Fretting is one of the most essential concepts behind learning first-class bass techniques. If you only this minute picked up the bass guitar, you want to learn the rudiments of decent fretting before anything else. What do you in fact want to understand? Well here are some critical directions and information:

Keep your nails clipped and tidy. It is almost impossible to play bass guitar with claws. Ensure you cut your fingernails before even picking up your instrument.

Memorize your finger numbering. On bass guitar, your fretting fingers are numbered. One is the pointing finger. Two is the median finger. Three is your third finger. Four is your pinky.

Arm positioning. You want your arms to spread naturally at your sides. Try not to get into the habit of resting your elbow on your lap when you sit down. Also, ensure that there is no tension in the shoulders.

Safeguard your wrist. As many musicians are subject to hand or wrist injuries ensure, you must listen to your body if you feel tenderness. It is normal for your fingers to ache and niggle at in the beginning, but you should in no way feel piercing or other types of pain in your wrists.

Have your palm away from the underside of the neck. Your hand should not contact the underside of the neck. Instead, there should be a tiny pocket of air.

Push softly. Always try to push with minimal force while still getting a fresh and precise tone.

Learn to vary and sharpen your tempo. This might seem logical, but it is harder than it seems. You need to grasp the difference between, say, 40 beats per minute compared with 60 beats per minute.

And as a final point, remember to repeat, exercise and practice. Learning bass techniques can be time consuming, but eventually you will become familiar with your instrument.