Alternate plucking sound differences

**Matthew_84** · #1 05-28-2011, 10:22 PM

Hello fellow TBers,

Me again with another annoying thread...

So for the last 3.5 years, I've been playing on a 10-watt guitar amp, and while waiting on the delivery of my first rig, the "Benefits of a lighter touch" thread inspired me to try using a lighter touch since I've always used a heavy one to be heard on my guitar amp. I have a VT bass pedal (as part of new rig), and the only way I can turn the amp loud enough to really practice the light touch is to make the VT bass deluxe VERY bright (basically the Chris Squire setting, where character, drive and high knobs are all past 2 o'clock, which sounds more like an electric guitar than a bass).

This has been very good for me for multiple reasons other than the ability to play with a light touch. It has made all string noises, and fretting noises, and all sounds caused by a lack of muting to be projected much louder than normal, and in the week or so I've been playing like this, there has been a huge improvment to all of my unwanted noises which were previously hardly noticed.

But I've also noticed that when I do alternate plucking 1/16th notes that there is a very distinguishable difference in sound from my index and middle fingers. The index finger sounds like a "thud" (a sound I'm very proud of), while the middle sounds twangy. I can't describe it really. When I use a tuner, there is no pitch difference in the two, but the middle is clearly more nasally if you will. This is most noticeable on the G string, and becomes less noticeble with each lower string.

At first I though that maybe it was because my middle finger was closer to the bridge (which I play somewhat near anyway), and thought that that was the cause. So I tried to move my fingers back in forth plucking the exact location on the string, doing 4 strokes with index, and then moving my middle to that spot and doing another 4 strokes with the middle. And the sound difference is still there.

I have tried almost everything. I pluck with the tips of my fingers on each finger and I've made sure that I touch the strings at the exact same spot on each finger. One thing I have noticed is that since my middle finger is about 1/2" longer, I curl it more (especially with the first joint from the tip) to hit the string at the same spot, where as with my index I curl the big joint closest to my knuckle. The only other thing that I can possibly think of is that the callouses on each finger could be a little different.

Anyways, it is something that annoys me to no end and I would like to resolve this issue (I really like consistancy and am a huge perfectionist).

If anyone has ran into this themselves, or just has any advice on what I could do to help myself out with this that would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

Stilettoprefer · #2 05-28-2011, 11:14 PM

I tend to pluck harder with my middle finger, which could partly explain why I get different sounds with each. The other possibility is the callous size difference. There's way more of a callous on my middle finger compared to my ring or pointer.

I think your problem might be the attack difference.

**Matthew_84** · #3 05-29-2011, 07:03 AM

Yeah, I forgot to mention in my first post that I have spent hours looking at my attack on each finger, and I'm fairly certain that they are roughly the same. I thought my middle may also be a bit quicker/harder, so I slowed it down and noticed that the twangy sound was still there but it actually became a little muddy as well. I tried to slightly incease my speed on my index to try and compensate, but that sound just became a bit louder and more aggressive sounding.

I guess it's my callouses (could still be attack but I think possibly in a different form, maybe not). But I need to correct this as I hate the sound it makes on the G string when I play 16ths... thud,twang,thud,twang,thud,twang,... etc.

Maybe I'll take a nail filer and try to flatten out the callouses? Does that sound like a good idea? They feel pretty even. I don't necessarily know where or how much I should file down to help me out.

HaVIC5 · #4 05-29-2011, 08:47 AM

Without actually hearing the results of what you're playing, I can't really saw whether or not it's an actual "problem" as far as bass technique goes, or if you are simply noticing something inherant in the alternation between index and middle finger that a lot of bassists have noticed before. It's never going to be perfectly even, and there will always be a little bit of "tug and pull" between the middle finger strokes and the index finger strokes. Now it could just be because you've EQ'd all of the high end way up, but it does bug some people more than others, and people have a lot of different solutions.

The first possible solution is to alternate between index and ring finger instead of index and middle. A fair number of people have tried this approach because the ring finger is roughly the same length of the index finger and this (in theory) takes care of a little bit of the unevenness. I personally haven't had much experience with this, but it definitely is one of the things that I'm shedding.

