use alternate fingering throughout:

1-2, 1-2, 1-2, etc.

Octave patterns can be difficult to play accurately and at speed, so don't worry if you struggle with this exercise. You can always start at a much slower speed, and gradually speed it up each week.

Also make sure that you play the slides using the same finger for the two notes joined by the slide.