Changing bad habits

[benjaminmikiten]

Hello all -
I started playing bass recently (about two months now) and I've got a bad habit of only using one finger on my right hand.

Because I taught myself, I've gotten fast enough that it doesn't actually impact my playing too much, so I have trouble remembering to make an effort to use two.

What's the best way to kick this habit?

Thanks,
Ben

[somedumbguy]

Try playing with ONLY your other finger.

And once you get comfortable with both, then start using both.

Or just say screw it, Jamerson only needed one finger...

[VinKreepo]

Practice the basic blues scale up AND down. But keep your hand in one place. If you notice, the scale uses a span of four frets, one for each finger. The blues scale will give you a good hand span and teach you to use all your fingers. I found it easier to play than the major scale, so that's why I recommend you start practicing it.

Over the tab I'll write 1 2 3 4 for your fingers with 1 being your pointer finger. Just to be clear lol

Start with the blues in the key of C:

...1..4..1..2..3..1..3<<<fingers
G -------------------|
D ------------8-10---|
A -----8-9-10--------|
E 8-11---------------|

Then to increase the span in your hand move to blues in the key of A:

...1..4..1.2..3..1..3<<<fingers
G ------------------|
D ------------5-7---|
A -----5-6-7--------|
E 5-8---------------|

[behndy]

VinKreep - that's good stuff, but i think he's talking about his right hand.

i have the same problem (lol... along with others that my teacher, first after playing for about 10 years, is trying to get me to correct) with my right hand. sorta like VinKreep's advice, but my teacher has me doing exercises that are very simple, but the repetition seems to help.

simple stuff like keeping your hand in 1st position, going slow with a metronome from your lowest string to your highest 1 2 3 4 till you get to the highest string, move up a fret and go reverse down 4 3 2 1. going slow then gradually speeding up the tempo and paying a LOT of attention to going 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 with your right hand. i can notice a difference.

hope that helps.

-0behn desu0-

[VinKreepo]

/fail lol

sorry, thanks for the correction. I have a long middle finger so I use only one on my right hand all the time lol. I've heard some people use their pointer and ringer to pluck cause they are usually the same length. Haven't tried much. I prefer a pick sadly ... stupid guitard portion of my soul!

behndy is right, take it slow. And thanks behndy lol

[behndy]

lol.... c'mon now. i hate when people get into the whole "you can't play bass with a pick" bs. i think i'm an OKAY bass player, and i play a 6 and noodle around on a 7, but being self taught like the OP there's huge chunks of emptiness where there SHOULD be knowledge for me.

and i SUCK at a pick. i've tried a bunch of times. can't get my head around it.

lol.... VinKreeDiesel.... aren't everybody's middle fingers a bit longer? mine is. it's all about that hand tilt baby!

but yeah, benjaminmikiten, i think if you pick anything that you enjoy playing, or use as a warm up or a scale exercise you're already comfortable with and go through it SLOWLY paying attention to alternating fingers you'll get used to it pretty quick. it might take a hinute for your off-finger to catch up, strength-wise, but if you've only been playing for 2 months it's probably a really good idea to nip that in the bud. opens up a LOT more options if you're comfortable with both fingers.

huh.... i'm a benjamin too. the "mikitin" sounds like a horrible, arrestable thing that you would do to a baby cat. i'm jealous. my last name is SUPER boring in comparison.

gnAr.

-0behn desu0-

[benjaminmikiten]

Thanks for the help, everyone. I was worried that it would just come down to practice.

Behndy - As a self taught, I'm terrified of ever getting in front of a bassist that actually knows what they're doing— "You're holding it HOW?" "That's COMPLETELY wrong!" I'm sure you can sympathize! I figure, though, if I can hold my own, it doesn't matter how I play. This two finger thing seems like a good thing to grab, though.

[behndy]

yeah.... don't worry at all. if you can play, and somebody gives you crap (not constructive advice) on HOW you play, they're idiots.

that said, after playing for years whichever way seems right to me, i can notice very nice improvements learning some of the "right" way of doing things. it took me trying different people for about 2 months, but i found somebody WAY better than me (that prefers six stringers like me) that actually listens to how i do things and then works on fixing things that could be better and leaving alone what is useful, NOT telling me "this is the way to play correctly. do it.".

good luck meng!

-0behn desu0-

[VinKreepo]

Haha I'm completely self taught too! I have to take lessons in the fall as a requirement for my school's music program... : ( lol. Oh and doesn't it show?

PlusI understand the angled hand thing, I just need to practice to where I feel comfortable doing it. I HAD to start out on guitar. [long story short: had a guitar I never played, wanted to pick up bass, my mom gave me the classic "learn the instrument you have" speech] so I learned to use a pick to begin with, and I'll tell you right now it takes much longer to learn to use a pick than your fingers.

And I sympathize with you too ben. Lol went to "audition" recently for a pastor at a church and played some flyleaf nirvana jazzy funky groovy reggae etc. mess to show him I'm not just some root note bassist and he wanted more root note playing. Told me, "well you can come to our practice on saturday and you can see our current bassist play. he's been doing it for years and can get you into other types of music. you don't really play what I'm looking for" I wanted to shut him up with a metal line right then, but I just thanked him and left out.

