Hi, I’m Toru Hoshino, a bass teacher.
Today’s topic:
A phrase you can play using only the half position —
a great pick for upright bass beginners.
The upright bass isn’t the easiest instrument to handle — there’s a lot to keep in mind with your posture and form — but you still want to actually play songs on it, right?
So today I want to share one phrase from a real, well-known tune that’s actually played on upright bass — one that doesn’t require much position-shifting, so even beginners can manage it with a bit of effort.
Contents
A Phrase You Can Play Using Only the Half Position
Here’s the phrase. It’s the part from 0:00–1:00 in the track below.
It’s a phrase from the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves.”
Here’s the notation — this phrase repeats throughout the section.
The key point is that the phrase is built entirely within what’s called the “half position” — roughly equivalent to frets 1–3 on electric bass — so there isn’t much position-shifting involved.
Once your fundamentals are solid, give it a try playing along with the track.
I hope this gives you some ideas for your daily practice!
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This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.