warm up excercises

[Mike]

Does anyone know any good warm up exercises or stretches? I tend to play live a lot without warming up first and im thinking thats probabaly not too clever for my hands, wrists and fingers in the future.
Cheers guys!

 

[odominguez]

I just do about 5 minutes of chromatic scales throughout the whole neck whenever I play bass.

 

[Callum]

i normally just play something simple. tbh i pay more attention to warming the strings up than may hands :/

Gonna try chromatic scales though dunno why i never thought of it before :?

 

[Casey]

Anything classical for me...

 

[Stroud]

i do these sorts of warm ups. it increses (for me) stamina, finger co-ordination and finger strength

if your not good at using your little finger, this is a great way to start getting proficient

this sort of thing;
-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------------------------
--------------------1-3-2-4----------1-3-2-4-------------------
----------1-3-2-4-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------
-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------------1-3-2-4-

start at fret one and go up the neck a fret a time

wish id been doing these since i started because its helps me more than anything else



if anyone wants to propperly adopt this exercise these are the variations and an indication of how much my fingers and brain like them (this is just me though im sure everyone'll find some easier or some harder)

1234 (easy)
1243 (easy)
1324 (hard)
1342 (medium)
1423 (easy)
1432 (easy)

2341 (easy)
2314 (medium)
2431 (medium)
2413 (hard)
2134 (easy)
2143 (easy)

3412 (easy)
3421 (medium)
3142 (medium)
3124 (medium)
3241 (hard)
3214 (hard)

4123 (easy)
4132 (medium)
4213 (hard)
4231 (medium)
4312 (hard)
4321 (easy)

i dont know if any of that'll make any sense at all so i'll explain;

eg 3412 would be;

-----------------------------3-4-1-2----------------------------
--------------------3-4-1-2----------3-4-1-2-------------------
----------3-4-1-2-----------------------------3-4-1-2----------
-3-4-1-2-----------------------------------------------3-4-1-2-

then

-----------------------------4-5-2-3----------------------------
--------------------4-5-2-3----------4-5-2-3-------------------
----------4-5-2-3-----------------------------4-5-2-3----------
-4-5-2-3-----------------------------------------------4-5-2-3

until

----------------------------------------11-12-9-10-------------------------------------------
---------------------------11-12-9-10-------------11-12-9-10----------------------------
--------------11-12-9-10---------------------------------------11-12-9-10----------------
-11-12-9-10-----------------------------------------------------------------11-12-9-10----



when your bored of all them you can try doing other stuff;

*play with a metronome and change the speed, both fast and slow (i find it hard to keep it steady and nice sounding when playing really slow so its worthwhile practising really slow)
* doing the same thing in weird funky rhythms (play each note twice and syncopate them?)
* go up a fret after after every four notes (instead after working up and down the strings on the same frets)... something like this

-----------------------------6-7-4-5----------------------------
--------------------5-6-3-4----------7-8-5-6-------------------
----------4-5-2-3-----------------------------8-9-6-7----------
-3-4-1-2-----------------------------------------------9-10-7-8

 

[Callum]

Very nice stroud very comprehensive ive been meaning to start practicing stuff like that just never get enough time. Reading your post reminded me of this exercise i read about that double bass players use to increase dexterity its basically an extension of what you said.

Basically you play fifths, but each finger to each fret tab wise its:

1.....3......2......4

------11---------12--
--9--------10--------
----------------------
----------------------

you do this then do it backwards so:


4........2......3....1

--12--------11------
-------10--------9--
---------------------
---------------------

Then play minor thirds and then reverse it.

1......3......2......4

--9---------10------
------11---------12-
---------------------
---------------------

Once this is up to speed do it with a string apart so you are playing octaves and minor 6ths(irc) get to be a streach at this point.

e.g.

1......3......2......4

------11---------12-
----------------------
--9--------10--------
----------------------

Then do it so there is 2 string break so its playing 11ths

E.g.


1......3......2......4

------11---------12--
----------------------
----------------------
--9--------10--------

Then work your way Down the fret aboard ending up on the 1st fret. Its pretty hard if you have more stings i guess you could increase the gaps to have 3 or even 4 strings between them. If you took this and did it with many intervals it also works, Jaco mention about doing runs of 6ths in a video i watched on youtube one time (irc). Oh and take it slow if you stretch too much your gonna pull muscles in you hand.

 

[FMJ]

I like that exercise Evil.. I use it when I do pit work where your hands have to be geniuely warmed up to do that stuff... Used to do it in 1/4 to 1/8ths to Triplets to 16ths at around 80bpm (That tempo is engrained into me after 2 years of sitting at it and mucking around with subdivisions for technical stuff).. Your hand definately gets warmed up by the end of that.
The other one I liked is the Nathan East one of using your first and second finger and going vertically up and down the neck, then first - third, first - forth, second - third, second - forth, third - forth and once again, varying speeds and subdivisions.
Its all about control and consistency. Stroud is right.. the slower you practice, the better your time will become. Start at 60bpm and work your way down to 50 and even 30-40bpm but if you can become consistent at these tempos (Really listening to the subdivisions), then when you play at faster tempos, it will become more fluid... This is really more for a technical practice though rather than warmups... But it does work.

