Cannot play fast and fluid...

[cire113]

I'm starting to get really discouraged here.. When playing fingerstyle.. i cannot play fast and fluid at all...

i cant even play moderate speed...

It feels like my fingers cant move fast and the friction between the strings is high like not smooth....

I try to play relaxed with least effort...

Am i expending too my energy is my motion not economical?

I play like standard fingerstyle...... My technique seems fine.. though...

I see guys like hadrien feraud and janek play fast they look so smooth and have amazing tone and make it look so easy

[bubinga5]

Originally Posted by cire113

I'm starting to get really discouraged here.. When playing fingerstyle.. i cannot play fast and fluid at all...

i cant even play moderate speed...

It feels like my fingers cant move fast and the friction between the strings is high like not smooth....

I try to play relaxed with least effort...

Am i expending too my energy is my motion not economical?

I play like standard fingerstyle...... My technique seems fine.. though...

I see guys like hadrien feraud and janek play fast they look so smooth and have amazing tone and make it look so easy

how long have you been playing C?

[Ezbass]

You say 'when playing fingerstyle' does that mean you've been playing with a pick originally? If so, how long have you been playing fingerstyle and how long were you playing with a pick? Could be you just need to keep practising and it'll come.

[cire113]

about 3 years... should i just keep playing slow..??

i really believe in playin anything slow before playing it fast..

I feel like my problem is physical though..


I play pick and fingerstyle....

Ive been working on my fingerstyle daily few hours for the past yr or so.. i pretty much dont play much pick anymore

[bubinga5]

Dont over think it bro.. yes, play it slow and build up..what music are you playing... trying to play like the guys you mentioned is not really the best thing to do.....Hadrien has been playing for 20+ years.. just take your time mate... it WILL come...the best cakes didnt come from fast baking.....

your post sounds like your frustrated.. learning stuff like electric bass takes alot of time.. dont feel like your not getting anywhere.. your fingers need time as well as your brain to catch up with what u want them to do.... you WILL progress.. and when you do, then you will think...MAN, that sounded cool... its a journey not a trip dude..

B5

[T-MOST]

Patience and practice. Learn the lines down cold at a slow pace. then gradually play the lines a little faster each time. You will get there.

[Skitch it!]

Nothing worth doing was ever easy ; )

Do you practise with a metronome and increase on tempos gradually? Trying to run ahead of yourself won't benefit solid fundamental technique, which is where you build/dexterity/fluidity speed from.

Are you alternating your fingers or raking 'all' of the time crossing strings? Relying on raking will slow you down in certain styles and fluidity, not that there's anything wrong with it in it's place, but imo and many others, alternating is a far more efficient technique in the issues of speed/fluidity.

Build slowly, it won't come over night, and yes Hadrien has astounding technique, but he did lose a position of late through overplaying as far as I'm aware ; )

Speed/fluidity is not the be all and end all, I'm afraid musicality/feel will beat out technique any day of the week, nice to have it though, if you can control the 'guitarist' syndrome involved ; )

[onosson]

I read an interview with John Entwistle once where he said that he worked on using each finger of his right hand individually to build up his dexterity - using one single finger, alternatively, for an entire night of performing.

I have done a similar thing where I would switch from playing with index+middle finger, to index+ring finger, to middle+ring finger, or even middle+pinky. Not necessarily sticking with that for a whole night, but deliberately switching from one zone to another.

Naturally, your index finger will be the strongest and most dextrous, middle finger next. To be fluid, you want to have strength and dexterity developed in all the fingers you want to use (many people never use the right hand ring or pinky fingers - you may not need to, either). Your index finger will need the least amount of initial development, most likely.

[SJan3]

Some people who have been playing a while will tell you that it is sometimes HARDER to play slow than fast. This is because there is more room for deviation in your time between notes when playing slow. I have to concentrate more on accuracy when playing slow, but I think much of that is because I have developed lines that are now a part of me and I no longer need to work on learning them but, rather, executing what I already know.
So, what I'm saying is when you have made certain scales, patterns, riffs and licks your own, you will find more ease in speed.

