Fretting Hand Technique - I can't tell what this guy is doing - help..

[ijustwanna]

Ok, I found this youtube tutorial on a green day song. I'm in no way trying to learn it, I'm basically just watching these videos to see what technique people use. And right now I'm trying to learn actual notes.

So in this video the guy says the note (but the notes are a whole step backwards because I think something about he'd have to play in drop otherwise - someone explain that?) - then he plays it.

I was recently at studybass.com, and their instruction for fretting was to curl your fingers and use the pads of your fingers to push the string straight down as close to the fret as possible.

However the guy in this video keeps his fingers straight nearly all the time across all the strings. He says he's playing a particular note but all his fingers are straight and I can't tell if he pressing down on anything or not??

The only solution I can come up with is he is pressing down across all the strings at the right position with one finger of his fretting hand, then plucking the correct string, so as to mute the others??

Is that right, or does that even work? It seems totally backwards of what studybass.com says about fretting. I'm so confused here.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2CVID86_5Q

Can someone check this out and explain to me what I'm not seeing here. I've probably watched it 20 times and still cannot figure out what he is doing with his fretting hand..

[MarkTAW]

His fretting hand looks basically normal to me. I don't think he's been playing a long time & his technique is a bit sloppy, plus it looks like he has a semi-distinctive way of fretting the notes, but if you saw me play you'd wonder if my hand was moving at all...

Check out around 1:20 when he goes from Db to Ab - you can see him move his index finger from the 4th fret A string to the 4th fret E string. I don't know the exact moment when he does this, but it's the riff around the 1:20 mark and he loops the riff so he does it more than once.

He seems to play the whole song, more or less, with his index finger, muting the strings with the other fingers.

Incidentally, F#, C#, G#, D# is a cycle of fifths. A better way to play it may be on the 4th fret D string, 4th fret A, string, 4th fret E string, 6th fret A string. You don't need to move your hand much at all to play that, which leaves you free to do other stuff like jump around the stage.

[ijustwanna]

Originally Posted by MarkTAW

His fretting hand looks basically normal to me. I don't think he's been playing a long time & his technique is a bit sloppy, plus it looks like he has a semi-distinctive way of fretting the notes, but if you saw me play you'd wonder if my hand was moving at all...

Check out around 1:20 when he goes from Db to Ab - you can see him move his index finger from the 4th fret A string to the 4th fret E string. I don't know the exact moment when he does this, but it's the riff around the 1:20 mark and he loops the riff so he does it more than once.

He seems to play the whole song, more or less, with his index finger, muting the strings with the other fingers.

Incidentally, F#, C#, G#, D# is a cycle of fifths. A better way to play it may be on the 4th fret D string, 4th fret A, string, 4th fret E string, 6th fret A string. You don't need to move your hand much at all to play that, which leaves you free to do other stuff like jump around the stage.

You know what, I feel like the hugest idiot. The reason it wasn't making since to me is because the way I thought the strings were are completely reversed.

When people say their going down they don't physically mean down, the mean "down".. See so I thought the strings were:

G
D
A
E

Except they're the opposite, the E string is on top. That's why also when I look at a diagram of notes on the fretboard his were off from mine which reallly through me for a loop.

Okay, I'm a newb idiot, case solved. Thanks for helping

Lol, jeezz...

Bryan

[ijustwanna]

Originally Posted by ijustwanna

That's why also when I look at a diagram of notes on the fretboard his were off from mine which reallly through me for a loop.

No wait I was right, he's moving everything up by a whole step. For instance he's saying he's playing Db on the 4th fret of the A string. But in the diagram I have Db is on the 5 fret of the A string.

I think because he is playing in standard tune, for this particular song he has to do that? Am I right or totally off-base here?

This from studybass.com threw me completely off:

Strings in Bass Tab

Bass tab shows the strings of the bass drawn horizontally. Most often bass tab is written for 4-string bass, but you may see it for 5-string and 6-string basses, too. That will depend on whether more strings are required to play the song.

The bass strings are drawn with the lowest-pitched string at the bottom. Standard bass tuning from lowest to highest is E-A-D-G and looks like this:

G ----------------------------
D ----------------------------
A ----------------------------
E ----------------------------

Some music will require a different tuning or more strings, but the perspective stays the same with the lowest (fattest) string at the bottom.

When they say from lowest to highest, they don't mean physically on the bass. I'm a dummy - I thought that meant the G string was the top string on the bass.

[Step]

Originally Posted by ijustwanna

No wait I was right, he's moving everything up by a whole step. For instance he's saying he's playing Db on the 4th fret of the A string. But in the diagram I have Db is on the 5 fret of the A string.

I think because he is playing in standard tune, for this particular song he has to do that? Am I right or totally off-base here?

This from studybass.com threw me completely off:



When they say from lowest to highest, they don't mean physically on the bass. I'm a dummy - I thought that meant the G string was the top string on the bass.

it's a common mistake, and differs from musician to musician, when my teacher says lowest string he means E, because it;s the lowest sounding, I think it's the G, because it's the lowest from my viewpoint.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

i wouldnt try copying his technique,