Getting Stronger Playing Upright Bass

[dbamta]

Will learning to play an upright bass make your right hand stronger ?

[bassteban]

Stronger than what?
I do know that if I slack off playing DB, it takes a while to get back to where I can play more than a few tunes w/o a break.

[dbamta]

My point was that it takes more physical effort to pluck strings on an upright with your right hand. My thought was that when playing an electric bass you may feel stronger plucking smaller guage strings.

[bassteban]

Yes- yes, of course. This has been my experience. Also, you may want to have your sarcasmeter recalibrated.

[dbamta]

Sorry, if the emotion in my message was misinterpreted.

[bassteban]

Originally Posted by dbamta

Sorry, if the emotion in my message was misinterpreted.

Dude, I'm just messing w/you. Here, have one of these:
On topic, my BG playing comes noticeably easier when I play the DB consistently.

[powerbass]

EB and DB are 2 different instruments with very different string plucking techniques. If you want to develop your ED skills then you need to focus on exercises that do this

[Bryan R. Tyler]

If you feel your hands aren't strong enough when playing electric bass, then you're probably doing something wrong.

You need very little hand strength to play electric. What you do need is stamina, which does not best develop in the same way you'd build strength.

[JdoubleH]

Yes and no. You will gain some strength and DB will get easier, but that strength won't give you more stamina EB. However it WILL change how EB feels to you, which will influence how you approach it, which in turn could lead you to develop a more efficient style. It will probably also change your perceived physical limits, so you may find yourself playing harder and longer, so your stamina may improve as well.

If anyone's confused, I'm still taking about bass here!

[Phil Smith]

Originally Posted by dbamta

Will learning to play an upright bass make your right hand stronger ?

As someone that plays both EB and DB regularly, the answer is yes.

[Audiophage]

I sort of find my EB and DB playing to be separate, so I don't really feel like playing DB makes my hands stronger for EB any more. Maybe when I was beginning upright a little bit. Both hands have different techniques so that the muscle for one are almost resting when I play the other. One problem I always have is that my middle finger gets a big weird callous from DB that sounds scratchy against the EB strings.

[dbamta]

I funny thing happened with I began playing an upright. I thought that my right hand would become stronger due the density of the bass strings on an upright. Actually, my left hand has become stronger because of the need to stretch my fingers and the need to maintain finger posture when playing

[Russell L]

Yes, but that strength will be more suited to application on the DB rather than EB, IMO. But, I guess in a way you could say that you would gain something, in similar fashion as how playing an acoustic guitar with a set of 12s makes an electric guitar with a set of 9s seem easier.

[Billnc]

Originally Posted by Russell L

Yes, but that strength will be more suited to application on the DB rather than EB, IMO. But, I guess in a way you could say that you would gain something, in similar fashion as how playing an acoustic guitar with a set of 12s makes an electric guitar with a set of 9s seem easier.

And the 9's are harder to play in tune once you get used to 12's.

[dbamta]

Originally Posted by Russell L

Yes, but that strength will be more suited to application on the DB rather than EB, IMO. But, I guess in a way you could say that you would gain something, in similar fashion as how playing an acoustic guitar with a set of 12s makes an electric guitar with a set of 9s seem easier.

I believe that you are right. Seeing how I basically use fingers 1,2 & 4 to play DB and I use all four when playing EB