Bass Lesson 03: the open strings and note names

Watch the Center Stage academy walk through the open string names in the video above, then read the breakdown.

In Lesson 02 your plucking hand learned to make the strings speak. Now those four strings get their names. This is the map. Every note, scale, and bassline you ever learn is measured from these four open strings, so lock them in now.

Hold the bass in playing position. The thickest string, up near your chin, is the lowest in pitch. The thinnest, down near the floor, is the highest. From thickest to thinnest, the four open strings are:

G |--0--   1st string, G (thinnest)
D |--0--   2nd string, D
A |--0--   3rd string, A
E |--0--   4th string, E (thickest)

Here is a shortcut if you have touched a guitar: these are the exact same names as a guitar's lowest four strings, E A D G, just an octave lower and thicker. The bass is the low end of that same family.

There is a pattern hiding in the names too. Each open string is a perfect fourth above the one below it. E up to A is a fourth, A up to D is a fourth, D up to G is a fourth. That even spacing is why the same fingering shape moves cleanly from string to string later on.

A simple memory aid, reading from the low E up: Eat And Drink Grapes. Say it while you pluck each string in order and the letters stick fast.

Why memorize this? When a lesson says "third fret of the A string," you need to know which string that is without counting. A clip-on tuner confirms each open string as you go, and a clean set like the D'Addario EXL170 Nickel Wound Bass makes every note ring clear while your ear is still learning. See the full set at D'Addario EXL170.

Practice this

Pluck each open string from the thick E to the thin G and say its name out loud: E, A, D, G. Do it five times. Then close your eyes, pluck one string at random, and name it before you look. Two minutes of this and the names become automatic, which is the whole foundation of finding notes.

Where you are

Lesson 02: right-hand fingerstyle basics taught your plucking hand to sound the strings cleanly, and now each of those four sounds has a name. Motown genius James Jamerson built entire basslines from these four notes and the frets just above them. You can browse bass and guitar strings any time. Next, Lesson 04: playing along to a metronome, where those named notes get locked to a steady beat.