Bass Stopping

Bass stopping on the classical guitar allows you to control the resonance of the bass strings. By controlling the resonance you can remove muddy harmonies and create clear bass lines.

With multiple voices swimming around in a piece of guitar music it is all too easy to leave strings ringing. The campanella quality of the instrument, which is one of the guitar’s defining characteristics, provides a beautiful sonority, however, in order to create distinct musical lines and capture the listeners ear with articulated melodies a guitarist needs to be aware, and in control of stopping strings from sounding when they are not supposed to. You will need to control resonance on all six strings as you play the guitar, although, the most common offenders are the bass strings which will be dealt with in this article.

Why do we need bass stopping?

To outline the issue clearly, have a look at figure A and B. Figure A is a common bass line movement on the guitar from E on the 6th string to A on the 5th string. With your thumb playing the E and then moving across to the 5th string to play the A there is nothing to stop the 6th string from ringing on and creating, in actuality, what is written in figure B.

Figure A

Figure B

The result of strings ringing over one another is a blurring of the harmony and the melody. Adding bass stopping as part of your right-hand technique will help clarify harmonies and bass lines. The resonance of bass strings overlapping does not always create a harsh sound and it can be an easy aspect to overlook. However, once you start stopping strings and begin to take care, the difference in articulation and sound clarity is so much better that you will wonder why you hadn’t started stopping earlier! Next time you get to see a master guitarist perform, take note of how they are stopping basses.

Technique

Bass stopping often involves using the RH thumb to silence strings as needed and there are several ways to do this, they are all quite straight forward but require some dedicated practice to get results.

• The most common method is to re-place the thumb lightly on the previous note. If we use figure A as an example, then the thumb would return quickly to the 6th string after playing the A on the 5th string. There will be a small amount of time where the string is ringing while the thumb is returning although with practice the overlap is unnoticeable.

• A second method is to angle the thumb so that in the process of sounding the fifth string, the sixth is dampened by the side of the thumb. This technique will only work with a lower, adjacent string however it is perhaps the easiest and most fluid way to stop basses.

• Using a rest stroke with the thumb can also be an effective manner in which to stop basses

• Finally, it can sometimes be helpful to change the left-hand fingering of a passage. If you can play two notes on the same string then you wont need to worry about bass stopping at all.

Studies to help you practice

A very effective etude that flexes your bass-stopping muscle is Etude No.23 by Napoleon Coste. As you can see in the excerpt below, the composer has gone to great length to place rests between most bass notes. This clearly indicates that the student must stop each bass note. As the piece progresses the bass stopping techniques change making a few passages a real challenge to play. Played up to speed it is a beautiful piece of music and a very effective study.

Do you know any good bass stopping pieces/exercises? Tell us in the comments below…