Got any great speed exercises? I have been playing a ton of Muse tracks lately, but some of them are just a bit fast. I know practice makes perfect, but some of these songs are just fast, like Butterflies and Hurricanes. Got any good ideas or suggestions? Oh another thing is, my fore arm gets really tired sometimes playing this kind of stuff, what could i do to prevent this? I usually play with a thumb behind the neck (like you are supposed to).

practice minimal finger movements build finger strength and stretch dems fingas! find out your maximum bpm you can do comfortably then just practice at that tempo and increase as you get faster! i max out around the 180s doing eighth notes. but thats about as fast as i need to go.

um, i do basically the same thing..but practice with the metronome on 2&4 not straight quarters, it'll help your time lots and you'll play significantly cleaner. i've practiced this consistently and can max at over 16ths at 208 cleanly. of course that's overkill and that'll NEVER be needed for me. but it's just fun to do. i'm sure you can find loads of exercise vids on youtube. if you'd like some of mine i can try and make a video sometime this week.

-- john

i dig the tunes on your page latkingz btw. very very cool.

Got any great speed exercises? I have been playing a ton of Muse tracks lately, but some of them are just a bit fast. I know practice makes perfect, but some of these songs are just fast, like Butterflies and Hurricanes. Got any good ideas or suggestions? Oh another thing is, my fore arm gets really tired sometimes playing this kind of stuff, what could i do to prevent this? I usually play with a thumb behind the neck (like you are supposed to).

Speed comes from the reaction of all components of you hands ( fingers, joints, tendons, ligiments ) responding to the extendors and flexors in you forearms, thats why it tires.

You have two duties, to build up speed, one is stamina and the other is dexterity. These two duties require you to work away from the bass. Yes playing the bass will build stamina and dexterity, but not neccesarly speed.

Speed comes from the ability to react to what you want to do as a controlled reflex and it is this ability to react you must address. Its part of Plyometric exercise as used by athletes and in martial arts. But need need dexterity and the end of our movements not power.

1/ Warm you hands up with gentle stretches.
In this just open your hands and extend you fingers as far as you can. Now relax. notice that your fingers spring back to a slight curl towards the palm. This is the action you want to encourage, not a squeezing action, but the opening action.
Squeezing builds stamina and that will negate the dexterity.

Never and i mean never, pull or push at you hands or fingers at any point. This is not healthy and counter productive as you are using bigger muscle groups against tendons and ligiments, the big muscle groups will damage the smallers ones with ease.

2/ So here you go time your self over 15 seconds on how many times you can open your hands to the full stretch and return them. Note not to a fist but that natural curl they have.
Do this once and note the result. Now gentley stretch your hands and relax them.
Give yourself about 5mins and repeat again.
The idea is not about going for 20 or 30 seconds but to increase the amount you can do in 15 seconds.
After a week or so you should see a marked improvement in the amount you can do. someone who has never done this type of exercise or much playing, should in a few weeks double their first total.

I cannot stress enough the stretching, 15 seconds and twice is enough for this exercise. Doing it more will only work on your stamina and this will negate the dexterity and speed and different muscle groups will take over. If you have a headache one or two asprins will do the job, five or six won't, they will be counter productive and dangerous to your health.

Stamina and speed use different muscle groups and in this simple exercise you target the speed and reflex rather than the stamina.
As with all exercise time and patience is the key. You will notice a difference in days, so don't think if i do it more i will see more improvement, it does not work like that.

As usual your own personal conditions will come into play, day job, how much you use your hands away from the bass, other sports, diet, health etc, will all have a factor so use common sense and adjust to suit.

PS. post your results and thoughts.
Fergie.

.........

...1/ Warm you hands up with gentle stretches.
In this just open your hands and extend you fingers as far as you can. Now relax. notice that your fingers spring back to a slight curl towards the palm. This is the action you want to encourage, not a squeezing action, but the opening action.....

I'm intrigued, Fergie...
You mention to do this with both hands; is it most useful for the plucking hand?
I understand that these are a from of plyometric exercise; could you elaboarate on the way in which such exercises lead to increased dexterity?

I'm intrigued, Fergie...
You mention to do this with both hands; is it most useful for the plucking hand?
I understand that these are a from of plyometric exercise; could you elaboarate on the way in which such exercises lead to increased dexterity?

Sure it applies to both hands.
The dexterity comes from playing not this exercises on their own.
The increase in the reaction time of the extenders and flexors is where the speed comes from thats why it has to be done away from the bass. The dexterity comes from learning to control this speed by application on the bass. Most will trip over the fingers between the two hands as they learn to work together.

