Fretting

Hopefully by now everyone should know what a fret is. The "fret" are those little pieces of metal running up the front face of the neck of the guitar (called the fretboard). In between the frets are where you should be putting your fingers to play a note. Each fret is spaced so that if you go from one fret to another up the same string you go chromatically up the octave, or it goes up half a step in the 12 tone scale. Think of it as playing every note (including the black ones) on a keyboard or piano if you're confused. The important thing when placing your fingers (especially for bassists) is to place your finger just behind the fret of the note you are playing. In other words not on the fret but just behind it in order to hear the note without any "fret buzz" (that annoying buzzing noise that beginners will hear many times, and people changing to a new bass). You should only place one finger per fret (called OFPF) while you're playing, this may be tricky when starting out. If you can't manage this, practice playing up the octave to build up finger strength, then when you're ready move it back down. A good exercise to build finger strength is this: - Place you're index or pointing finger of you're fretting hand (left hand for right handed guitarists, right hand for lefties) in the first fret and strike the string (fingers or pick) with you're other hand. - Place you're second finger in the second fret, making sure to keep you're first finger in the first fret still, and strike the string. - Then place third finger in third fret while keeping the other two in place, and strike again. - Same for you're fourth finger (pinky). - Move up a string and repeat. When you've done this on all strings try going down: - Place all fingers in corresponding frets (1st finger in first, 2nd in 2nd etc), strike the string. - Then just remove you're pinky, and strike again. - Then just remove you're 3rd, strike, likewise for 2nd and index. - Move down a string and repeat. Keep practicing this over and over until you can build up some speed. If you hands get cramped (and they should) give it a rest for an hour and try again. If you feel sharp pains, stop immediately and move up a few frets (ie start with index on fret 5 or 10), then try the exercise. Here's the video: Thanks, Dr Warm