I need to lighten up my right hand, any ideas?

[jady]

I have come to the conclusion that my biggest technique problem right now is a heavy plucking hand, I need to lighten up my plucking and slapping. I played so many years with underpowered amps that I learned the bad habit of playing too damn hard to compensate. I cant get the tone and dynamic balance between notes I am looking for.

I have considered a ramp, any other ideas?

[thomasmoulding]

I've the exact same problem - hope to hear numerous responses to your post - BTW - what's a "ramp"?

[SteveC]

Is your action set up fairly high since you play hard? I lowered my action and that helped me play with a lighter touch.

[newdull]

I struggle with the same problem. The best solution I found, for me, was to turn my amp until it was too loud. Then I HAD to lighten up my right hand, or I would be playing way too loud.
I think it also helped me to concentrate on relaxing my whole right arm, and not just my hand/fingers.
It is amazing how much better tone has gotten since I got my right hand under control. Now if I could just get my left hand to loosen up it’s death-grip on the next…
Good luck!

[zachbass02]

cut off a few fingers? that would lighten your hand up.....I kid....good question...only suggestion I have is crank the amp to where you can hear yourself and conciously practice with a light touch....

[jady]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Is your action set up fairly high since you play hard? I lowered my action and that helped me play with a lighter touch.

Its not too high, I dont play that hard, just too hard for the response I want. I need plucking, slapping, and tapping to be the same volume and plucking is a tad too loud.

[jady]

Originally Posted by thomasmoulding

I've the exact same problem - hope to hear numerous responses to your post - BTW - what's a "ramp"?

http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass...l/theramp.html

[tZer]

My teacher pointed out my "klanking" (sort of Steve Harris-ish), hamming approach and redirected me to be much more touch-sensitive.

Don't slam your fingers down toward the body, rather, take a more "pull the note" approach where your fingers remain closer to the strings and you pull them parallel to the body... if that makes any sense... Instead of there being an initial "swing at the string", your fingers are more "on the string ready to make a note... hard to explain...

The idea is to remove the "impact" approach and make it a more controlled touch. I find when I think about it, I can do it pretty handily - eliminating my former heavy-handed ways - but when I get into the "heat of battle" I still find myself "klanking" here and there. It is tough to unlearn some things...

[WalterBush]

I'm struggling with this problem, myself. I play right over my pups, which are raised pretty high, and they act something like a ramp; they have finger markings worn in the plastic. It hasn't stopped me from hitting my strings way too hard when I stop concentrating. I'm not sure a ramp would help in my case.

I'm starting to suspect that the only way to cure this is hours and hours and hours of practice that doesn't involve string yanking, although in a live situation, I have found that turning up the amp way too loud has helped me stop. To a certain extent, anyway.

[slackdaddy]

This might help:

Plug into a device with a meter bridge i.e. multitrack recorder/mixing board/software. Use a metronome and try to make the meter go to the same spot on every stroke do this in time repeatedly with your metronome. this might help you with your touch

[Bassguy87564]

well one thing you can try doing is dont curl you finger all the way before plucking. Give the string a way to slide off your finger, then just lift your finger outwards. This will cause the string to slide off your finger and give it the same pluck sound with less intensity. Your finger will be curled up after this motion is done. Many slap and double thumb players do this like victor wooten.

[agreatheight]

A heavy touch is not a technique killer, imo - a lot of my favorite bassists have a strong right hand. Digging in can really open up the tone of some basses. But dynamics are certainly important, and it's your request so I'd suggest a compressor. Get a compressor has an input meter or a display that tells you when compression engages. This way you'll know when you are getting too loud (past the threshold you set) and if you do, the compressor will help bring you down and level your volume.

Good luck!

[jady]

Originally Posted by agreatheight

A heavy touch is not a technique killer, imo - a lot of my favorite bassists have a strong right hand. Digging in can really open up the tone of some basses. But dynamics are certainly important, and it's your request so I'd suggest a compressor. Get a compressor has an input meter or a display that tells you when compression engages. This way you'll know when you are getting too loud (past the threshold you set) and if you do, the compressor will help bring you down and level your volume.

Good luck!

Got a compressor, Its not a problem within a certain style, my plucking is even, my slapping is even but I get more sound from plucking than slapping so switching between the 2 in a song is hard.

[lowphatbass]

Originally Posted by jady

Its not too high, I dont play that hard, just too hard for the response I want. I need plucking, slapping, and tapping to be the same volume and plucking is a tad too loud.

Depending on one's technique it's not terribly uncommon for players to EQ or attenuate volume differently to get the desired effect when using
different techniques,(slap, fingerstyle, etc). I'll often roll back to the bridge pick-up when playing fingerstyle to take some of the weight out of my tone but you may be using alot of techniques back to back, here's some ideas:
Finger placement:as you know, playing back further tward the bridge gives a more trebly tone that cuts through more, but your also have to play harder to get the strings really moving, expirement with this maybe?
Lighter guage strings: Thinner strings are more responsive and may cause you to play more lightly?
Amp placement: Some have suggested cranking your amp up, I would say make sure it's pointed at your head. Taking it up off the ground can eat-up your bottom end, but maybe try angling it back or something if your not already doing this. As a gigging bassist one of the most challenging things is trying to stay technically clean and not playing too hard when you can't hear yourself, trusting the sound techs that you are being heard out front, etc., but there is no reason you should punish yourself during rehearsals and what not, point that amp at your head if you can't hear yourself!!
Set-up: I've played many a bass that was set-up well enough for one technique, but lacking GREATLY in all around playability!! String and PUP height are the two biggest buzz-crushers but it ALL comes into play at some level.
Tapping: I don't tap so feel free to beat me up here, but I'm thinking most bassists that tap use something in their signal chain to boost, and/or change EQ's(let the beating begin?!?)
Hope this helps and if you've already tried all this please don't feel like I'm flogging your dead horse!
Good Luck!

[chaosMK]

I'd just work on it the same way as anything else, by making an effort over time.

I used to play way too hard (to the point of early CTS symptoms) when I was underpowered. Getting a better bass helped a bit on the volume front too. For some reason my old active bass did pack as much of a punch.

[fretlessrock]

I started down the same road over 6 years ago and in my case it was not easy. The upside is that my hands feel better than ever, I can play for hours without strain, and I am much more confident in my playing.

I put more conscious effort into playing the middle of the instrument's dynamic range. Playing with enough amplification is a big help, and doing dynamic-control excercises is part of making that work. If you have to play with a lot of force to "make volume" then you will probably not break the habit. And if you don't practice playing with the correct timing and phrasing, but with less force, then you will probably bail because you don't have the same feel. You really can practice isolating timing, dynamics, and tempo.

I still don't play with a feather touch, but I can control virtually all of my dynamics with technique. If I were to dig in hard for some reason it would result in a very big volume change from the "sit in the mix" or "slightly foward" dynamics. Lighter strings with their lower tension can give you greater control over the lower end of the dynamic range.

Some of the "bullet points" in my case are:
Enough amp
Enough dynamics practice
Lighter strings
Consistent approach

And another thing that might help is not leving the bass volume on full, giving yourself a little "reserve" so you can get a volume bump without playing harder.