3 fret stretch or 4?

[ras1983]

i believe 3 fret stretch allows greater comfort and greater accuracy. it is easier to apply pressure to a fret using pinky and ring fingers. what do you prefer?

[wulf]

How many frets my hand covers depends where it is on the neck. However, I generally go for a 'closed' hand position, minimising stretching and keeping more relaxed at the cost of a bit more position shifting.

Wulf

[Ozzyman]

I voted four, but in actuality I go upto a five fret stretch. It doesn't matter about comfort (well, kinda) but between a four or three fret stretch I would always choose four because It is easier to make music that way.

[Pittle]

Poysonally I think it's the size of your hand too. I have a pretty big hand and it's pretty easy for me to reach for a fourth fret, even at the lower end of the bass. But hey that's just me.

This is my first post by the way...It feels great. wow. this is how you guys must feel all the time.

[briand]

I chose 4... not that I, necessarily, prefer it -- but it's how I learned it, and now it feels natural.

[srxplayer]

Ichose three because it is what I do most often. I practice doing four but I have small hands and it doesn't feel natural. Takes a lot of concentration to do it.

[Figjam]

4.

[Llama's Rage]

i learned 4 and i think 4 makes the most sense playing in a position.

[Aaron Saunders]

4 on fretted, 3 on fretless most of the time. I unconciously developed a kind of Simandl technique on fretless -- easier to intonate for me that way.

[LM Bass]

3, 4 and 5 for me.
Mostly 3 down low on the neck where the money notes are. I guess this comes from my doublebass background, and I find less stretch is more comfortable most of the time.
LM

[chimp]

4 is natural to me cause it seems to work just right for my hand and ive always practised "finger per fret"

[mr e]

does 3 frets per sting count?

[Lyle Caldwell]

Hmm, I don't see why you'd call 4 a "stretch." 5 frets or more, sure, that's a stretch. 4 is just normal playing position.

[w. edgar evans]

I tend to use one or the other depending on the situation. In general, I use 3 fret most of the time because it is more relaxed in the left hand.

3 fret: (fingered 1,2,4 below 12th fret, 1,2,3 above)
-Root-5th lines
-Root-Octave lines
-Things involving rapid, short figures over an open drone string (e.g., The bassline to Tool's "Schism")
-Pentatonic or Blues-scale based lines (e.g., Most rock and funk. Led Zepplin's "Ramble On" comes to mind as a major pentatonic scale example)
-Sight reading walking bass lines.
-Lines that require a lot of sliding.
-Playing with a pick (makes muting strings easier).
-The rare occasion when I feel it necessary to employ slap and pop techniques (for the same reason)

4 fret: (stretching finger 1 for out-of-position notes)
-Playing lines based on hexatonic or diatonic scales.
-Playing any rapid scales and arpeggios.
-Playing and singing at the same time: I play five-string, so I usually move up everything to around the fifth fret and play finger per fret with no open notes. This cuts down on the amount of brain-power I have to devote to bass playing.

5 fret:
-Playing root-5th-9th figures.
-Playing rapid scales and arpeggios.

That's my $0.02.

~w.e.e.

[Guss]

Any one position on the neck involves four frets, so you should always use a four fret stretch if you have big enough hands(they don't have to be that big really, as four is not much of a stretch). You would be surprised at how comfortable 4 gets with practice

[nicoli]

If I'm playing big dumb rock type stuff, usually 3 frets because that's all I need for a lot of that styles lines.

If I'm playing walking blues lines or something like that, I generally use a 4 fret span.

[RudeMood]

I have somewhat small hands so 3 is more comfortable for me.

[SlavaF]

I've always done the 1 finger per fret idea, so I use 4, but my most recent bass teacher taught me that in the lower registers, using your pinky for a fret 2 away from your index (ie index on fret 1, pinky on fret 3) is much more comfortable, sounds better (ie no fret noise) and my hands don't get tired as fast that way.

[BlasphemyArise]

its 3 for me at the low end of the neck even tho i try to practice doing 4 (especially when doing scales) but i can easily do 4 at the high end for some solo type stuff

[Whafrodamus]

I do both.