How Forcefully Do You Play?

[blankstare77]

I'm stuck in this dilemma of not knowing exactly how hard my left fingers should be pressing down and how forcefully I should be striking the string with my right hand in fingerstyle playing? What sort of ratio should be applied?

Left more than right?

Right more than left?

Both as little as possible?

Both as hard as possible?

Attempt to find some evenness between the two?


HELP! Thanks!

[Brad Maestas]

I think the right answer will take a while to discover. Out of the answers you listed, I'd pick the last one: somewhere in between. If I think about it for a second, I recon I use more energy in my right hand than my left (on average) because it's my plucking hand. I started out playing about as hard as I thought was reasonable. Not too heavy for jazz but certainly heavier for rock. I noticed that at a certain point I would reach a threshold of volume/tone and if I played any harder past that point, the sound would suffer. That being said, there has been a lot of great music that's been made by people playing too hard!

I read an article about Aston 'Family Man' Barrett in which he described how he lets the amp do most of the work and how he always strives to play with a light touch. Soon after, I saw him with the Wailers at the Beaumont Club in KC (2002?) and I spoke to him for a bit after the show. We talked about his light playing touch and he re-affirmed what he said in the article and that it was a big part of his sound.

At that time I was also way into Gary Willis, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Thompson, Skúli Sverrisson and Jimmy Haslip (and still am) and I suppose that's why I started focusing more on the lighter touch as well. With it, I think I have a wider range of dynamics and tonal colors, I don't get fatigued as easily and I usually don't have to fiddle with any knobs. If I need to be a little louder, I just play a little harder. I usually have the headroom. If I want a thicker sound, I play closer to the fingerboard; thinner, toward the bridge, etc. Still, some music requires you to play hard and there's no good reason not to master both (or all) approaches.

[PrimusNut]

Try to have your left fingers fretting as lightly as possible without getting fret buzz. As for right hand, it depends on how you want to sound. Hard for a more clicky, heavier sound, and soft for a smooth, round, softer sound. It also depends on where on the bass you are playing, neck, bridge, between. Just expirament with your right hand and you will find what you like best.

[fretcrusher]

It is all a personal prefrence. But I play 5 shows a week and practice two hours a day and I do not have calluses on either hand. I play very light and let my amp do all the work. My opinion you pay all that money for all that power use it not your body which wears out a lot quicker.

my .02's

Dale

[TheCrack]

Originally Posted by fretcrusher

It is all a personal prefrence. But I play 5 shows a week and practice two hours a day and I do not have calluses on either hand. I play very light and let my amp do all the work. My opinion you pay all that money for all that power use it not your body which wears out a lot quicker.

my .02's

Dale

fretcrusher - Methinks you need to change your 'handle!' - Fretlover?

[fretcrusher]

Originally Posted by TheCrack

fretcrusher - Methinks you need to change your 'handle!' - Fretlover?

Well yeah never saw me slap my bass into submission have you? I am the exact opposite from finger style to slap. Here is a quick photo of one of my 4 strings after about six months of playing her.

[blankstare77]

Originally Posted by fretcrusher

It is all a personal prefrence. But I play 5 shows a week and practice two hours a day and I do not have calluses on either hand. I play very light and let my amp do all the work. My opinion you pay all that money for all that power use it not your body which wears out a lot quicker.

my .02's

Dale

Hmm, that may be my problem. I'm playing on a 10watt combo beginner amp.

[ric1312]

As far as the left hand only push down as much as needed, you'd be suprised how little pressure you really need. Pressing down harder than you need to is just wasted effort. The real goal would be to be as relaxed as possible. The less your hands hurt from pushing to hard and being at bad angles, the less likely you will have tendonitis years down the road.

The right hand depends on what you are going for.

[ducknturtle]

There is no one right answer. The force used in each hand will change constantly depending on the song and/or technique. In general however, I would say you should use the least amount of force necessary to get the job done. Most beginners play too hard. Perhaps ironically this is because they have yet to develop sufficient hand strength.

[Unrepresented]

I'm going to throw out yet another "it depends" type reply.

Pressing harder on your fretting hand leads to more sustain... to a point, especially if you add a touch of vibrato.

Pressing softer will encourage left handed muting and note cutting.

As stated above right hand technique will be the difference between a smooth round tone and a percussive grinding one as you go from lighter to harder.

What tone and type of lines you're looking to create will be what shapes your choice of how much pressure to apply.

My advice is to be competent on all of the options and utilize each where appropriate.

[Yngwie 4String]

Press just hard enough to get a clean sound. If you think its too queit, turn up your amp. Let the amp do the work.

[PrimusNut]

Here is an example of varying your how hard you pluck. On the song "Orion" by Metallica, for the heavy parts, I play with a very heavy right hand approach, close to the bridge an with distortion, but when the softer, melodic part comes in, I turn the distortion off and play softer, and closer to the neck for a rounder tone.

It all depends on what the song calls for (for your plucking hand).

[toaster2k3]

Play comfortably. Don't play too aggressively or you'll break strings. Don't play timid either or people will think you don't know how to play.

[PrimusNut]

Yep, I have broken a few strings.. not as many as I should have though.

[Spoiled Grape]

I play too hard.

[moogboy]

i hit the strings as hard as possible with both fingers.

[Sarbecue Boss]

It all depends on how i feel, so I practice playing very hard, very soft, and in between the two

[the_fonz]

i play HARD
hard enough to break my low E
that really threw me for a loop though

[Scot]

Originally Posted by blankstare77

I'm stuck in this dilemma of not knowing exactly how hard my left fingers should be pressing down ...

Just hard enough so that when you pluck the note with the right hand you get a clean note without extraneous fret noise. Experiment with different amounts of pressure - you'll see what happens when it's not hard enough. When you find that threshold you need only apply a bit more pressure and that's it. Most of the students I've had are surprised about how little left hand pressure it actually takes to produce a good sounding note. The tricky part about it is to have the independence between hands so that when you play harder with the right hand you don't play harder with the left. Also, you want to "fret" the note just behind the fret - not in the middle or right on the fret.

...and how forcefully I should be striking the string with my right hand in fingerstyle playing?

I don't really "strike" the string in normal finger-style playing. My fingers address the string (make contact) and then I pluck with the amount of pressure necessary to produce the desired dynamic level. Personally, I'm not an ultra-light right hand touch guy (even though I did study w/ Willis) but there is a refinement thing with the right hand that is necessary for me to have like being able to play staccato notes at different dynamic levels, playing with different parts of the fingers (tips to pads), etc.

Left more than right?

No, not necessarily. Maybe. Not if you're going for an even sound between the two. I would strive for consistency here. The right hand thing is personal and a big part of your voice.

[blankstare77]

Thanks Scot! Very helpful.