help playing with fingertips?

[bpm2000]

Hey all,

When I first started playing/teaching myself, I just fretted notes as best as I could with my weaksauce fingers and it turns out I was just fretting them "flat". This caused problems with hitting other strings and muting on accident, etc.

I took a bit of a playing hiatus but am getting back into it again and am starting by cleaning up my technique. Are there any specific tips or exercises that can help with playing with the tip of the fingers? My pinky finger is especially bothersome because it has the ability to bend deeply backwards at the first joint and when fretting a note it likes to "collapse" into that backward-bent position a lot of the time. I am also having a lot of trouble hitting notes because the finger position of my pinky when fretting flat vs with the fingertip were vastly different.

No $$ for lessons right now but they are in the near-future plans.

thx much

[Tehrin Cole]

Playing on your fingertips,helps you to"pin-point"your notes,if you will.Think of it this way:"Running on your toes,vs.,running flat-footed".When you run flat-footed,you're awkward,cumbersome,and slow,where running on your toes,you become more nimble,agile,and fast.This is because you're shifting your weight from your heels,to your toes,giving you more thrust(push),as well as more bounce in your step.Same thing applies here.Try practicing your scales,using one-finger-per-fret.It's also helpful if you place your fingers at the end of each fret,rather than in the middle,....this produces a cleaner tone.Play each note,using only your fingertips,....be sure to practice this exercise slowly,and evenly,(using a metronomic device can be helpful here)until each movement(note)becomes clear to you.You'll start to feel the muscles in your hands,and arms change,as well as notice a change in your tones,...they'll become more articulate,and cleaner.You should also combine,using your fingertips,as well as flat-fingering.A great execise for this is the"cycle of fifths".This is an exercise where you're playing either,a 4th above,or a 5th below,thus making your fingering flexible,as well as dexterous.Cycles also forces you to play every note on the fingerboard,whether you want to,or not,...another great way to learn where all of the notes are,on the fingerboard!Be sure to use your fingertips,on both hands! Peace!

[Krause]

A good way to work on playing with only your finger tips and to strengthen your fingers is to play 4 notes starting on the 5th fret on the E string, play frets 5-6-7-8, index-middle-ring-pinky. Keep all your fingers on the fretboard without moving them. Now play the same thing on the A string, only moving the finger when it is needed. When you play the 5th fret on the A only move your index finger, leaving your middle-ring-pinky on the 6-7-8 fret of the E string, and so on. If you don't hear the notes clearly on the A string you need to adjust your fingers of your fret hand so you are not muting the A string. Do this on all the strings. EADG. Than do the same thing starting on the G string, moving your way back down to the E string.

Do this slow at first making sure you are not muting the other strings with your fret hand.

Good luck.

[ReIgnition]

... also one more humble tip.

Think of your fingers as a spiders' legs coming straight down and creepy crawling all over your strings.

Thumb behind the neck.

and to avoid "flying fingers" (which is when your fingers fly waaaaay off the fingerboard while the other finger(s) are playing) play your scales slowly, very slow, just making the - least - possible - movement - necessary to to play your notes nice and clear... keeping your non-playing fingers in a 'ready position' oh so close without touching the strings.

The 'flying fingers' exercise will help your efficiency and accuracy and may help you prevent accidental muted strings. You have to go slow.

This exercise helped me a lot for guitar and bass.

Good luck

[bpm2000]

Slow slow slow slow.. its hard to keep myself from going back to the "old" speed with poor technique but I *will* keep it in mind.

Just wish I didn't get bored of it so fast .

[Fieldy Snuts]

Watch slide 10 of this tutorial http://www.studybass.com/lessons/bas...ique/fretting/ in my 8 years of bass playing I have not been slowed down by using the shown fretting technique, and I play solely finger style in genres such as thrash/death metal, and my fretting technique has never slowed me down, its my plucking technique that I usually kept having to work on (fretting with finger tips looks very painful IMO)

[Tehrin Cole]

In order to play anything fast,you have to practice it slow,....discipline is the name of the game,here! Here's where playing with a drum machine,or a metronome can help you,immensely! Wherever you set the tempo on a drum machine,the time will not budge,...if you feel like it does,it's not the machine,it's you! The goal here, is to develope CONTROL,at ANY tempo! One of the first things that you'll realize is,....the faster the tempo,the more you have to relax,allowing your fingers to do the bulk of the work! When you practice,start at a very slow tempo,(40 bpm)using quarter notes.You can also start with whole notes,and half notes. play at this tempo,until it feels relaxed,and even,and the idea(exercise)becomes clear to you.Once this feels comfortable,stop for a moment,keeping the idea going,in your mind,....don't forget to shake your hands out,before the next pass. You then,raise the tempo,gradually,and repeat the process.This takes an extremely long time,but with a little patience,diligence,and most of all,DISCIPLINE,the rewards are enormous! You should practice like this all of the time,...especially for more difficult material! I hope some of this information,proves to be helpful! Peace!

[bpm2000]

Originally Posted by Fieldy Snuts

Watch slide 10 of this tutorial http://www.studybass.com/lessons/bas...ique/fretting/ in my 8 years of bass playing I have not been slowed down by using the shown fretting technique, and I play solely finger style in genres such as thrash/death metal, and my fretting technique has never slowed me down, its my plucking technique that I usually kept having to work on (fretting with finger tips looks very painful IMO)

Its not really so much a speed issue more than getting clean notes and accidentally muting strings and hitting wrong strings. I can't play cleanly all the time with that slide-10 area of my fingers because of my finger's tendencies to collapse back at the first joints (most pronounced on my pinkie but every finger does this) so hitting with the tips help separate the notes better. Its not like my finger is cocked down 90deg on the string or anything and it probably does overlap quite a bit of the area that they show in that slide.

thx again to all for the help, time to break out that metronome.

[Tehrin Cole]

Another great exercise is the chromatic scale.By using one-finger-per-fret,you'll begin to see the benefits of playing on your finger tips.This teaches you coordination,and finger independance,and believe me,.....it's not as painful as it looks! It does,however take some getting used to,but the benefits are enormous!What will start to happen is that,your playing will become much more relaxed,your tones will become cleaner,and more articulate,not to mention,you'll have greater control of the instrument where your dynamics are concerned.Where you play on the instrument,is also important,for instance:Playing up near the neck,will give you a smooth,almost upright-like tone.Playing between the neck pickup,and the bridge pickup,wil give you a punchy tone,...this is great for general playing.Playing over the bridge pickup gives you that clean,articulate tone,made famous by Rocco Prestia,and Jaco Pastorius. As I've previously stated,playing on your fingertips,takes some getting used to but,the benefits are enormous!Be patient,and practice diligently,...and slow!You'll get it! Peace!