Ready to start rocking the bass? By the end of this article and video series, you’ll know everything you need to know about strap height, the parts of the bass, how to tune, and basic left and right hand techniques. We’ll even play some music together as we’re learning.
Let’s Strap it On
Although it’s technically not part of the bass, let’s start by talking about the strap.
Having your strap on at the right height is essential, and I recommend always playing with a strap on.
There are a few different ways that straps can attach to the bass. The most common way on inexpensive straps is that there will be an opening in the ends of the strap where the strap button of the bass fits through.

A more secure way is to use strap locks, which actually lock the strap onto the bass. In my opinion, this is essential for live performance, otherwise your bass might fall off while you’re moving around.

There are a handful of different strap lock designs for bass – I’ve been using Dunlop strap locks for years and have never had a failure.
Whatever kind of strap you use, the most important thing is to set your strap height so that your bass is somewhere between your rib cage and your waist. If your bass is hanging too low (as is fashionable in some rock bands), it will change the angle at which your hands approach the bass and cause technique problems.

Parts of the Bass
The bass can be broken into three basic segments:
Body: This is where your right hand plucks the strings, and where all the electronics of the bass are housed.

Neck: This is where your left hand will be pressing down on the frets to get different notes out of the bass.

Headstock: This is where the tuners are, which you’ll turn to get your strings in tune.

The Musical Alphabet
Before we get your bass in tune, you need to understand how the musical alphabet works.
There are only 12 notes in “Western” music (meaning almost everything you listen to), which repeat over and over in different registers. We use the English letters A through G, plus some symbols called sharps and flats to name those notes.
The easiest way to visualize this is on a piano keyboard.

Let’s zoom in on just one octave of the keyboard, which means the span from one note to its next repetition.

Notice there are 13 keys in the above image? There are 12 unique notes, and the 13th key is a repetition of the A we started on.
The white keys on the piano are given all the plain letter names, which are called naturals. To name the black keys, we start with a nearby white key and then use sharp to raise it or flat to lower it. So, the black key between A and B could be called A# (A raised one note) or Bb (B lowered one note).
The only complication with this system is that there are two asymmetrical spots on the keyboard where there is no black key – between E and F, and between B and C.
THEORY OVERLOAD?
This might feel like a lot of theory if you’re just starting with music, but you’ll have this stuff memorized within a couple weeks if you keep reviewing it, and it’ll be with you the rest of your life. Just remember:
- There are 12 notes
- We use the letters A through G, plus sharps and flats, to name them
- There is a sharp or flat between all the letters except E to F, and B to C.
How To Tune Your Bass
The strings of the bass should be tuned to the notes E, A, D, and G. The E string is the thickest string closest to your face as you’re holding the bass. There are two methods you can use to tune a bass guitar:
1. TUNE WITH A TUNER
This is what I’ll teach you in this lesson; it’s the easiest and most reliable method for beginners to learn.
2. TUNE BY EAR
There are a few different ways to do this, from using external reference pitches to tuning with bass harmonics, but I don’t recommend doing this if you’re new to music. After you’ve been playing music for longer and are used to tuning with a tuner, it will be easier to learn to tune by ear.
There are three different types of tuner you can use:
