Building speed with fingers

[blackeagle13]

Hello Im 13, been playing bass for i'd say 2 years anyhow, Do any people have some tips for getting faster using fingers. Also any techniques or tips for using 3-4 fingers. I play faster alternating with 2 fingers rather than 3 or 4.

Any help'd be great cheers in advance Thomas \m/

[TheMutt]

The Buddha Rope

[Deacon_Blues]

The buddha rope is mainly for left (or fingering) hand strength and speed.

For the fretting hand, the key is to minimize the movement. Make every pluck short and focused and move both fingers simultaneously, i.e. while plucking, move the other finger so it's ready for the next pluck when the first is done. Check out the exercise sticky here as well. Lot's of good exercises there.

I've never become fluent on using 3 fingers (4 is out of question before I master 3), but I'd love to become better at it so I'm practicing it every once in a while. I believe you can gain a lot of speed by simply using one finger more. It's just a matter of practice, me thinks...

Good luck!

Good luck

[dfuruta]

The most reliable way I know to improve your speed is by practicing with a metronome, kicking it up by a few bpm each day. I started learning four finger plucking about three months ago, and now I'm comfortable playing 16th notes at 170bpm. Start with 16th notes at 60bpm, and increase it by one click each day. If you're patient and focused, you'll improve rapidly using this method.

Make sure you practice scales and patterns the same way, so both of your hands improve at the same rate.

Best of luck!

[Foxworthy925]

^Great advice.

My playing (technically speaking) has improved more in the past 2 months than in the last two years of playing. My secret: I set my mind on joining a very technical death metal band. I got the music from them, and spent hours upon hours upon hours of playing EACH DAY. More practice crammed into each day than I thought was physically possible. That's really all there is to it. Practice.