Originally Posted by mr dave

@lateralus - the idea that playing bass is 'physically harder' than piano or guitar is bollocks. i found the bigger strings made it easier to sound the notes as you have a greater surface area to press down onto the fretboard (as opposed to having a thin wire cutting into your fingertip). the biggest challenge is developing a fingerstyle method if you've been playing with a pic for years.

one other thing to try if you're still concerned about the size is playing octaves. for the vast majority of bass lines octaves will be the biggest stretch you're left hand will face.

try this funky line next time you're noodling on a bass

G--------------------------------------------
D-----3---4---5---6------7---6---5---4------
A--------------------------------------------
E-X-1---2---3---4----X-5---4---3---2--------

keep the low notes fretted with your index finger and the high ones with your little finger. the trick to start is to use your ring finger to reinforce the fretting of the high notes behind your little finger, so you basically end up using two fingers to hold down the higher string but only the tip of your little finger has to reach the high note.