A Couple new player questions

[Dan_S]

Hi everyone, got a few ?'s about my playing.

1) Fretting Hand

Currently everything i have read suggests resting the thumb in the middle of the neck, your hand should never be supporting or holding onto the guitar.

This is how i am trying to play, but my arm gets real tired real fast. Probablly after playing along to 2 songs i have to take a break. Is this pretty normal for a new player or am i not doing something correctly.

2) Picking Hand

I have searched for everything i can on holding a pick and want to make sure i'm doing that correctly also.

I curl my index finger into a U, and then place my thumb across it, so my thumb is in line with the tip of my index finger. The pick i grip between my thumb and knuckle of my index finder. This also is awkward for me (But i'm getting used to it).

Does this sound correct ??


I just don't want to start bad habbits now. I did goto 2 private lessons but he used his fingers so couldn't give much advice on the pick, and also said i should wrap my thumb around the fretboard to support my hand but then it's harder for my fingers to reach. I stopped lessons though as he recomended some equipment, and then the store owner said well he's a guitar player so he doesn't know (This is the store the lessons are at, i guess they use a Guitar player for both Bass & Guitar).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Hawkeye]

Basically, as you have described it the fretting hand position sounds good. If your hand is getting tired, you may want to get one of those stress balls to exercise your hands and build strength. I find my hand strength has improved a lot in the 4 years since I've started playing. Riffs that I could barely do, or only do a few times before my hands tired are not a problem any more. Not only should your thumb be basically in the middle of the neck, but it should be "basically" positioned about mid-hand as well. This means that if you took the bass neck out from between your fingers your thumb would touch your middle finger. Some bass players have their thumb further away from their fingers (towards the headstock) and not close-up so as to maximize leverage.

RE the pick. I don't play pickstyle very much but one thing I have found that helps me to be a bit more consistent is to anchor the pinkie finger on the picking hand somewhere on the bass. I usually use the "G" string to rest on. That way you have a reference of where your hand is without having to look at your picking hand when picking different strings. You can also practice picking (especially double-picking back and forth on the string) while just sitting watching TV unplugged. That way you can practice being even on both down and upstroke.

This is not expert opinion by any means, but just a couple of things I concentrated on when learning that have helped.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by Dan_S

I curl my index finger into a U, and then place my thumb across it, so my thumb is in line with the tip of my index finger. The pick i grip between my thumb and knuckle of my index finder. This also is awkward for me (But i'm getting used to it).

Does this sound correct ??.

whatever works for you is correct... but I would suggest you try holding the pick between your thumb and the pad of your index finger.. that way you have an extra pivot for finer control i.e. the flex of your thumb/index finger...



if you hold it the way you describe, you're moving the pick only by moving your arm and wrist... and it's a bit indelicate...

Hawkeye is right to suggest anchoring your spare finger/s somewhere... it gives you finer control than just 'floating' and if you anchor on the strings it also helps because it damps them... here's how I play (3 meg avi file)

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~cows/pick_example.avi

but some people DO play the way you describe... so try different things and see which works best for you