- Plug-in Tuner: This is my top recommendation; you’ll get the most accuracy, especially on your low E string. You just plug an instrument cable from your bass into the tuner’s input.
- Clip-on Tuner: These have gotten better and better in recent years, and they have the advantage of being really easy to carry around and use. They clip onto your bass’s headstock and read the vibration of the wood.
- Tuner Apps: These won’t be as accurate as the above options since they rely on a microphone rather than connecting to your bass directly, but if you don’t have a physical tuner you can use an app for free in the meantime
Now that you’ve got your tuner hooked up, all you need to do is pluck a string with your right hand (make sure it’s the only string ringing), look at the tuner display, and then turn the tuning knob that corresponds to that string to make the pitch higher or lower.
Here are a few tuning scenarios so you get a feel for how this works:
- I play my G string and the tuner says G, but it’s off to the left. I tighten the string slightly by turning the tuning knob, until the tuner display is dead center.
- I play my G string and the tuner says G#. My string is so out of tune that it’s on a G# instead of a G, so I need to loosen the string until it reads G, and then get it dead center.
- I play my G string and the tuner says F. I’m two notes too low, so I need to tighten the string until I get to a G, and get it dead center.
BASS TUNER TROUBLESHOOTING
Make sure your bass’s volume knob is up if you’re using a plug-in tuner, otherwise the tuner won’t get a good signal.
Only read your tuner while a string is actively ringing. Try to keep your string actively ringing with your right hand while you turn the tuning knob with your left hand, so you get up-to-the-second updated feedback from the tuner. This will help avoid under- or over-turning your tuning knob.
If you’re plucking your D string and it reads Eb, and you’re not sure whether to tune down to D, or up to the next D, always err on the side of going down. If you loosen your string too much, nothing bad will happen, but if you overtighten it you may break a string, which is a bummer.
You should now be in tune and ready to play some bass…
How To Pluck
BASIC RIGHT HAND TECHNIQUE
On bass, your right hand is used for plucking the strings. Traditional “moveable anchor” plucking technique has your right thumb resting on a pickup or a low string you aren’t using, while you pluck with your right index and middle fingers, alternating back and forth. The most important thing to remember about this technique is to pull across, not up and away from the bass.
Jam Tracks for Right-Hand Technique Lesson
If you’re plucking the E string, that means your plucking finger will hit your anchored thumb after the pluck. If you’re plucking your higher strings, your finger should collide with the next lowest pitched string after the pluck (i.e. after plucking the A string, your finger rests on the E string). This is crucial for getting a good solid sound out of your bass.
To dial in your right-hand technique more check out our more detailed lesson right here
How To Fret
BASIC LEFT HAND TECHNIQUE
By pressing down on the different frets, your left hand is what changes the pitch of the strings and allows you to play a bunch of different notes with only four strings.
You use all four of your fingers to fret notes, while your thumb stays in relaxed contact with the back of the neck (not pressing, just resting).
Fretting fingers should be slightly curved and relatively perpendicular to the strings – avoid slanting your fingers towards your body.
Jam Tracks for Left-Hand Technique Lesson
Keep your palm off the neck, and use your elbow, wrist, and finger angle to reach the frets you need to reach. The amount of stretching you need to do to play bass will feel like a lot at first (often students are convinced their hands are “too small”), but over time you’ll train your hands and it will feel more and more comfortable.


