FOLLOW US ON:
0 Cart £0.00

String Crossing/Skipping

< BACK Subscribe Now Subscriber Login

In the previous course we covered the basic alternate picking technique across all four strings of the bass - hopefully by now you are comfortable with the mechanics of this technique. Of course, not all basslines move neatly from string to string and you won’t always have the luxury of starting on a new string with a downstroke. In fact, you will often be required to play only one note - or maybe three notes - per string, meaning that the next down or upstroke will occur on a different string. To become fluent with the plectrum it is very important to become comfortable crossing strings in this way and this video course is devoted to helping you do just that.

1 – INTRODUCTION TO STRING CROSSING

In this video we'll be looking at the basics of string crossing. We'll be working on this by playing through a G major scale in intervals of a fifth.

2 – STRING CROSSING/SKIPPING (PART 1)

In this video we'll be expanding on the previous lesson and learning to use the string skipping technique. This is where you'll be moving to a non-adjacent string.

3 – STRING CROSSING/SKIPPING (PART 2)

In this video we'll be looking at a more advanced form of string crossing/skipping. In these exercises you'll be playing a downstroke on one string, followed up an upstroke on a lower string.

4 – MORE WORK WITH SCALES

In this video we will be looking at playing scales again. Now that we have covered string crossing extensively, you should find that these make for great picking practice.

5 – EXERCISE #11

This exercise is a simple rock bassline that features a descending A minor pentatonic phrase - perfect for working on string crossing.

6 – EXERCISE #12

This bassline is in the key of G minor and is also based on the minor pentatonic scale. This line requires you to play across all four strings of the bass.

7 – EXERCISE #13

This is a funk bassline that uses a lot of space.

8 – EXERCISE #14

This is an uptempo punk rock bassline based around octave phrases. There are some potential string crossing pitfalls in the fourth bar and also in the eighth bar where the bass arpeggiates C and D power chords.

9 – EXERCISE #15

This is another funk bassline. The second half of the line is slower and simpler, but features some challenging string skipping.