Improving 2 Fingered Speed?

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Another comparison point: Iron Maiden's "The Trooper", which bassline is made of three notes per beat (one 8th plus two 16ths - These are NOT triplets, as many people seem to think), is played at 172 bpm in the "Live After Death" version.

[f'nar f'nar]

Originally Posted by Sturge

Bit of a Shooting Stars fan then?

Sure am!

[Steve Harris Is]

Originally Posted by TomAngelRipper

I play only five months and i can play sixtinth notes at 250 bpm!The secret I play thrash and death and not led zeppelin!!!

I saw Tom do it live man, and his f**king fingers caught on fire! He was playing, like, 6000 notes per minute without a doubt!!!

Then, right after that, I saw Humpty Dumpty and the Tooth Fairy playing Bocce with Fidel Castro.

Shortly after that I cured cancer by mixing sawdust, goat lips and crushed "ABBA" Cd's and blending with Ovaltine.

And finally that night I saw Jesus and Satan squaredancing to "Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side" in front of Wal Mart.

It was quite a day I tell ya...

I do remember seeing the guitarist Tony McAlpine doing a demo when I was around 18-19 ish (15+ years ago) and this other guitar player/sidekick dude said this solo he was playing was 14 notes per second or something. Was BLAZING fast so I guess it's do-able. I think the only thing Tom is beating 250 times or 1000 times or 1000000 times a minute is his man meat.

[jackmurray]

My friend told me that Yngwie Malsteem or Rusty Coolie or some other wanker can play something like 30 notes per second. Obviously he doesn't pick them all, but 30 notes a second, that's a hell of a lot.

[Steve Harris Is]

Originally Posted by jackmurray

My friend told me that Yngwie Malsteem or Rusty Coolie or some other wanker can play something like 30 notes per second. Obviously he doesn't pick them all, but 30 notes a second, that's a hell of a lot.

Yngwie I have seen live a couple times and I would say he is the fastest I have seen without a doubt, though I like Vai's playing MUCH better.

[jackmurray]

Originally Posted by Steve Harris Is

Yngwie I have seen live a couple times and I would say he is the fastest I have seen without a doubt, though I like Vai's playing MUCH better.

Yeah, I totally agree. Also, Vai has Billy Sheehan which makes it about 12 times cooler. Satriani is better again, he has a real cool groove and has Stu Hamm on bass.

[jackmurray]

Wow, the quote thing worked, that's so cool.

[Suckbird]

Originally Posted by jackmurray

My friend told me that Yngwie Malsteem or Rusty Coolie or some other wanker can play something like 30 notes per second. Obviously he doesn't pick them all, but 30 notes a second, that's a hell of a lot.

Does he play them with 2fingers?

[jackmurray]

Ah no, he's a guitarist, I don't think anyone can do it on bass. I think what he does is sweep picks and in the time it takes from the pick to go from one string to the next he hammers on the next note of a scale. It's incredibly fast and totally unmusical. He's also a total wanker. He played in G3 for a while but no one likes him.

[TomAngelripper]

who said about 1000 notes aminute???the riff is about ten seconds!!I can't play that fast for a minute!!!

[Goregrind29]

Hmm.. you know if anyone could play 16ths @ 250 bpm with thier fingers it would probably be Matt Garrison... I am not sure he can play that fast, but isnt he the fastest finger style player, or pretty damn close to it? although he does use four of em... I think i can actually come pretty close using a pick( i do not anymore, four fingers work so well! ) Anyways i am going to see if i can in a few days, i will probably post of soundclip seeing how close i get.. most likely something around 230ish.. Only thing is, at that speed, esp with a pick, things sound so blured and notes run into eachother... In my opinion playing 3/4 that speed with fingers actually sounds faster. Besides true speed lies in the left hand anyways. And if you want to hear someone who regularly plays 16ths @ 210-220 bpm with his fingers(three of them) listen to the bassist from Dragonforce.
And tom, practising for three hours a day isnt really all that much, i am sure there are alot of bassists on this forum who practise for longer, or practise more efficently.

[seanlava]

I don't think the limits of technical accomplishment have been reached yet, but for absolutely ridiculously fast guitar playing, i've never seen anyone who comes close to michael angelo batio. I'll leave any musical taste judgements up to the individual, but in terms of sheer speed, it's hard to top this guy. check out some of the audio/video clips on his site, www.angelo.com especially the track "Speed Kills"

[Steve Harris Is]

Originally Posted by seanlava

I don't think the limits of technical accomplishment have been reached yet, but for absolutely ridiculously fast guitar playing, i've never seen anyone who comes close to michael angelo batio. I'll leave any musical taste judgements up to the individual, but in terms of sheer speed, it's hard to top this guy. check out some of the audio/video clips on his site, www.angelo.com especially the track "Speed Kills"

I watched a bunch of his clips and listened to a few tracks...he's real speedy no doubt. I am not sure if I think he's quicker than Yngwie though...plus I think Yngwie is a little more versatile from what I have heard so far.

[seanlava]

believe it or not, the clips on his site are a bit toned down as far as speed goes. a guitarist friend of mine has his instructional video, and his picking hand is absolutely blinding.

I agree about the versatility; I'll take steve vai anyday over any of the other technical monsters out there.

[JimmyM]

I hear all this talk about speed and I say, "So what? Can you make me feel something other than `Wow, that's fast'?" All the speed in the world doesn't matter if there isn't some emotion behind it. Typewriter music, I call it.

[weezul]

i have been trying to improve my two finger speed. infact ive been trying to use three fingers. but i can only use three fingers when im playing three notes on one string, or the same note in like 16ths or 8th etc. playing liek a more melodic line, with a more arkward rythm , with three fingers just confuses both of my hands lol. im trying to play the run down in Overture 1928 by dream theater at the mo. Altho progress is slow, playing that over and over has increased my speed.

the biggest tip i can give is to concentrate on efficinecy of fingers, like how far they move out after each note. try and minimize that time.

[keno]

Ah sweet finger speed. I remember the day when playing the break down to RATM's "Bullet In The Head" was too fast for me. Really the best strategy is to practice playing fast with anything whether it be a song or scales.

Also remember that bass is a low instrument. I like speed myself, but, IMHO, I think too much notes jammed into one measure sounds kind of goofy. Regardless, good luck with your practice.

[thejohnkim]

i was intrigued by suggestions to use a pick or more fingers, but after i saw the guy playing the solo i was trying to learn on the DVD that came with the album play it nonchalantly with two fingers, i was determined to learn it properly (i use this term in my world's relevancy, of course!)

i started practicing it slowly, steadily, speeding up to the next notch when i got that down,.....then once i got close i just tried to take a leap and play along with the recording, doing it successfully maybe 1/10 times, but i think its getting better.

[Spikeh]

Originally Posted by keno

I remember the day when playing the break down to RATM's "Bullet In The Head" was too fast for me.

Excuse the unintentional (badly done I might add) pun, but you've just hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD! Honestly... I used to think EXACTLY that... now it's one of my fav songs to play... especially when the drummer kicks into his 1/18th beat 4 measures before the end... brilliant I play songs much faster, and don't really struggle with them either!