Aim for the middle to the end of the fret with your fingers. This helps avoid rattling by giving you a strong angle of contact on the fret wire, and reduces the amount of pressure you need with your left hand to get clean-sounding notes.
It’s a long road on the quest for perfect left hand technique, so don’t expect perfection. Just do your best to stay relaxed, get a good sound, and have fun.
TERMINOLOGY TIP
We use the words “up” and “down” in a particular way on bass and guitar. “Up” always means “higher in pitch,” and “down” always means “lower in pitch.” This can be confusing for beginners since it’s the opposite of our sense of gravitational up and down. So if you’re on the E string’s 3rd fret, to get to the A string’s 5th fret you would go up a string and up 2 frets.
Beginner Basics Wrap-Up
Now that you know the parts of your bass, have it in tune, and have played some music while learning basic right and left hand technique, you’re a certified bass player!
If you want to learn lots more and play more music with me, check out my full beginners lessons, where I take you through hours and hours of beginner-focused lessons designed to have you kicking ass and taking names. Taking names optional.
Comments
Got something to say? Post a comment below.
I spent two days, both Saturday and Sunday one weekend looking for the right online bass lessons plan. I am a 55 year old male who used to play drums in a garage band in So Cal as a teen (not very well however) I am a ripper on harp, have been for 35 years. I sit in with local blues bands, but I always wanted to play the bass, leftover from my Jazz days of listening to Stanley Clark tapes < aging myself. When my son was 12, I bought him a Mexican Strat, poly wood guitar. Now I… Read more »
Hey Kirk, glad to hear it! I’ve got lots more awesome beginner stuff coming out soon too. Stoked for you that you’re gonna jam with your son, I bet you’ll both have a great time.
Josh
Josh I would buy your bass lessons in a heartbeat since I started recording with Logic Pro X and play all the instruments myself (unfortunately self taught) but playing for over 40 years. You are a outstanding teacher but your site doesn’t allow me to hit that button and watch it on the big screen like with your YouTube. Any suggestions ?? In almost every song I play there’s Rhythm, lead, Bass , piano and vocals. I’m constantly looking for bass covers to learn the bass and then using a pick. Never realized how important the bass is and how… Read more »
Hey Joe! I know some people have found ways to get the course broadcast onto their TVs, but that stuff is out my league as I’ve never done it. Instructions depend a lot on specific TVs etc., but I bet if you asked around on the forum someone would have some advice – forum.bassbuzz.com/
Hi Josh, thanks for share your knowledge with us. I bought a bass kit (amp, bass, tuner) but I had no idea how tune it and which note is the strings, position of hands etc … I’ve started to learned with you, thanks a million.
Joao Cometti
Hey Joao, glad to help! Have fun. 🙂
Man, I Just Love Your Bass!! It’s Super Beautiful, Really Very Sharp. I Just Love The Wood.
Thanks Michele! I love it too, we’ve been friends for almost a decade.
Hi Josh. What year, make and model is it?
Hey Tom, it’s a Peavey Cirrus from the 90’s (not sure what year).
I play guitar and through GarageBand, I found out that bass sounds like a really good background sound. Then, I was hired as song manager for a football play. I needed to make a dramatic sound effect, so I wanted to use bass. But, I didn’t know the strings. This website saved me from almost 6 hours of surfing the web.
Thank you.
Glad to help Roro!
well i must say i just bought my first bass becouse in my band we need a bass player and i must say i have learned more in the 10 minutes i just practiced thsn at the time with my drummers dad
Glad I could help! Have fun with your band!
thanks to you it will become more fun. rather than just be the singer ill also be the bass player
Nice!
Josh, I’m all in. I’m old enough to know better but still too young to care. 😉 Anyway, I’ve been searching around and like your promo material here says, you can get a bit lost trying to find the right way to learn things and in what order. Your coarse looks well organized and I love the included backing tracks. I am a drummer and I learned from Tommy Igoe’s lessons which are set up the same way. I can’t say enough about this format for learning. One question on fretting. My pinky is pretty short compared to the rest… Read more »
Hey Malorie! Had to look up the Wade Hayes tune that I assume your first line is from. 🙂 First of all, most people have pinky trouble at first, so you may be able to adapt. You might be able to find a sweet spot between wrist angle, amount of bend in the fingers, and strap height. Hard to say for sure though, all bodies are different! You can always post a photo or video to the BassBuzz forum and get some feedback – https://forum.bassbuzz.com/c/technique
You mentioned the E string, but have not yet indicated which strings are which. Just a thought.
Hey Mick, I talked about that in the tuning section, quoting from the article above: “The strings of the bass should be tuned to the notes E, A, D, and G. The E string is the thickest string closest to your face as you’re holding the bass. ”
Hope that helps,
Josh
Thank you so much for this tutorial Josh.. I have been playing for about 4 years but maybe ssd out on a lot of the important basics at the beginning of my bass journey. Coming back to basics has been very helpful and I know will improve my technique and do fort
Hey Kim, you’re welcome! “Back to basics” seems to be a good starting point to learn pretty much anything, I was just thinking about the same thing in martial arts class this morning. Have fun!
Many bass guitars today are 5 string. It is my suggestion that you add the B string option in your discussion. The 5 string bass instrument adds the low B, C, (C#, Dflat), D and (D#, Eflat) (5 extra) notes to your repertoire. You tune the B, E, A, D and G strings. My previous instructor played a 6 string bass with a high C string. He tuned the B, E, A, D, G and C strings.
Hey David, I am aware of those types of basses, I own a 5 string myself. I personally recommend beginners to start on 4 string, adding another string adds more notes to learn, more string crossing and muting challenges, etc., and there’s already plenty of those on a 4 string.
And it’s true that “many” basses are 5 string, but 5 strings are in no way replacing or making obsolete the 4 string bass, it’s just a variation on the instrument with a slightly different function.
Hope that’s helpful,
Josh
I have already bought a 5 string bass for my beginner, can I still use your way of learning the bass.
Hey Leonard, yes definitely! I have a number of students who’ve taken the Beginner to Badass course on 5 string and seem to do just fine. The extra string does add some challenge as I talk about above, even if you’re just ignoring it, but it’s totally possible if that’s what you want to play.
Woow, this is amazing and helpful, I just got on the right truck.
Glad I could help! 🙂