As for the Jaco 6ths exercise.. thats more of a learn the fingerboard method and learning a scale really well. Ive got a Sheet here of about 7-8ways of doing just 3rds.. then you get 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths.. you could take it to the upper extensions - 9ths, 10ths, 11ths, 13ths, depending on how you want to do it. Then applying it to all the modes and scales that you want to. The other way of doing this is playing the scale from different degrees of the scale.

Although this doesnt really apply to warmup techniques.. it does apply to technical practice and the one thing I learnt from sitting in a master class with a New York Trumpeter - his name escapes me now - was that if you're going to work on scales, arpegios, exercises.. etc, you're better off playing for a while - at least 20-30minutes of just playing tunes that way when you come to practicing the technical stuff, it comes out more musical rather than 'oh no, heres the boring stuff i must practice'.

 

[odominguez]

i do these sorts of warm ups. it increses (for me) stamina, finger co-ordination and finger strength

if your not good at using your little finger, this is a great way to start getting proficient

this sort of thing;
-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------------------------
--------------------1-3-2-4----------1-3-2-4-------------------
----------1-3-2-4-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------
-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------------1-3-2-4-

When I'm doing chromatic I do it a little different, for example:

-------------------------------2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-------------------------------
---------------------3-4-5-6--------------------7-6-5-4----------------------
-----------4-5-6-7----------------------------------------8-7-6-5------------
-5-6-7-8------------------------------------------------------------9-8-7-6--

And I keep going at it through the whole fretboard and it lets me play every single note.

 

[Callum]

i do these sorts of warm ups. it increses (for me) stamina, finger co-ordination and finger strength

if your not good at using your little finger, this is a great way to start getting proficient

this sort of thing;
-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------------------------
--------------------1-3-2-4----------1-3-2-4-------------------
----------1-3-2-4-----------------------------1-3-2-4----------
-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------------1-3-2-4-

When I'm doing chromatic I do it a little different, for example:

-------------------------------2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-------------------------------
---------------------3-4-5-6--------------------7-6-5-4----------------------
-----------4-5-6-7----------------------------------------8-7-6-5------------
-5-6-7-8------------------------------------------------------------9-8-7-6--

And I keep going at it through the whole fretboard and it lets me play every single note.

Aye the true chromatic scale, Each have their own uses and if you add that onto the end of what stroud mentioned its a pretty solid warm up.

FMJ i'm gonna try that exercise you mentioned, the technical stuff is something i'm really working on atm. This tread although moving more going towards technical stuff and less from warm ups, has really sparked me on and given me a few more ideas to add to my practice schedule

 

[Jacobrownoly]

i find that going up and down the modes is a great warm up eg Start on and play through the F lydian then E phygian then D dorian then the C major scale. Go through all of these and then gradually speed them up.

I also like to do sequances through all of these eg for the C major do that in 3 s eg C,D,E,D,E,F,E,F,G,F,G,A,G,A,B,A,B,C and then in 4 s eg C,D,E,F,D,E,F,G,E,F,G,A,F,G,A,B,G,A,B,C.

I find that this works well

 

[Snooze]

nice and interesting tips Stroud! tried it out for a little while today and it felt really good. gonna try and stick to some of those patterns as part of my warmup routine now

 

[Casey]

I'm going to have to print up this thread

 

[Florin]

I just snap my fingers...

It is good to to some warm up without your bass, like for sports or something, warm your fingers and wrist. Don't forget to shake your hands from time to time.

Then, all the exercises above are great for warming. Also, before a gig is good to prepare mentally for the show.

 

[Kris]

I snap and use a Powerball

 

[saxonbass]

Good thread!

I never warm up... but obviously a good idea! I just hear the drummer saying "1,2,3,4..." ... then think, "Oh! bugger! I'm still standing at the bar!"

 

[Patrik]

Good thread!

I never warm up... but obviously a good idea! I just hear the drummer saying "1,2,3,4..." ... then think, "Oh! bugger! I'm still standing at the bar!"

LAMO..... but that's a kind of warm-up in itself, isn't it Saxon???

I rarely warm up either but it's definitely worth it. It usually takes me an hour to get warm and feel "flexible".

 

[Gerry]

I do scales in thirds thru 2 octaves up and down the neck.

 

[Stroud]

Good thread!

I never warm up... but obviously a good idea! I just hear the drummer saying "1,2,3,4..." ... then think, "Oh! bugger! I'm still standing at the bar!"

that's called the ten metre sprint :wink:

 

[saxonbass]

Good thread!

I never warm up... but obviously a good idea! I just hear the drummer saying "1,2,3,4..." ... then think, "Oh! bugger! I'm still standing at the bar!"

that's called the ten metre sprint :wink:

... or if there's a crowd there (hopefully :wink: )... it could be the obstacle race!