3 Finger plucking technique.

[Tnavis]

Originally Posted by Govithoy

It doesn't have the same strength or consistency of tone as my other fingers, so it just never really gets used.

I'm surprised more people don't bring up this aspect. I knew a drummer who was absolutely fanatical about having his hands sound exactly the same. He would spend hours working on snare drum rudiments, trying to get his left and right hand to sound even. The same should hold true for bassists. Use whatever finger combination works best for you, or use a combination of styles, and develop it so that it does sound even. When I started playing, I had a hard enough time getting ONE finger to play consistently. Just work at it, and your sound will develop.

[Ozzyman]

Strict alternation to me always sounds cleaner. I've seen very professional bassists rake and even though they've been playing for so long, raking sounds sloppy. And raking isn't always faster. If you practice, strict alternation is easier when you have all the patterns up to top speed (whatever that is to you).

[denjerre]

I started out with strict 1-2-1-2 alternations and it took me some hard work to get them to sound even. Not so long ago (what's a year for a bass player, right?) I started with 1-2-3 only because I thought that was how billy sheehan was doing it (only had a video of him at that time). A few months later I noticed he does 3-2-1 and as natural as it may seem, after some training 1-2-3 feels more natural now. Still have to work on it 'cause the ringfinger doesn't sound like the other ones yet. Playing with the fingers closer to each other helped, I try to pluck at the same spot on the string, in the beginning they were all over the place, looked cool but fingers got tired fast and sounded really sloppy, now you can hardly see them move at all. Do all of you three-finger-players have to deal with the same stupid sympathy movements of the pinky as i do?

[rodoherty1]

Hi Guys,

Can any of you 3-finger heads play Flea's line during the chorus of Californication's "Right on Time"?

It's a fiercely fast octave jumper and you need particularly clean technique if you want to crack it with 3 fingers.

Rob.

[Joe P]

Govithoy said:
"my pinky's just too damn short. I occasionally use it, but that's a VERY occasional occurance. It doesn't have the same strength or consistency of tone as my other fingers, so it just never really gets used."

My pinky is fairly useless, but I came up with a gimmick that impresses some (not YOU guys, I know...): I let the nail on my picky get a little long, and in a sort of overly-dramatic fashion, I use it to make a little rythmic squeek by flicking it across the string windings (flicking parallel to the string) on a fretted string right next to the bridge.

Joe

[McHack]

Originally Posted by JMX

I think Sheehan's method is the best and most natural.

Just drum your fingers on the table, notice something?

You start with the pinky and move through to the index.

Changing directions aka 12321 is not ergonomic IMO and not very effective since it'll always slow you down compared to the Sheehan method.

Ditto, its great for throwing in triplets... Steve Harris does it this way, too,,, me thinks... ie Run to the Hills...

[DryWater'Bass]

Originally Posted by maxy

on what figjam said about not doing alt. rt. hand fingering, I do the same. dont you think its wrong?

.... i tried like the correct way of right hand tech. for master of puppets and it does feel better and sound natural like the song. I think if i go on later to learn great super fast solos, correcting now wont create problems right???

e.g.
i m i m i m instead of
i m i i m i ....)
--------------------------
---------------------------
--------0-2-3--------------
-0-2-3---------------------

i realized the major scale sounds a lot neater when played with correct right hand tech. What ya think??? esp. descending!!!

Not to nit-pick...But that's not a major scale...

---------------------
---------------------
---------------------
-0-2-3---------------

is a minor scale...Well...the first three...I can't think wether that's a diminished or augmented scale you tabbed...But the progression sounds kinda eerie....

A major scale has a progression of WWHWWWH(half steps being betweeh notes 3&4 and 7&8.) What calles the voicing(Major, minor, augmented diminished suspended) is the position of half steps...

My Music theory is improving...

