Here are some of the warm up exercises that I recommend for any readers as an aid to developing strength and ability on bass guitar.

Exercise 1 is a hand stretcher. It involves making your fretting hand stretch from finger one on fret one, string four to finger four fret four, string one. The second half reverses the exercise. You should then extend it by moving the entire exercise up in minor thirds.

Exercise 2 is chromatic ending on an open string 1 and using strings 1 and 2. You then drop to strings 2 and 3 and then 3 and 4.

Exercise 3 is one of my favourite warmer-uppers. It is two bars from Jaco’s River People using alternate string picking. Speed is not important at first, nor is whether you use a pick or fingers, take it easy and slowly build up both speed and strength.

Dr. Rob Burns is an Honorary Associate Professor in Music at the University of Otago in Dunedin. As a former professional studio bassist in the UK, he performed and recorded with David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jerry Donahue, Isaac Hayes, James Burton, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, Eric Burdon and members of Abba. Rob is currently a member of Dunedin band, The Verlaines and is on three new progressive rock albums released in the UK in 2020 and 2021.