The second solution, and what I tend to gravitate towards, is plucking with the index finger only. Although playing with one finger ALL the time might be impossible, there is definitely something to be said about the evenness of attack and tone that comes with plucking with just the index finger. James Jameson did it, Geddy Lee does it, and countless upright players do it for just that reason - evenness of tone. The technique purist in all of us recoils slightly at that notion for the same reason guitarists might slightly recoil at the idea of all downstrokes, but the end result can't be denied.

Stilettoprefer · #5 05-29-2011, 02:04 PM

Might try tilting your bass to account for the difference in finger length? I always play my bass with the headstock tilted up and that makes it so that the tips of my middle and pointer fingers are even on the strings.

And I back off the highs on my EQ settings some if I play aggressive finger style for a certain song or for picking. You might try this as well.

Btw, DO NOT file your callouses. That is not a good way to try to solve this problem and they will just grow back to how they were before anyways.

**Matthew_84** · #6 05-29-2011, 05:55 PM

Lol, I decided not to file the callouses. It would surely become one of those, "well it seemed like a good idea at the time." As for the EQing I'm just doing this temperorary, but since I noticed it,I want to correct it before putting my EQ "back to normal". The tilting of the bass is a good idea, I'll try it out in couple of minutes.

I have thought greatly about using my index finger for most of the time. My two favourite bassists are Jamerson and Geddy Lee, but I really don't see how I could ever move as fast as they do with one finger.

I'm going to work on this for the rest of tonight, and I have tomorrow off so it could be a long night. I'm going to try other things, like getting my ring finger involved, trying index-ring, maybe middle-ring, trying to play with all three fingers consistantly, and even trying to use one finger as a pick doing up and downstrokes (last time I tried that the nail sounded very pick-like).

I'll just try out a bunch of different things, maybe I'll find something I like. I'll let you guys know what I find in case any one out there is running into the same issue. Thanks guys

prd004 · #7 05-29-2011, 06:06 PM

Oddly enough, my fingers sound different too. Since I work with my hands my index finger has a much harder calous and the difference is obvious to me!
You can't really hear it with a full band blaring but isolated I can't miss it.

**Matthew_84** · #8 05-29-2011, 06:42 PM

Holy Shnikies! I like/love the index finger up and down strokes. I instantly played faster than I have ever with two fingers, and it sounds fairly the same up or down. The trick is to play with the tip on the way down, and the same part of the tip on the way up (making sure not to hit the string with the nail).

I'm just going to file down some more of the nail (much better than the callouses) and I'll be practising this all night. I'll actually work hard on this for index and middle fingers, so I can follow similar routines for alternating fingers that I've been doing and if one finger gets tired I can switch to the other

flashboom · #9 06-01-2011, 12:14 AM

Thanks to the OP for posting this. I just noticed the same thing last night. I've started turning my instrument pre-amp all the way up and noticed a lot more string noise as well. I wonder if that has something to do with it. I also wonder how noticeable this would be in an actual playing situation. I'm playing in a quiet room by myself. I wonder if anyone would notice the difference with a drummer and a guitarist playing as well. In any case, I'm not that much of a perfectionist so I imagine I'll just get used to it in the long run. I still look forward to hearing from some more experienced players. Thanks in advance.

Russell L · #10 06-01-2011, 08:24 AM

It'll never be the same on both. Try putting your hand at a slight angle to make up for the finger length differences.

Callouses? I've been gigging regularly on bass for 23 years and have no callouses on my picking fingers. Hm, must be playing lighter than I thought. I do have nails, though, that is a part of my sound. I often have to roll off the high mids to get rid of some "clack."

JBbottomfeeder · #11 06-01-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell L

It'll never be the same on both. Try putting your hand at a slight angle to make up for the finger length differences.

Callouses? I've been gigging regularly on bass for 23 years and have no callouses on my picking fingers. Hm, must be playing lighter than I thought. I do have nails, though, that is a part of my sound. I often have to roll off the high mids to get rid of some "clack."

Interesting, isn't it. Most guys who have been playing 20+ years on electric (some even on acoustic)... with good technique, their (our) callouses disappear .... the skin is strong and resilient, but without callous. Then odly there are those who have huge callouses.. genetic??