Always meant to be alternating?

[tonymcbony]

I find that my right hand occasionally will do something like two plucks with one finger the one with the other if I'm string switching. 90% of the time I'm chugging along with 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2 but occasionally the switch occurs, something like 11-2 if you get me. It's quite natural feeling but I wonder if it's detrimental to speed.

Tl;dr should I always be striving to get my plucking fingers perfectly alternating or is it ok to occasionally pluck otherwise?

[unclejane]

Originally Posted by tonymcbony

I find that my right hand occasionally will do something like two plucks with one finger the one with the other if I'm string switching. 90% of the time I'm chugging along with 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2 but occasionally the switch occurs, something like 11-2 if you get me. It's quite natural feeling but I wonder if it's detrimental to speed.

Tl;dr should I always be striving to get my plucking fingers perfectly alternating or is it ok to occasionally pluck otherwise?

If you're switching strings downward to a lower string, this technique is called "hammer stroking" or "raking". It's a perfectly good technique which has a lot of advantages (economy of motion being the main one). It's not detrimental to speed and in fact makes fast descending runs easier. The only problem is being able to match _ascending_ runs speed-wise, where you can't take advantage of raking . That takes practice...

LS

[KillerNeuron]

I find that I usually alternate but while i learn new songs, I just kind of go with whatever feels natural as I move between all the strings and eventually the most effective pattern will emerge because it is both comfortable and accurate.

[Russell L]

Oh, I do both. There are some licks that require a certain fingering, though. Problem is, sometimes (and most of the time) I'm not paying attention. If there HAS to be a certain order I try to pay attention, but sometimes may goof it up, too. Other times, I find that in order to get the right accent, it's best to go with my second finger first (like on one-note eighths).

Hey, but Jamerson did it all with one finger.

[sammyp]

recently i noticed i was favoring my middle finger too much....daily right hand double note exercises has cured this in a matter of a week or two ...you feel way better when you get it straingtened out ....except ofcourse when you're raking backwards....