Finger speed on my non-fret hand

[Ravagence]

So I was learning some Muse. I can play a lot of it. But only the slower stuff. It seems on songs like Stockholm Syndrome and Hysteria I can't get the right speed and it is driving me crazy.

I get all the right notes and such but he's beating his bass like a helicopter propeller and it's really annoying not being able to play it real speed.

I want to increase my speed. I play stuff like At the Drive-in which in itself is fast at some areas and I also like playing some metal. Not Iron Maiden...like..death metal I guess we call it; so I guess I can do the right speed for 3 seconds and then I fail.

Any tips, pointers, etc.

Thanks

[fearceol]

The best way to achieve speed is to start slowly and build it up gradually. Isolate the fast parts into sections, and work on each section separately until you have them nailed. Then combine all the parts.

Oh!..one more tip....have patience with yourself !!

[Bassman1024]

All I can tell you is keep practicing, and if your not already, alternate your fingers. And I know you said you don't play iron maiden but they have some pretty good bass lines. You can also use three fingers, It takes a bit to learn how to do it but it will help with the fast bass lines of muse and it's really good for those galloping bass lines

[Ravagence]

Originally Posted by fearceol

The best way to achieve speed is to start slowly and build it up gradually. Isolate the fast parts into sections, and work on each section separately until you have them nailed. Then combine all the parts.

Oh!..one more tip....have patience with yourself !!

It's not that the parts are so complex that I can't do them fast enough; it's that my fingers only let me go a certain speed. I go as fast on the songs as if I'm playing just a long stream of the same note over and over.

Originally Posted by Bassman1024

All I can tell you is keep practicing, and if your not already, alternate your fingers. And I know you said you don't play iron maiden but they have some pretty good bass lines. You can also use three fingers, It takes a bit to learn how to do it but it will help with the fast bass lines of muse and it's really good for those galloping bass lines

I have done galloping but it sounds like trash when I do it and I don't want that galloping pattern (like it is triplets) I want a constant. If you understand?

But I will attempt it more.

[Jay2U]

Just relax, don't stress. My speed varies by the day. The more relaxed I am, the faster I can play.
My son and I play a lot together. He does the guitar, I do the bass. We improved our technique by playing along with instrumental versions of songs like Aces High, until we were flawless. Then we changed the speed, keeping the pitch, using Audacity, to 120% and 133% of the original. We played along again till perfection.

It took me twice as long, as he is only 15 and a quick learner.

[Fergie Fulton]

The reason you practice slow is so you create a clear and conscious path between your brain and your fingers. Part of the problem with speed is that the player is not 100% sure of what they are doing, so any hesitation when playing will result in loss of time. Also anxiety comes into it, because a player struggles at a certain point or with a certain song, when I comes up the thought process becomes not about playing but not making a mistake, so obviously the mistake occurs again because the terrain of thought is not about playing. Speed is just a temp, you should be able to play so slow it is like watching it in slomo playback, but still be in time.....believe it or not harder than playing fast. Listen again to Iron Maiden, Steves playing uses lots of great arpeggios, scale runs and chord tones, across great temps and crossing strings, ideal exercises for anyone looking to develop their rock/metal techniques.

[henry2513]

Like everyone is saying practice slow and I mean SLOW like 40 BPM slow so that you create those neural pathways a.k.a. "muscle memory".

Also, I bet you are tensing up your non fretting hand, wrist etc. The more relaxed your hand is the faster you can play and the longer too. That's another reason why you'd practice slow, so that you can teach your hand to relax.

[Psycho]

Speaking of Muse, practice Resistance. Those 16th notes are hard to play, and the bass line itself is coincidentally a good way to practice up to playing them.

Take it slow, go steady, work in small increments.