3 Finger Speed Picking

[joejet]

Originally posted by Insighted02
[b]Does anyone use a I-R-M technique in there three finger playing? It's my weird method but it seems to work well in many of my situations. I think it originated when I played in death metal bands and I just stuck the ring in there before my middle came down. wa la....beautiful triplets.

If you're playing R-M-I strictly the pattern would be turned around all the time when playing in 4/4 - a good basic excersize by the way

[Insighted02]

joejet,

How is R-M-I supposed to help me? What do you mean when you said the pattern would be "turned around" in 4/4?

I'm just fine with I-R-M.

-Anthony

[joejet]

It wasn't pointed at you, I just would say that playing R-M-I and I-R-M is closely related. If you play in 4/4 usuing R-M-I strictly it would look like so:

R-M-I-R
M-I-R-M
I-R-M-I

and so on...

[tucker]

Ever since Dec of 2004. I met this kid who could slap the hell out of his bass but sound like ****. He wasn't a good player whatsoever but he inspired me. After I learnt More Love (which for almost any player of bass, they know the song) and well figuring the tune out by ear really advanced my technique. I've always like Matt Garrison and Vic and well seeing that I play mainly fingerstyle with some tap and slap. I incorporated his technique (MG) into my own and after the big hype of DT and triplets and these insane 132nd notes at 240 bpm, it's all overrated. So what, you can play really fast but can you play?

Besides that I'd like to give input to everyone trying to learn Matt Garrisons technique with a litte twist of my own. You must have a good foundation in DTing first and indpendence in all fingers.

T-u, T-d, i, m, r, (p) <-if your pinky is weak then leave it out

This is really helpful if you play near the bridge pick up seeing that the strings are much tighter to execute this. It's not very hard but will take me longer to use it in music. I have a good knowledge of RH technique and a very very fast learner on RH, but I ask myself, when will I ever use it in a real musical setting. Everyone playing super fast low 64th notes just can't seem to play musically from what I've seen and heard. Why force yourself to learn without music? If anything reread sites and mags on Matt Garrison, reason why he's such a great player is because he learned technique last. He plays with space and notes. The space he provides with his LH he fills up with his RH. He can still groove without his patented RH technique though. It is sick to listen to and I've gotten alot of positive responses from many fellow bassist and even other players about it but don't you think MG has to. It's taken me 7 years to learn that I need to play music not fast or showy but with style, grace and feel. But whats the point in knowing something when you don't know nothing.

[Corbow]

Hi there....I was using my 3 fingers for the triplets but when I wanted to get a straight line it always sounded like triplet...then I started to use all my 4 fingers.
Its not so easy and you can get frustrated very soon....but man, you can bet it will work...as it works for me.
Now I have 4 "picks" and I can crack those 16th at a great speed...and its not only speed! You will gain much more confortable playing with "lot of time" between notes
so, set up the metronome at low speed and go like this
p=pinky
r=ring
m=middle
i=index
A=string A
E=string (guess what?)

p,r,m,i,p,r,m,i
And then play everything you want - scales, riffs.. etc.
switching between strings seems be very hard...this riffs helped me to developed "no problem switch"
A------m-i-----r-m-----p-r-----i-p-----m-i
E--p-r -----i-p-----m-i-----r-m----p-r----
anyway you can alternate this riff with 3 picks
A--------i-p-r-------p-r-m------
E--p-r-m------r-m-i--------m-i-p
or 4..5

to strenght your pinky, just play
A--p---------p-------
E----p-r-m-i---p-r-m-i

After some time you will be able to play your stuff very comfortably ...........and its great to see the others looking at your right hand with amaze in their eyes thinking "what the hell is he doing"
Remember this is "long distance run" so dont give it up!
good luck

[adisu]

Is it really faster to use 3 or 4 fingers than to use 2 fingers??
I think that if you train your 2 fingers storng enough they shouldn't have problem to stick with the speed that you get when using 3 or 4 fingers. or maybe i'm wrong!!!!

should i start training my third finger after so many years of playing 2 fingers???

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by adisu

Is it really faster to use 3 or 4 fingers than to use 2 fingers??
I think that if you train your 2 fingers storng enough they shouldn't have problem to stick with the speed that you get when using 3 or 4 fingers. or maybe i'm wrong!!!!

should i start training my third finger after so many years of playing 2 fingers???

It depends on how fast you're going. For most playing, even fast playing, two fingers are fast enough. Eventually you reach a point when two fingers can't go any faster. Most people will never want or need that kind of speed, but if you do want it, you have to get the other fingers involved. Three or four fingers are helpful if you want to do a tremelo. And some people like pushing themselves to be as fast as possible, just for the heck of it. I like using three and four fingers so that I always have enough to go around and to decrease finger wear, and not so much for the speed. I use my thumb more than I use my ring and pinky, but they get some use too.