Reddit mentions of Bass Fitness - An Exercising Handbook: Updated Edition!: Now Including Bonus 5-String Section! (Guitar School)

I just started doing the drills out of this book with a metronome. It seems to really be helping my playing. It's kind of a bitch at first though... My wrists were killing me after going through a few of these the first time.

http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449673805&sr=8-1&keywords=bass+fitness

Sounds like you're going about it the right way. Speed is about muscle memory so there isn't a quick way to learn it. Start slow, with a metronome, and build up the speed when you've perfected the slower tempo. Muscle memory sticks with how you learn it, if you practice perfect slow technique then that's the technique that develops, if you fudge it to rush to faster tempos then that will be reflected in your technique.

I can highly recommend this book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489/ref=asc_df_0793502489/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=311325854090&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12459488065697696982&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045629&hvtargid=pla-450362569161&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

It's a great selection of finger twisters that will really help both hands.

Bass Fitness is, for me, the golden standard to which I hold all guitar practice books. It's a no-nonsense text that offers little in the way of guidance or assistence, but stick with it and you will notice a difference in your playing in due time. It's not perfect by any means -- in fact it is quite rough around the edges -- but it works.

For more general resources, check out 101 Bass Tips, which features of a plethora of different tips and tricks for the working musician -- everything from set-up and maintenance, to technique, to recording and tone, and much more. It's also accompanied by a CD with examples and practice songs you can play along to.

Once you've got the basics down and you're ready to move into the more advanced facets of bass playing, you might want to try out some books on musical theory. I suggest this, this, and these. Hope these help!

I don't know about the workout you are referring to, but Bass Fitness is a book of exercises to be drilled to a metronome for about 15-20 minutes per day with the aim of improving strength, speed, and dexterity.

Having just done an enormous essay as a critical evaluation final assignment at my last year of a BMus Jazz course on technique and hand/wrist troubles - i recommend you check out these 3 books, they completely changed my playing style, for the better!

Electric Bass technique Builder, Todd Johnson:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Johnson-Electric-Technique-Builders-Alfreds/dp/0739051555

The Bassist's Guide To Injury Management, Prevention and Better Health, Kertz, Randall D.C:
http://www.bassbooks.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=1229

Bass Fitness, An Exercising Handbook, Josquin Des Pres:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Fitness-An-Exercising-Handbook/dp/0793502489

You may also want to look into 'The Alexander Technique' - as this gives great information about postures and stance and how you wear your instrument.

Also - has your bass been professionally set up? If the strings are too high you can get the action lowered, this greatly improves fretting ability.

Just to add onto this if you're like me and enjoy having a physical book to work through: shout out for Josquin des Pres' Bass Fitness exercise handbook. The exercises in there start out with "simple" permutations on one string up and down the neck and then branch out into more complicated spider-type exercises. These exercises really aren't anything you couldn't find online, but I have a lot of trouble following a routine if it isn't already written out for me.

I've been working through the exercises for about a month and I can already see some progress when it comes to fluidity and crossing strings. Definitely recommend it!

This book is pretty brutal, it has a lot of good stuff for playing technique.

Always warm up before playing. Take 5 minutes to do a 1 2 3 4 finger pattern up and down the neck. Bonus points if you use a metronome.

Switch up the pattern for a good finger dexterity practice exercise. E.g. 1 3 2 4, 1 4 2 3, 4 3 2 1, etc...

Start by doing these across one string and then slowly start incorporating multiple strings.

This book is a great resource for these types of exercises.

Good luck!

While it's definitely helpful, for technique, getting feedback from an actual teacher can be more beneficial. And for the endurance, throwing in various exercises, e.g. the bass fitness (https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489) or alternatives can be handy.

I play anyone the exercises from this book for 5-10 minutes with a metronome.

https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489

This book def helped me early one
https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Including/dp/0793502489

Don't start with a BASS VI. Even though they probably sound like a good place in between, starting bass, you're not looking for a transition so much as a good foundation.

In the sidebar we have advice for good starter basses and in the FAQ we have a long list of songs to start playing.

Books aren't as important as just getting out and practicing. Save the money you'd spend on a couple of books and see if you can just get even one lesson with a teacher.

However, books like this are decent for learning exercises, though after a while you realize that they're relatively simple patterns you could figure out yourself!

This is a great book once you get technique down. I've been playing professionally for about 8 years now and this book really took me to another level about 4 years ago, I wish I'd known about it sooner.

But first and foremost is technique. Learn good habits and everything else will be a lot easier.

Check out Bass fitness book, you can download pdf here.

http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489/

Bass Fitness: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0793502489/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1427396617&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&keywords=bass+fitness&dpPl=1&dpID=515NiReGpQL&ref=plSrch

I wouldn't normally recommend a book, but Bass Fitness has the perfect exercises for getting your left hand fingers to get used to moving independently. If money's tight, just take a look at the first few pages on amazon and you can get an idea of what the exercises are. Play even just those first few chromatic patterns up and down the neck again with a metronome and your motor control should start to shape up pretty quickly.

Short answer: Practice.

​

Not so short one: Practice. Practice. Practice.


The Spider exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6qAay10W8g

​

There are like a trillion variations for The Spider, but that'll give you an idea. That kind of exercises are great for training fingers, just make sure to practice them slowly (with a metronome, dammit) and to avoid taking your fingers off the fingerboard once you fret the next note on a string (that will avoid two things: flying fingers and that karate chop thingy you mentioned). Notice how the guy in the vid is fingering them.

​

I also recommend the Bass Fitness book for training those fingers.

If anybody here is looking for a good list of warmups and exercises to do to build up speed, accuracy, and finger strength, I strongly recommend checking out this book.

Check out Bass Fitness. I scanned this a while ago, but I dunno if I still have the file around. Pretty awesome for finger strength and independence.

Both Bass Aerobics and Bass Fitness are aimed at helping with these sorts of things.

Fitness can be very dry and is more of an exercise book with, in my opinion, lots of basic patterns then stretched out. Personally I don't need tab/score to say "play 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4-2, etc. until you go through every possibler iteration of fingering across every string", but it has that sort of exercises along with others.

Aerobics, on the other hand, is trying to be much more musical. Each etude is intended to be both exercise along with actually sounding like something. So, for example, it starts off by using pieces that consist of a lot of chromatic runs. The problem is that the speed and difficulty tend to ramp up pretty fast and it devotes what I feel is far too much space to slap. The later chapters are far more challenging than I feel is necessary. I'd suggest more of a low-stress, high-rep approach personally.

Oh and to get back to what I mentioned earlier one of the exercises I keep coming back to is to go through every iteration of fingering in a one-finger-per-fret position, e.g. 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4-2, 1-4-2-3, 2-4-3-1, etc. then start moving those across the strings with first one and then multiple fingers always playing on one string while the others move up and down:

E --1--2--3--4--1-----------1---------
A -----------------2--3--4------------
D -----------------------------2--3--4
G -------------------------------------

Work through this and eventually you'll have covered every possible fingering. As always use a metronome to keep your timing consistent starting slow to build up muscle memory and then slowly increasing the speed.

It sounds like you're doing everything right to set yourself up for success. As someone else mentioned, you can use one finger (many of the greats did), but if a pick works, stick with (many of the greats did this, too). I personally have to recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Bass-Fitness-Exercising-Handbook-Guitar/dp/0793502489 . It's boring, but if you start slow and build up you speed with these exercises, you'll get the dexterity you're looking for.