I have NO technique....

[reedo35]

Originally posted by LowEndBassPLayer
Hey, the way i figure it, Technique is however you yourslef plays. if you play with one, two, or three fingers, than that's how you play and that's you technique.

That's fine, but if you want to grow as a musician, You have to explore different approaches to playing.As a working musician, you have to change your technique to fit the style of the music you are being paid to play. Exploring different avenues gives you choices. I am constantly haunted by my teacher's words after my Senior Recital in College. He said "you are
playing at an Extremely high Level, but if you don't change something in the way you play, you aren't going to get any better." A little analogy to make my point here- I like vegetable soup, but if it was all I ate, I would probably get sick of it. Ed's Language Analogy reminded me of when I was on tour in Russia, the only thing I learned to say in
Russian was "Today is a lovely day!" Boy, I got some strange looks when I asked for directions!

[furtim]

Yes, Ed, the soup is very hot. Unless it's borscht.

As a bassist who is really still learning, I should say that developing a good technique is one of the most important things to me right now. I ignored that when I first picked up my electric, and I'm suffering for it now that I'm playing it in an actual band situation which puts more pressure on me. I've found that sightreading, in particular, suffers from bad technique. Without good technique, it's very easy to slip up and completely lose yourself, even on something so rhythmically simple as a walking line (I've been there, oy... please resist the urge to rub it in. =) )

However, I've also noticed that as I play through a song more often, I'll adapt my technique to fit the song itself. I think that this is actually what frost is talking about when he mentions "no technique". If you're memorising a song and playing it the same way every time, then I suppose there's no problem (and maybe even a little good) in working out some strange technique things that you would never consider using in a more general case.

They key, as with everything, is to acheive that perfect harmony between those ugly patterns you're supposed to memorise and not having any consistency in the way you play at all. Sort of a ying-yang balance between "Technique, No Technique". Musashi talks about alot of similar concepts in his Book of Five Rings. Here's where someone translates that phrase into Japanese so we can sound über-philosophical. =)