evening out right hand finger tech.

[violatedppl]

when I play finger style their is a strong tonal difference between my index and middle finger. my strength/stamina is the same but when I pluck with my middle the sound is much louder and a little deeper. I would really like to even this out in that I perfur finger style over a pick but I have been going to a pick latly just to get the tone even.

also when I try to play the higher string a-d-g I notice I have more trouble getting them to sound good, and being able to play them with speed has also been a problem for me. I have been playing for around 3.5 years and now I am really getting into my tone and tech. and I would like to fix these little problems of mine. thanks for the help, with all of my dumb questions



PS their is such a thing as a dumb question.

[Tash]

Practice. I know you probably want a mroe specific answer but I don't think there is one. You just need to reach a point where both (or all 3) of your plucking fingers are equally strong and in control, and that only comes with practice.

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by violatedppl

PS their is such a thing as a dumb question.

No, there's just a lot of dumb people asking questions.

It sounds to me like you're getting more finger on the string with your middle finger. You may also be plucking the string at a different angle with that finger. Try to even out both of those things. I like to use as little fingertip as possible, but your mileage may vary.

[chaosMK]

If you work on right hand skills, I would suggest trying out as many different types of finger picking patterns as possible (for example, playing 5, 7, note patterns, or doing 3-finger patterns forward and reversed) and maybe even try taking on some of the more complex types of percussive rudiments. This type of stuff has helped me get some great articulation (nice sounding attacks) out of my fingerstyle.

If you arent getting even sound along the fretboard, it might also be a product of the equipment and EQ you are using. Back in the day I would have these awesome sounding low notes on a 5-string, but far weaker volume on high notes. I use a compressor now to even out the sound a little more.

[WillBuckingham]

I know this is my stock answer to most technique questions, but make sure you practice with a metronome. Set it to a slow click and work on playing evenly at different tempos. Use a simple scale pattern or something like what was suggested above.

[w. edgar evans]

Here's an exercise from one of my former bass teachers:

One thing you can try is incorporating accents and shifting them around with in a pattern, for instance:
(bear with the dots above the staff here, I couldn't get it to TAB the accents correctly otherwise.)

.....>
T--------7--7----||-
A---------------.||-
B--5--5---------.||-
-----------------||-
i m i m

then

.........>
T--------7--7----||-
A---------------.||-
B--5--5---------.||-
-----------------||-
i m i m

then

............>
T--------7--7----||-
A---------------.||-
B--5--5---------.||-
-----------------||-
i m i m

then
.................>
T--------7--7----||-
A---------------.||-
B--5--5---------.||-
-----------------||-
i m i m

Try to make the accented notes really stick out, and try to make the non-accented notes all the same volume. Rhythmically, get all of the notes as precisely on the beat as possible.

For optimal results, practice slowly at first with a metronome, and then gradually speed up.

Cheers,
-w.e.e.

[thewanderer24]

The most important thing is to practice this stuff as slowly as you can bear with a metronome.

Practicing this stuff fast will get you nowhere. You need to be able to pay attention to the little details going as slowly as the metronome goes. When you can do that comfortably, you are getting somewhere.

[Ed Fuqua]

This is a nice exercise to do for precisely this concern.

Set your metronome at quarter note=60bpm
Play a two octave major scale ascending and descending as quarter notes, concentrating on an even attack, alternating fingers. When you can play all 12 keys with NO mistakes EVERY time (not just the first time it happens) move the nome up a notch. Wash, rinse and repeat until the nome is Qnote=120bpm. Then drop the nome back to Qnote=60 and do all 12 majors as "accent one" 8th notes; that is the first note of a 4 eight note phrase gets the accent (ONE and two and THREE and four and). Again strictly alternate fingers, this puts the accent on a different finger. Once again up to 120, then back to 60 and "accent two" 8th notes (one AND two and three AND four and) up and down. then accent 3, then accent 4. then sequence the accents ONE and two and three AND four and one and two and THREE and four and one and two and three AND four and one and two and three and four AND ONE and etc etc.
Then triplets (accent 1, then 2 then 3, then sequential). By the end of this exercise you should be able to control where you want to accent and where you don't. You also can start an idea with either finger...

Oh and then you can run this with 2 octave harmonic and melodic minor scales...

[Groovecenter]

Ed listed an excellent exercise that was actually in bassplayer magazine recently. Im sure people have been doing it for a while and is actually something I did as a brass player when I used to play euphonium and trombone, besides evening out your articulation it will also help immensely with your ability to hear and use accents in your playing, something many beginning players fail to realize, especially those who don't see them written in music.

[Ed Fuqua]

Sweet, do you know who wrote the article the exercise was in? This is an exercise my teacher got from when he was studying with Lennie Tristano...