Originally published July 21, 2014, lightly edited for clarity.
I have had a lot of students over the years say that they had heard you should avoid open strings when playing your lines on bass guitar. The only thing I have found to watch out for with open strings is to make sure they do not sonically disrupt the flow of the line because the sound of an open string note is different from that of a fretted note. If the notes are moving fast enough, this is usually not a problem. The longer I play and teach bass guitar, the more I believe the choices you make with your hand positions and fingering should be what ever makes the most sense to do at that moment balanced with whatever is the most relaxed way to use the hands. The following video walks through these points. Fingering technique is one of the fundamentals I teach. For personalized coaching on fingering and open-string choices, online bass lessons via Zoom are available.
