how fast is fast?

[metalhed]

ive been playing for almost a year, i play with three fingers and ive been trying to incoporate the 4th but it is real hard.im also able to go pretty fast with a pick and slap, but i dont know many bassists and everyone i know says im real good but i want to know what you guys (and girls) think is fast for all those styles.

[tallguybcs]

Matt Freeman; Rancid and Op Ivy, so his best stuff, get And Out Comes the WOlves by Rancid, or just download Maxwell Murder

[nikofthehill]

speed only matters if you cant keep up with the rest of the band....don't worry about being faster and faster. it wont really help that much and a lot of speed comes naturally while practicing other things.

[rickbass]

All of the pro's in Talkbass "Ask a Pro" forums are fantastic. But for sheer fluidity, the Talkbass pro, the legendary Jeff Berlin, is just ridiculous. One note just flows into the next. Check out this link and you'll hear some of his playing automatically http://www.jeffberlinmusic.com/ .

For incorporating slap with pluck speed, Les Claypool just blows me away. His break on "Lacquerhead" is just simply sick.

Not to be preachy, but don't get hung up on speed. Ever hear of Adrian Davidson??? Probably not. Yet he is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Fastest Bassist.

Jeff Berlin and others like him are known around the world, Davidson isn't. Having something to say, knowing how to play deep in the pocket, how to grind the groove, how to swing, how to rock, will get you much further than speed.

But it's always fun to watch someone burn once in a while.

[BigBohn]

if you can go 15000 bpm in 16th notes doing a C Pentatonic scale, up and down the fretboard of a 50 fret bass guitar, than maybe I would consider you worthy.

[Angus]

Speed not important

[JimK]

THINKING 'fast' should be the goal...
Riding a root @300+ bpm doesn't equal(IMO) walking/improvising over some complex changes @the aforememtioned tempo.

Really, youcanplayatasuperhumanspeedbutwithoutsomepauses&r estswhowillgetthepoint? Blahblahblahyaddayaddayadda.

A rest, a pause, IS = to a note...they both involve the use of time & space.

Supposedly, there is a tempo where the notes become so blurred, they become a 'gliss'.
I can gliss with the best of 'em...

[Ziggy]

Metalhead,

The reason it's so difficult to utilize your 4th (pinkie) finger independently is likely because it shares a tendon with the 3rd, ring finger.. -hold out your hand, palm up and fingers pointing away
-starting with the 1st / index finger curl each one into your palm
-I believe you'll find the 4th won't curl up without bringing the 3rd with it

As far as Fast, Faster, Fastest... like others have mentioned; don't worry about that. It'll come with 'time'. You're better off concentrating on 'Solid' time, playing different 'Grooves' and staying in the 'Pocket'

Jeff Berlin has mentioned more than once; .."playing fast, slapping, popping and tapping doesn't get you work."

When I auditioned for a local rock band, one of their complaints about former 'auditionees' was they're lack of keeping 'Solid' time... "their bass lines were like they used to play guitar, took up bass and now all they want to do is 'lead' solos on bass."

I'll end this with a phrase the late, great "Jaco" (John Francis) Pastorius once said to me;
..."if you're playing a bunch of fast notes, but don't know what you're doing or why you're doing it, you might as-well just be wiggling your fingers around." Solid...

Nuff said,
michael

[red-hot-bassist]

anyone could hit the E realy hard with a pick realy fast but if you can make the song sound solid with a few limited notes then your doing better. but i guess since your name is metal head you want to play really fast metally stuff, then i suppose your style of music requires you to play fast sometime, but make sure you keep in time and don;t just go.