[beelzelboss]

I had a similiar type of problem. I wanted to start playing with three fingers instead of two, but I could never remember to play with my ring. What I did was: Sit down with a metronome set a slower speed (60-80BPM) Start with whole or half notes, and just go 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 etc etc. Go up and down the strings, so like do 5 bars on E, 5 bars on A, 5 bars on D, 5 bars on G.
Make sure that when you move strings, that you don't start over your fingers. Like this, 1 will be index, 2 will be middle
1212121 2121212 1212121 2121212
G--------------------------------------0000000---
D--------------------------0000000---------------
A--------------0000000---------------------------
E---0000000--------------------------------------

After doing that, speed it up! Start going to eight notes, and then increase BPM.
You can then once you are more comfortable with both fingers, do scales and such, but make sure as you are moving strings to not restart your hand.


Good luck.

[BlakeJustBlake]

The key to changing any bad habit is to practice it very slowly at first paying attention to anything that you can see wrong happening and correcting it and practising it correctly very slowly and then little by little speeding it up.

[Fergie Fulton]

First of let me clear up the finger length issue. In the correct plucking position all the fingers are roughly the same length or level. Hold your hand palm up fingers straight, now curl them in to the palm. You will notice at some point the finger tips are level. This is because the joints help pull them back in line, in particular the large knuckle joint on the back of the hand. Adjusting this knuckle will adjust how level the finger tips become.

As for an alternate fingering,,,when the fingers are in this curled position you will find it easier to play as this is an active finger position, a position ready for movement.
It makes no difference what finger you start on as its your brain that will work out the difference not your fingers. As far as your fingers are concerned one follows the other so not an issue, because regardless of what finger you start with the other will always follow it.

Remember that you swing from the middle knuckle not the big one on the back of the hand but the middle knuckle. This will make the motion shorter and more controllable as well as keep all the knuckle joints in line for safer, faster and better playing.

[m_bisson]

A good thing for accuracy is going from one string to another quickly. Don't just play EEEE AAAA DDDD GGGG... play something like EEAE EEDE EGGE... stuff that gets your fingers moving around.

[Whacked]

if it doesnt impact your playing ability, I dont see how playing with one finger is a bad habit.
Jamerson layed down some wicked grooves with one finger.

But if you want to play with more than one finger, Practice!
No magic about it, just keep plugging away at it.

One thing I did to learn how to play using 3 fingers is to just plug away at it off-practice time. what I mean is that when watching TV or something I would have my bass (unplugged) and not worry about fretting anything and just practice plucking. once I got comfortable with that, then I included it in my practice sessions with the metronome to get timing down.

Might not be the best method, but it worked for me

[behndy]

Whacked - for sure. if something works for you, by all means. but there are certain fundamental skills that i think lend themselves, for 99% of people playing bass, to making you a better player. Jamerson was THE MAN. but maybe a bit of a freak.... and he did come over from double bass. i'm sure that was a big reason he rocked one finger mostly.

the "distraction practice" thing? doing repetitious stuff while watching tv? Bill Dickens talked about that on an instructional dvd. he has a thing he practices where he takes a four string and puts a small rope underneath the strings. then does simple runs up and down the board to build strength and "faster fingers" is the way i think he phrased it. but he says just do that for like 20 minutes a day to get your speed up while watching tv.

yerpers.

-0behn desu0-

[Plinkerton]

I thought I read that Tim Commerford from RATM and Geddy Lee used one finger whenever they could, because they thought it gave them a better, more consistent sound.

Actually, I think the interview was Tim saying the reason he does it, is because Geddy does it.

Ah found it:

"'When I'd go see Rush as a kid, I would wonder why Geddy Lee used one finger all the time. Did he do that because it made it easier to play while he was singing? I didn't get it. Later I realized that if you're just riding a note or trying to play a real straight part, it sounds more pulsating if you play with one finger. So I took every bass line and learned how to do it with one finger, and I started doing it that way as much as I could. Back then I thought I looked goofy, but now here I am using one finger whenever I can. One finger is ultimately the funkiest sound of all. If you can do it with one finger, you should. If you can do it with two finger, you should choose over three.'"


I'm not a good bassist by any means, but I have been trying to use one finger as much as possible. The reason being, is because I am predominantly a clawhammer style banjo player, so I grow my middle finger nail out. When I use my pointer and middle finger on a bass string, my middle finger nail hits it, and gives a totally different sound.

And I'm not about to cut my finger nail...

[nsmar4211]

OP-have you tried putting a bandaid on your finger and practicing alternating fingerings that way? You'll really notice if you start using only the one finger because of the sound.

I actually use all three fingers on my right hand (pinky got broken and not set so it doesn't reach or I'd use it too) when playing fingerstyle. Takes some practice to keep the eighth notes even, but helps with fatigue at those long gigs.