How would you play this?

[Hedgehog_SBM]

Hi All,

After about a month of dedicated practice, after "playing around" many years ago and having some music (theory) knowledge, I'm making what seems to be rapid progress on bass and really liking it. I think the technical aspect of playing is just starting to feel more natural. (just starting, that is)

Some simple questions come up. I now have the confidence to attempt Led Zep's Black Dog at full tempo. The Beatles 'Birthday" at full tempo was my first challenge, and I can do that now. Surprisingly to me, the riffs are easy to understand and I can play them slowly - now I have to start increasing speed.

Here's a simple question - what fingers would you use for each note of the first three bars? (shown here)

G||--------------|--------5-----7--9--|--5--7--5--------5-----|
D||*-------5--6--|--7--------7--------|-----------7--7-----7--|
A||*----7--------|-----7--------------|-----------------------|
E||--------------|--------------------|-----------------------|

Two specific questions:

1) what fingers do you use for the 1st and 2nd notes of the 2nd bar? You are crossing strings from D to A on the 7th fret at decent speed. It's too fast for me to do this one finger per fret.

The guy on this bass cover seems to play it (ring finger, middle finger). Is that good technique?

BlackDog - Bass cover - YouTube

2) what fingering / any advice on playing the last two notes of the 2nd bar / first three notes of the third bar - all on the G string.

Thanks in advance.

Hedgehog

[sammyp]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog_SBM

Hi All,

After about a month of dedicated practice, after "playing around" many years ago and having some music (theory) knowledge, I'm making what seems to be rapid progress on bass and really liking it. I think the technical aspect of playing is just starting to feel more natural. (just starting, that is)

Some simple questions come up. I now have the confidence to attempt Led Zep's Black Dog at full tempo. The Beatles 'Birthday" at full tempo was my first challenge, and I can do that now. Surprisingly to me, the riffs are easy to understand and I can play them slowly - now I have to start increasing speed.

Here's a simple question - what fingers would you use for each note of the first three bars? (shown here)

G||--------------|--------5-----7--9--|--5--7--5--------5-----|
D||*-------5--6--|--7--------7--------|-----------7--7-----7--|
A||*----7--------|-----7--------------|-----------------------|
E||--------------|--------------------|-----------------------|

Two specific questions:

1) what fingers do you use for the 1st and 2nd notes of the 2nd bar? You are crossing strings from D to A on the 7th fret at decent speed. It's too fast for me to do this one finger per fret.

The guy on this bass cover seems to play it (ring finger, middle finger). Is that good technique?

BlackDog - Bass cover - YouTube

2) what fingering / any advice on playing the last two notes of the 2nd bar / first three notes of the third bar - all on the G string.

Thanks in advance.

Hedgehog

1. i play the 7 on the D str with my pinky and the 7 on the A str with my ring.

or ring finger and 2nd finger respectively.

2. 7-9 on the g string with my 1st and ring

same for 5-7 on g string ....just shift position.

[Hedgehog_SBM]

Thanks sammyp! Very helpful.

That way seems good to me too. I tried a few ways, and for me, my favorite so far is to play the 7th fret on A string with the pinky. Any way, it's working - I'm speeding up more comfortably now.

I guess the lesson here is one finger per fret is just a rule that is sometimes better broken - but just when it makes sense to (or it's not really possible otherwise).

Any others want to share what you do here?

Thanks again,

Hedgehog

[sammyp]

yeah i like to use my pinky a lot....and i don't like rolling one finger across strings on adjacent frets....i much like the sound and control of separate fingers

i play all kinds of 2 fret spans with my 1st finger and pinky cause i feel it relaxes the whole fret hand more ...but i have small hands.

[Skitch it!]

I would use a closed 4 finger covering 3 frets position for the first 2 bars, then open up for the 3rd:

1st Bar - Pinky - Index - Mid

2nd Bar - Pinky - Ring - Index (slight string bend) - Pinky - Mid - Pinky

3rd Bar -Index - Ring (hammer on) - Index - Ring - Ring - Index (slight string bend) - Ring.

My 2.

[Hedgehog_SBM]

Hey Skitch it!

Thanks much. Your playing of the second and third bar seem the most natural to me. Interesting how you and sammyp go pinky-ring on the part I had the most trouble with. I've been trying ring-pinky as the most comfortable, and pinky-ring as second. Either seems to work.

I still have to work on hammer-on - that should get me through the G string part a bit faster.

Thanks (to all), I'm getting it now...

Hedgehog.

[Clef_de_fa]

to me it makes more sense if you move the C note from the 5th fret G string to the 10th fret D string.

so it will be :

G||--------------|-------------7--9--|----7----------------|
D||*-------5--6--|--7--10--7-------|10---10---7--7-10--7--|
A||*----7--------|-----7--------------|-----------------------|
E||--------------|--------------------|-----------------------|


ring, index, middle, index, index, pinky, index, index, ring, pinky, index, pinky, index index, pinky, index

like that it is almost like you are playing a major scale in one position.

[Hedgehog_SBM]

Clef - thanks for that - I didn't think of that. I'll try it.

I'm getting the fingering down with the original TAB shown as well. The use of ring,pinky, then hammer on were keys to make that work (at full tempo)

Thanks to all once again - helped a bunch.

Hedgehog