Finger Technique questions

[Rattle Head]

Hello all,

A couple of months ago I used this forum alot to decide wich bass guitar and amp I bought and I'm glad I did because I'm very happy with it and have been playing almost every day .
(Gallien Krueger MB210 and a Dean 4 Fretless). Yes, I started fretless right on without ever having touched a bass.

Anyway, at first I played alot with a pick cus I have been doing that for years on my guitar but I slowly started to practise playing with my fingers more and more. I used to play acoustic too with thumb and fingers but that technique is totally diffrent. 1) Is there any reason why most bassist dont you their thumb?

Right now I'm at a point where I need some help.
When I pick a string with my finger I try to land on the string below (or when hitting the low E, I land on my thumb that rests on the pickup) to have a more powerful sound. When I try not to do that the bass sounds alot more ''weak''. 2) Does that mean that I need to get stronger fingers?

Now this is not a big problem when I just play some ACDC or Guns N Roses, or just alot of notes on 1 string.
But when I try to play stuff from bassists like Steve Digiorgio (Sadus, Death), David Ellefson (Megadeth), or Rex Brown (Pantera) there are parts where I dont have time to land on the next string. The songs are very fast and have fills with alot of notes in a short time over 3 or 4 strings.
Besides, the ''land on next string'' -technique will mute that string and that sounds pretty ugly sometimes. 3) Can someone explain me a bit how I am supposed to practise to get to that speed without having to land on another string? 4) Or should I just get used to the ''weak'' sound?

5) What is the technique to play bass chords without using your thumb? When I try to hit 2 strings at once I either do it from high to low (so when its a chord on the E and A string I first hit the A and then the E.
OR I do it with my nails from E to A but then I feel like I dont pick them right. Im practising that bass solo from Steve Digiorgio in the song Cosmic Sea, look it up its half way the song. It has alot of bass chords but I have no clue how to play them correctly.

Thanks in advance,
Dirk

[animvl]

1. Typically guitarists use their thumb when finger picking because they need to be able to cover many strings (every digit helps) whereas on bass while you might be using you fingers, it isn't fingerpicking as on the guitar. Typically you need to spread out across fewer strings and so fingers are more accurate, bassist will use their thumb when they are spanning large gaps between strings, more commonly on instruments with more strings though.

2. I do that too, many people do. Although the fact that you think it sounds off whn you don't does indicate you need to strengthen your fingers, this will come in time anyway so no real reason to be concerned. Just practice the things until you feel they are stronger if you like.

3. I'm not sure I understand the problem here. A great idea is to practice this kind of thing slowly and when you can play it well build up the speed. Watching the original bassist play it will help if that's possible too.

4. You won't need to get used to it as such, everyone goes through these stages in the early days and as you generally improve they will no longer be issues

5. I often use my thumb in chords, when the chord just covers two adjacent strings I would use a finger though. I would pluck it as if it were one string (with one finger in one motion) but catch both strings. Watching the original bassist would help here too.

[Rattle Head]

Originally Posted by animvl

1. Typically guitarists use their thumb when finger picking because they need to be able to cover many strings (every digit helps) whereas on bass while you might be using you fingers, it isn't fingerpicking as on the guitar. Typically you need to spread out across fewer strings and so fingers are more accurate, bassist will use their thumb when they are spanning large gaps between strings, more commonly on instruments with more strings though.

2. I do that too, many people do. Although the fact that you think it sounds off whn you don't does indicate you need to strengthen your fingers, this will come in time anyway so no real reason to be concerned. Just practice the things until you feel they are stronger if you like.

3. I'm not sure I understand the problem here. A great idea is to practice this kind of thing slowly and when you can play it well build up the speed. Watching the original bassist play it will help if that's possible too.

4. You won't need to get used to it as such, everyone goes through these stages in the early days and as you generally improve they will no longer be issues

5. I often use my thumb in chords, when the chord just covers two adjacent strings I would use a finger though. I would pluck it as if it were one string (with one finger in one motion) but catch both strings. Watching the original bassist would help here too.

Thanks thats great info!
It sounds pretty reasonable indeed that my fingers need to get stronger, I recently got a nice layer of corn on my picking fingers so the pain is gone too :P.

Hmm I wont go into question 3 anymore because I'll first see what happens when I practise more fast stuff without landing on the next string. Because I feel it limits my speed when I do.

I'll also keep in mind to watch the original bassist, but thats sometimes a bit hard because when I look at Steve Digiorgios hand I just see a big haze of fingers :P.

Thanks again.

[GeoffT]

Your fingers are probably more than strong enough. Can you pluck harder than you normally do? Most likely you can. What you are really looking for is dexterity, coordination, accuracy, and stamina, and it just takes some time, practice, and keeping your hand relaxed. There can be a difference in your tone based on how hard you pluck the strings but have you tried just turning up your amp and plucking softer and letting the amp do the work?

As far as strength vs speed, they usually work against each other, guys who lift a lot of weights and are the strongest are usually not exceptionally fast and agile, guys who are fast and agile are usually not exceptionally strong.

There are a number of advantages to using a light touch, it's easier to keep your hand relaxed which helps with fatigue and speed issues, you have a little more dynamic range as you can always take it up a notch in volume for a section if it is needed, and the less force you use the easier it is to get your finger where it is needed next.