Advices on learning the gallop? (3 fingers)

[Demon]

Anyone can help out a little onn how to get good at making the galloping sound with 3 fingers like Steve Harris? Gotta lov that sound Thanks in adv.

[Mr M]

Originally Posted by Demon

Anyone can help out a little onn how to get good at making the galloping sound with 3 fingers like Steve Harris? Gotta lov that sound Thanks in adv.

Steve Harris is using only his index and middle fingers. He said this in his interviews. You can play with two fingers like he does as index-middle-index i-m-i..... Or you can alternate i-m-i m-i-m
If you want to play with 3 fingers. Probably easier way is ring-middle-index. You can also play i-m-r...

[JustOpenYourMind]

ok first i want to tell you not to get discouraged as that technique (playing with 3 fingers) take a long time ti master. galloping is the first thing you'll be able to do but what's really harder is playin notes constantly in groups of four as opposed to groups of 3 like galloping. I strongly suggest you to get that technique down otherwise when you'll want to play really fast fingerstyle it'll sound much more cleaner with 3 fingers than 2.

first you need to know which patern is natural to you. you can do index-mid-ring(123) or ring-mid-index(321) i'll refer to that as 123 or 321. just grab your bass and try it there's one direction that'll fell more natural that the other. for most people it is 321 but for me it alway was 123 from the start so go figure I guess it really depends on the person.

Now you need to remember that before a finger hits the string again all other fingers need to have done there patern example if you use 123 and play notes constantly without stopping you should do 1231 2312 3123 1231, I made groups of four because in rock music 4/4 is the most used time signature and there's usualy eight note by bars (if your playing eight's wich is current in rock music)

the thing you dont wanna do is alterning with your middle finger in that pattern 1232 1232 1232 1232 it might seem more natural but there's no gain in speed since your always alterning you middke finger with an other finger that way you can't play faster that with 2 fingers the only benefit is that your index and ring will get tired in twice more time.

i'll give you an example of an iron maiden song (it's what you wanna play right )

it's the trooper, the main riff (bare with me i'm goin to tab a part of it but i do it by memory since and I don't have my bass with me, it could be wrong.

g------------------------------------------------------
d------5--------------------------------------5--------
a---5-----5--7---777--777-777 777 -777-77-5---5-3---
e------------------------------------------------------
____i__m__i__m__imr___imr_imr__imr__imr_im_i_m_i_m

note: for the slow part i use 2 fingers because it sounds more consistent.

[chaosMK]

Give it time and practice your right hand for at least 15-30 min daily, and you'll get it. It wont happen over night. Go slow and make sure you get the accents and mutings just right. I'd actually try working on alternate finger picking patterns too.. that will help you a lot overall as well.

[Demon]

Mr M? So harris only plays 2 fingers? Omg thats what i thot and heard before but then i saw some topic about his 3finger gallop etc:/ So to make clear, he only plays 2 fingers? Cos ican gallopfairly well like that Thanx man i feel much more comfortable with 2

[McHack]

That's how I do it.

Originally Posted by Mr M

Probably easier way is ring-middle-index....

[throw_this_away]

I play using 2 or 3 fingers. I don't really think about it... some songs the 3 fingers comes naturally... others 2. sometimes I play with 1+3, sometimes 1+2. With three fingers I often go 321... sometimes 132. Again I don't think about it, it just happens.

I find the best use for three fingers is 3/4 or 6/4 timings and really fast songs where I can give my fingers a break by playing with three fingers.

[Mr M]

Originally Posted by Demon

Mr M? So harris only plays 2 fingers? Omg thats what i thot and heard before but then i saw some topic about his 3finger gallop etc:/ So to make clear, he only plays 2 fingers? Cos ican gallopfairly well like that Thanx man i feel much more comfortable with 2

Yes he only plays with 2 fingers. That's for sure. Who said this? It's the man, Steve Harris. I've seen his interview in ironmaiden.com (so it's official) and he said he is using only his index and middle finger(I wish I saved the url for this interview). But every month or so I see another thread that he is using 3 fingers. Is it that important? Yes and no. Yes, because he uses 2 fingers. And no, the important thing is to produce the needed note, no matter how many fingers you use. So make what feels comfortable to you.
BTW I play with my 4 fingers with a i-m-r p-i-m r-p-i m-r-p pattern. But this is realy difficult, so I wouldn't suggest to do. If you can gallop with 2 fingers, that like how 'Arry the great makes, so I'd say continue with it

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by Demon

Mr M? So harris only plays 2 fingers? Omg thats what i thot and heard before but then i saw some topic about his 3finger gallop etc:/ So to make clear, he only plays 2 fingers? Cos ican gallopfairly well like that Thanx man i feel much more comfortable with 2

If you can do it just fine with two, why would you put yourself through the trouble of trying to learn how to do it with 3? The bass doesn't care, and it all sounds the same through the amp.

[Demon]

WEll, who dont wanna be like 'arry?

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by Demon

WEll, who dont wanna be like 'arry?

Yeah, but if you aren't propping your foot up on a monitor while aiming your bass at the crowd like a rifle, why go for one of the three?

[Demon]

Hahah indeed But you got the point

[Mr M]

And don't forget to put West Ham sticker on the bass. This is the secret of his sound