I have small hands. I'm assuming that's the problem, as I can finger roll with my first and second fingers, but my pinkie just seems too small to make it cleanly from one string to the next, and it sounds awful. I've been practicing it for a while now, with no results. Any suggestions?

Also, is there some finger rolling-type technique for going from a higher string to a lower? I can't very well roll up the fretboard, but there are songs in a method book I have that say, for example, to play g string, 3rd fret, immediately followed by d string, 3rd, using the same finger. I'm thinking that's not done much in practice, but is there a way other than lifting the finger and bringing it down again, which takes ten years?

I'm trying to bring my pickstyle technique up to speed with my fingerstyle technique but I cannot figure out how to use my plucking hand for muting when picking. I use my fretting hand to mute, and sometimes I can reach out the pinkie of my picking hand to mute one higher string but obviously those don't work all the time. How is muting supposed to work with pickstyle?

Thanks a lot. :bassist:

I'm trying to bring my pickstyle technique up to speed with my fingerstyle technique but I cannot figure out how to use my plucking hand for muting when picking. I use my fretting hand to mute, and sometimes I can reach out the pinkie of my picking hand to mute one higher string but obviously those don't work all the time. How is muting supposed to work with pickstyle?

Thanks a lot. :bassist:

I hold the pick with my thumb and index finger and anchor the other 3 fingers lightly on the higher strings... at the same time, the side of my hand rests on the lower strings

this generally stops any unwanted notes you didn't mute with your left hand

Yeah, Cowsgomoo, pretty much said it perfectly, cause I do the same thing. Also, with your left hand you can mute some strings with your other fingers, I use both ways to make sure nothing is ringing out.

Um... I could tell you what I'd do, but I don't know if it'll help. What I do is I lay one finger over both strings, and hold them both down. It could cause some unwanted ringing, but all you have to do is barely lift your finger off and that's done. If you don't like that idea, another thing I do is use my ring finger on the bottom note, and my middle finger for the upper note.

Hope that helps.

I wouldn't use my right hand to mute at all using a pick, though many often do. You don't use your right hand to mute when you use your fingers. And it flies in the face of the Carol Kaye picking technique, which is responsible for allowing me to use a pick without getting crippling hand pains.

You don't use your right hand to mute when you use your fingers.

You don't? I certainly do. Heck, my plucking hand does most of the muting when I play fingerstyle. How on earth do you mute when you play fingerstyle?

Same here, my thumb rests on the string above, muting that one. And the rest is muted by my fretting hand.

Um... I could tell you what I'd do, but I don't know if it'll help. What I do is I lay one finger over both strings, and hold them both down. It could cause some unwanted ringing, but all you have to do is barely lift your finger off and that's done. If you don't like that idea, another thing I do is use my ring finger on the bottom note, and my middle finger for the upper note.

Hope that helps.

Ditto for me. What he's describing (in my opinion) in the first technique is a bar (barre?) that you 'release' and mute (same motion) on the higher string. Rock back and forth to fret one way/mute and then vice-versa.

The second technique I finger a little different than him... I'd put my ring finger on the higher string, and the middle finger on the lower string. (Actually, it all depends on what positions I need to fret. Just do whatever feels right and works). You can alternate these fingerings pretty darn fast, with either technique. The second way is a little cleaner, while the first way might leave you more ready to fret elsewhere, since it only takes one finger.

(The bassline for Go Ask Alice requires a lot of this type of fretting)

I don't play with a pick much but I like to mute (right hand) using the fleshy part of my palm at the base of my thumb, plus the normal left hand techniques.

You don't? I certainly do. Heck, my plucking hand does most of the muting when I play fingerstyle. How on earth do you mute when you play fingerstyle?
With my left hand.

The second technique I finger a little different than him... I'd put my ring finger on the higher string, and the middle finger on the lower string. (Actually, it all depends on what positions I need to fret. Just do whatever feels right and works). You can alternate these fingerings pretty darn fast, with either technique. The second way is a little cleaner, while the first way might leave you more ready to fret elsewhere, since it only takes one finger.

(The bassline for Go Ask Alice requires a lot of this type of fretting)


Haha, yeah I finger that the same way, I don't know if you misunderstood me or not.
Another good bassline for practice on this technique is
Hotel California- Eagles,
basically anything that requires you to switch real fast between the octave and fifth of a note.

With my left hand.

You do ALL of your muting with the left hand? How do you manage that and fretting simultaneously?

You do ALL of your muting with the left hand? How do you manage that and fretting simultaneously?
I'm real good :bassist: