Theory
Yesterday you loosened up your hand on a single open E. Today you step one string over. Today's one goal is moving smoothly between the E and A strings. Most bass lines are built by crossing back and forth between strings, so once this string move gets comfortable, everything you'll learn later gets much easier. It's not hard — it's just yesterday's two-finger plucking, carried on while changing strings.
The key is not stopping the index-middle alternation even when the string changes. If you started with the index on E, then after crossing to A the next one is still the middle — the fingers keep walking in turns, and only the string shifts over. Don't move your whole right hand big; the two fingertips crossing just barely to the neighbor string is plenty. At first the beat stumbles the moment the string changes, which is normal — that seam is exactly today's polishing spot.
Now the thumb gets one job. When you play E (4th string) the thumb rests on the pickup, but when you play A (3rd string) you shift the thumb up onto the E string. That way the E string you aren't playing gets muted on its own and stays quiet. This trick of the thumb following and covering the lower strings is called a "moving anchor" (a thumb that follows along). It feels awkward now, but in a few days your hand catches on by itself, so don't worry.
On a 5-string there's one more low string, so the thumb has more to cover — when you play A, cover both the E and the low B with your thumb to put both strings to sleep. The positions and fingering are exactly the same as the 4-string; you only add muting the B string the 4-string doesn't have, and the rest stays put. On any bass, what your hand learns today is "ring the string you play, mute the strings you don't."
See it
Today you move between two open strings, E (4th string) and A (3rd string). The examples below go from crossing slowly, one at a time to moving back and forth in tight eighth notes. Each example is laid out in a 4-string and a 5-string version.
Example 1 — quarter-note string crossing. E→A→E→A, crossing one per beat, crisp and clear.
▶ BPM 60, 4-string. Alternate E and A. Don't stop the index-middle alternation even when the string changes.
▶ BPM 60, 5-string. The fingering is the same as the 4-string. When you play A, cover both the E and the low B with your thumb to put both strings to sleep.
Example 2 — eighth notes. Four times on E, four times on A. You only need to smooth the single point where the string changes.
▶ BPM 65, 4-string. First four on E, last four on A. Keep only the seam from the 4th to the 5th note crisp.
▶ BPM 65, 5-string. Same notes as the 4-string. When you cross to A, shift the thumb over toward E·B too and put both strings to sleep.
Today's practice
0–7 min · Warm-up Loosen up again with yesterday's open-E two-finger plucking at BPM 60. Start by reviving whether the index and middle are the same volume.
7–17 min · Today's skill Repeat Example 1 (string crossing) at BPM 60. Build only the feel of crossing between E and A while keeping the finger alternation going.
17–27 min · Applying it Do Example 2 (eighth notes) four times at BPM 60 → once the seam is smooth, raise it one step to BPM 65 for four more. If the beat pushes back, drop to 60 again.
27–30 min · Check Write down the BPM you reached, and if you like, record 30 seconds to hear whether the sound cuts out at the point where the string changes.
Done when: you can alternate the open E and A with two fingers at 60–70, with the volume and beat holding steady even when the string changes.
- Stopping the hand at the string change. Stop the hand when the string changes and the beat pushes back right there. Shift over while keeping the alternation going.
- Not moving the thumb. Leave the thumb put and the lower string you aren't playing rings along, muddying the sound. Move the thumb to follow the lower strings.
- Moving the right hand big. Swinging the arm big smears the beat. The two fingertips crossing to the neighbor string is plenty.
- Chasing speed. If the seam isn't clean at 60 and you jump to 65, it all collapses. Clean comes first, speed later.