I look at Technique as simply the process of physically getting the music you are hearing through your hands onto the instrument. Looking at it this way it seems to me that you only need enough technique to play what you hear and in practicing technique, it is important that you, the musician, find the appropriate balance between practicing exercises and the practicing of playing music. If you do not apply the technical information of the exercise to a song, the exercise will not help you improve and you will be wasting practice time. That being said, when working on right and left hand exercises on the bass i suggest working on what I call the default positioning of your hands. This means find the most relaxed position for the hand and practice exercises and music slowly in this position. There will be, of course, times as you play faster in the lower positions of the bass that you will need to stretch out the fingers to get to your notes on time. The idea is to always go back to the default position every chance you get and mostly work from that relaxed place. The Following online Skype bass lesson talks about how to set up the default position for your left hand. I hope you will consider Live Online Skype Bass Lessons For your own bass playing. I can help you get better!! Thanks! – Russ Rodgers