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by SJan3

Some people who have been playing a while will tell you that it is sometimes HARDER to play slow than fast. This is because there is more room for deviation in your time between notes when playing slow.

+1 Spot on, a few technical musicians I've played with find it difficult to keep internal time and give the notes/lines proper value at slower tempos including myself, it can be a little more challenging to get into the pocket and feel, too much time to play with and more subdivision in your internal clock to keep the flow ; )

[maturanesa]

I think the key is not to move the fingers up and down with the knuckles joints too much. That produces a long movement. just play with the other two joints to get shorter(its basically economy of motion)

[BillyIVbass]

Start slow and focus on getting a clean even sound. Metronomes are good for measuring your progress. Keep a journal. Shoot for playing steady 8th notes at 100bpms, then bump it to 110 etc.

For me I needed to discipline my right hand. I really focused on getting a good 3-finger technique. I also realized I was playing way too hard! I evened things out, started playing closer to the bridge (more consistent string tension)

Once I got my right hand in shape...yep time to work on getting good left hand technique. Once I nailed speed, I realized, WHAT am I going to play so fast?

It's a progression. Starting slow and learning clean techniques will pay off in the end. If I need to really rip, I'll do some really basic warmups. Stuff like The Spider and Fretboard Fitness kind of things.

[dave64o]

Like everyone said, practice has a lot to do with it. Doing things slowly and building up speed is important and I've heard that in multiple lessons besides bass (drums, golf). The key is to make sure you play it right so you build the right muscle memory. The saying "Practice doesn't make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect!" is the way I've heard it summed up before.

But one key to doing that, for me anyway, is keeping loose. Playing faster, and often just playing something unfamiliar to me, makes me tense up and that's something that's always going to slow me down and/or mess with my accuracy. My instructor has told me several times to play lighter and play looser and it seems to work. I just have to keep working on it until it becomes part of how I play.

[puddin tame]

took me about 8 years before I could play (smoothly) what I could classify as "fast"

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by cire113

I'm starting to get really discouraged here.. When playing fingerstyle.. i cannot play fast and fluid at all...

i cant even play moderate speed...

It feels like my fingers cant move fast and the friction between the strings is high like not smooth....

I try to play relaxed with least effort...

Am i expending too my energy is my motion not economical?

I play like standard fingerstyle...... My technique seems fine.. though...

I see guys like hadrien feraud and janek play fast they look so smooth and have amazing tone and make it look so easy

Practice every single day.

[ducknturtle]

It may look easy but it's not.

[jallenbass]

Originally Posted by cire113

I feel like my problem is physical though..

If you have your hand resting on a table top palm down how many times can you tap your finger in a second. I can do about six per second. I'm not Hadrien fast but I'm not slow. If you can do that then it's not a physical problem. Slow or fast comes from your brain knowing what to tell your fingers to do.

[MistaMarko]

I'm going to emphasize that it's really a mental game. You're setting this standard for yourself that you 'should' be playing fast/fluid. It's better sometimes to just accept what you CAN do, and work and build on what you have from where you've come. You'll find you will be a lot happier and feel a lot better about playing. Getting discouraged all the time because of what you can't do will just make you burn out on the instrument quickly.

Another thing, don't practice just doodling around trying to play fast, because then you're just going to focus on technique and get wrapped up in this technique war inside your head. Learn songs that require fast/fluid playing, and learn them. This sounds silly but I'm just telling you from experience, I've found a lot of progression comes by learning other player's music.

Lastly, to really answer your question and be of any help, you'd need to upload a video or something so we can see. There are a billion physical factors when playing bass. All I can really offer without seeing you play is that you need to be relaxed...VERY relaxed. Try uploading a video if you can.

[BigOldHarry]

Fast is not key; Fluid is. Keep at it - you will build up the skills over time. This stuff takes *years* to get right.

[K2000]

"Fast" riffs are the same as slow riffs, except you've done them a million times (slow) and you can fire them off with your eyes closed. I struggle with playing fast too, and that's been my experience.

Remember, difficult riffs are only difficult the first 1000 times.