Speed comes from the ability to take or lift the fingers away, NOT PUT THEM DOWN OR ON to the fretboard. As stated when you relax your hand after extending the fingers, the fingers return to a natural curl with no real effort. On your fretting hand lift your fingers away from the strings and then relax...the fingers come back with no real effort. It is almost controlled bouncing of the strings in much the same way as a drum stick is controlled on a snare, you control a one way movement, not try and create a two way movement. So the dexterity is for you to control this bounce as you fret with the fingers.

2/ So here you go time your self over 15 seconds on how many times you can open your hands to the full stretch and return them. Note not to a fist but that natural curl they have.


This is fascinating and the first time I have seen anything like it.

Couple questions on the #/15secs test.

- Are you extending the fingers are relaxing just as fast as you can? My first try I was starting out at maybe ~120BPM or so; that sound about right? (Mind you, I've only been playing for a few months now.)

- On my first try it got sloppy and tired damn near instantly. Assuming this will get better and faster with practice, is the increase due to increasing "twitch speed" of the extensors, or the building of stamina in the forearms? (both? neither?)

Hi Michael. Sorry but i don't understand your point in the first of your questions so i'll elaborate on what you should be doing.

Firstly this is not about BPM or individual tempo, it is about "explosive speed". Its is about a controlled reactive response.
What we do is build up the muscle rection speed then apply it to the bass for dexterity an control.

As you stated it is a "twitch exercise" and a fast twich one at that.
For anybody unfamilier with these exercises, they target muscle speed and reaction ....not strengh or stamina, that's a different group of muscles. The problem for musicians that use them in playing fretted instruments is the control of what we develop. As we need dexterity as part of the finished product there is an exta disipline for us......application.

For athletes this is not a problem because for them there is no dexterity involved, it's just and explosion of power with full effect and force. Look at a boxer or martial art expert. When they throw that punch or kick, speed and combination is what will hurt the opponent, the full and total application of the hit at the end of the reflex, or the stop of the reflex say as in a punch right in front of a students face so close they can feel the draft in the air as it stops.

So it is about doing as many as the fast reflex movement you can in 15 secs.
Now as you tire you will slow down, that is normal and to be expected. The aim is to increase what you can do in the 15 secs., not increase the time. Increasing the time at this point will start to work muscles that deal with stamina.
The opening and closing of the fingers is a two way movement in that they are pulled open to the fullest and pulled closed to the fullest. There is no relaxing in this exercise to close or open them.

The relaxing part comes in your application. If you put you hands on the bass you will see on the fretting hand that your hand is relaxed and on the strings, the fingers have a nice natural curl to them. There are two ways you can now fret.

1/ Push your finger down to fret the note and lift it of to release the string. This action takes you past the centre of your hand co-ordination. That is if you close your hand and then relax, it returns to its centre, if you open you hand then relax, it returns to its centre. So the movement here as been to conciously put the finger on and conciously lift the finger off past the hands centre.

2/ Push your finger down to fret the note, now relax and let it come away as it reaches the hands centre now lift it away to release the string. That movement looks the same as in (1) but the difference is the use of the hands natural tendency to return to a relaxed centre. So you fret relax lift relax fret relax lift relax fret etc. That's why it is like controlled bouncing, the finger comes back as a reaction, the job of appliction is to control how long the finger stays fretting or away, not about lifting and putting them on. Lifting and putting them on is the opening and closing of the hand that you are training to respond with the short twitch exercise.

In your 15 secs if you achieve say 25-30 repetitions as you progress through this daily routine that will improve, soon 40-50 will be easy to do. You will at some point hit "the wall", a point of which you do not seem to pass. This will last for weeks, if not months, now you have achieved you top potential at this level.

As ever warming up the forearms with gentle stetches of the fingers and rubbing the forearms is expected before and after each exercise. Warm muscles respond better than cold. As said don't over do these exericises twice a day is enough to see results at this level.

On your second question yes it is both. You are building stamina to support the speed you are developing. Think of a sprinter and a weightlifters legs. The sprinter is developed for explosive speed, the weightlifter for strength. Big muscle groups in each athlete, but developed for different functions and reasons.
Hope this has helped,
Fergie

So it is about doing as many as the fast reflex movement you can in 15 secs.

There is no relaxing in this exercise to close or open them.

Thanks Fergie, this helped a lot. I think the parts I quoted (emphasis mine) were the 'nugget' I was missing.

Michael

No problems Michael, start easy with any new exercise and build it in. If you are doing it properly you will build all your speed at the start then fatigue toward the end. It is important to maintain the fastest reaction at all times. As you build in the coming weeks the fatigue will diminish and you will finish the 15 seconds with more repititions and no fatigue.

Please note the muscle groups you are building are in you forearms not your hands. Hands have no muscles, but tendons and ligiments attached to muscle. The fingers react to the flexors and extendors in the forearms pulling in opposite pairs. Thats why this works well because you are exercising both groups to the maximum rather than just the limited action that is required in fretting. For more info checkout the blogs at

www.myspace.com/vintageprecisionbass