Major

------------------
--------------1-2-
-------0-2-4------
-0-2-4------------

[Ozzyman]

Well, you can't forget Blues, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Diminished (H-W), Diminished (W-H), Whole Tone, Melodic Minor, Dorian b2, Lydian Aug, Lydian b7, Mixolydian b6, Locrian 2, Altered, Harmonic Minor, Locrian 6, Ionian Aug, Dorian #4, Phrygian Major, Lydian #9, Altered bb7, Pentatonic Major, Pentatonic Minor, Augmented, Arabian, Balinese, Byzantine, Chinese, Chinese Mongolian, Double Harmonic, Egyptian, Eight Tone Spanish, Enigmatic, Hindu, Hirajoshi, Hungarian Major, Hungarian Minor, Hungarian Gypsy, Ichikosucho, Kumoi, Leading Whole Tone, Lydian Diminished, Lydian Minor, Mohammedan, Neopolitan, Neopolitan Major, Neopolitan Minor, Overtone, Pelog, Persian, Prometheus, Prometheus Neopolitan, Purvi Theta, Six Tone Symmetrical, and Todi Theta scales!!
Of course I think only 40 of them are 8 notes scales...
The others are 5 (Pentatonic etc...) or 6(blues etc.) note scales.
I don't expect any of you to memorize this. Play what feels good haha

[Discgraham]

I played classical guitar before I played bass so I already had the technique in place, but if you are really serious about boosting your picking techniques, there are some classical guitar books that you can get that explain EVERYTHING. It might actually be better to learn these techniques on guitar and then transfer them to the bass, but thats just what I did so I don't know what to tell you.


The Book is called

First Lessons for Guitar, v.1 by Julio S. Sagreras.

Its green and tan and published by Hal Leonard. It costs about $7 and it has a lifetime of technique work in it. All the excersizes are in trebel clef so you'd have to transpose them, but this book has it all. Its also in English and Spanish. Like I said, it might be better if you learned these on guitar and transfered the techniques.

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by Joe P

Govithoy said:
"my pinky's just too damn short. I occasionally use it, but that's a VERY occasional occurance. It doesn't have the same strength or consistency of tone as my other fingers, so it just never really gets used."

My pinky is fairly useless, but I came up with a gimmick that impresses some (not YOU guys, I know...): I let the nail on my picky get a little long, and in a sort of overly-dramatic fashion, I use it to make a little rythmic squeek by flicking it across the string windings (flicking parallel to the string) on a fretted string right next to the bridge.

Joe

Hahaha, that's awesome. Soundclip?

Originally Posted by OzzyMan

Well, you can't forget Blues, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Diminished (H-W), Diminished (W-H), Whole Tone, Melodic Minor, Dorian b2, Lydian Aug, Lydian b7, Mixolydian b6, Locrian 2, Altered, Harmonic Minor, Locrian 6, Ionian Aug, Dorian #4, Phrygian Major, Lydian #9, Altered bb7, Pentatonic Major, Pentatonic Minor, Augmented, Arabian, Balinese, Byzantine, Chinese, Chinese Mongolian, Double Harmonic, Egyptian, Eight Tone Spanish, Enigmatic, Hindu, Hirajoshi, Hungarian Major, Hungarian Minor, Hungarian Gypsy, Ichikosucho, Kumoi, Leading Whole Tone, Lydian Diminished, Lydian Minor, Mohammedan, Neopolitan, Neopolitan Major, Neopolitan Minor, Overtone, Pelog, Persian, Prometheus, Prometheus Neopolitan, Purvi Theta, Six Tone Symmetrical, and Todi Theta scales!!
Of course I think only 40 of them are 8 notes scales...
The others are 5 (Pentatonic etc...) or 6(blues etc.) note scales.
I don't expect any of you to memorize this. Play what feels good haha

Heh, I actually learned Byzantine, Chinese Mongolian, Hirajoshi, and Ichikosucho about a year or so into playing because the names were cool .

[Mental Octopus]

Originally Posted by rodoherty1

Hi Guys,

Can any of you 3-finger heads play Flea's line during the chorus of Californication's "Right on Time"?

It's a fiercely fast octave jumper and you need particularly clean technique if you want to crack it with 3 fingers.

Rob.

i've just started using the third finger a couple months ago to work on lines like that. i'm sure you're familiar with the song so i won't go in detail on how to play it, but i've had the cleanest results by going:

2-1-(up octave)-2-3 and back again

i'm not sure how mr. flea does it, i'll check out one of their dvds to see if i can get a look at his hands while he's playing it.

[Ozzyman]

Originally Posted by McHack

Ditto, its great for throwing in triplets... Steve Harris does it this way, too,,, me thinks... ie Run to the Hills...

Wrong!
Steve was a strict alternation 2 finger junkie. And yea, it took me a year after I started playing to finally play is basslines. They seemed so fast back then.