Increasing Finger picking speed

rainbownorth · #1 10-19-2006, 05:13 PM

Ok, this is pretty self explanatory: Its been a while since Ive done any solid practice with my bass - its that time of year, i got exams coming up, and im kinda busy procrastinating with the study, you know how it is.

BUT!Afterwards, ive got 3 whole months of freedom in which to really work on improving some of the different facets of my playing. The worst part of which, imo, is my picking speed. I play with two fingers, sometimes three when theres a few string jumps involved. My problem is that im just not as fast as, perhaps, I think I should be after having played for just under a year.

So, does anyone have any premium exercises to help me build up a consistently quicker pace? Im expecting a few suggestions of practicing with metronomes, obviously, but anything youve tried or heard of ill give consideration to.

chaosMK · #2 10-19-2006, 06:27 PM

Use more fingers.

Spend a good amount of time at it. I started improving my speed a lot by learning a few difficult drum rudiments on bass.

My basic warmup for 3 fingers doing fast 8th notes/ 16th notes is like this (to Parallel Universe or the outro arpegios from Pantera - Floods).

3-2-1-2-1-2-3-2

For sixteenth note triplets with 3 fingers, maybe try working your way up to the beginning of Fear Factory - Securitron.

The more screwed up stuff I throw my right hand, the easier regular playing gets.

rainbownorth · #3 10-19-2006, 06:54 PM

Hmm. Makes sense. Thanks, ill give it a try.

peaveyuser · #4 10-19-2006, 07:00 PM

i use two fingers but if i were ever to use more i'd just go all the way and learn to do it with four.

rainbownorth · #5 10-19-2006, 07:05 PM

Yeah, thats the long term plan. It takes a while to get the ring and pinky working independently etc. Pinkys hard anyway because its so much smaller. Anyway, what sort of exercises do you use to increase your speed for two fingers?

peaveyuser · #6 10-20-2006, 11:12 AM

i just play as fast as possible, play things like yyz and some iron maiden. When i do a complex riff i just keep on practising it over and over, i put alot of pressure on myself though. If i make one very notisable mistake i just start the song over again. I tried doing three fingers and it just didn't feel natural for me, it had to much of a galloping sound. If i need to get to the point where i play so fast that two fingers isn't enough then i'll pick up my pick and try with that. I rather be a guy who can go just as fast with two fingers as some other guy playing with three. I want to see how fast i can go now but i don't have a metronome and all the ones i found on the internet are confusing or don't work properly does anybody have any recommendations on an online metronome that works?

ogrossman · #7 10-20-2006, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

i put alot of pressure on myself though. If i make one very notisable mistake i just start the song over again.

This isn't the subject of the thread but I think stopping and starting the song over is not the best way to deal with mistakes IMHO. If you do that a lot then you probably won't recover from a mistake as smoothly when you're playing on stage. I suggest you keep going and finish the song when you practice, or at least play well past the mistake. Then go back and drill on the part that you messed up if you think that will help. Just my opinion for what it's worth...

JanusZarate · #8 10-20-2006, 11:24 AM

One technique I've tried involves keeping your fingers active in a different way.

I tend to use just two fingers (occasionally three), but they move up and down on a small section of string around the pickups. Keeping them in just one place doesn't do it for me. I find it easier to pluck faster this way (perhaps it's just me). Plus, the slight variances in tone as they move are a musical joy

I'm trying to force my third finger into the mix with punk-style basslines. Easier to use for speed practice, IMO, especially if you're working with the range of punk between the Ramones and the Dead Kennedys.

EDIT: Playing near the bridge helps too, so that your fingers are plucking a stiffer section of string. The result is more control with less interference of the string's recoil when plucked. However, there is a tonal change as well. Just something to keep in mind; you might actually like the sound near the bridge more than towards the neck!

EDIT 2: That reminds me... higher tension ("stiff") strings help too, if speed is your goal.

VanillaO · #9 10-20-2006, 11:56 AM

i fidn with a lot of maiden using three fingers helps, because harris (at least in a number of songs) has a galloping triplet thing going... and it's just really a lot easier... but to build speed.. i just keep playing and i get faster.. i dunno.. practice practice practice..

peaveyuser · #10 10-20-2006, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ogrossman

This isn't the subject of the thread but I think stopping and starting the song over is not the best way to deal with mistakes IMHO. If you do that a lot then you probably won't recover from a mistake as smoothly when you're playing on stage. I suggest you keep going and finish the song when you practice, or at least play well past the mistake. Then go back and drill on the part that you messed up if you think that will help. Just my opinion for what it's worth...

Ya that's apretty good point but i just do that when i'm playing in band practise, when i play by myself i tend to start over, i do it so then i don't make any mistakes when playing i public. Also any reccomendations on online or downloadable metronomes to count my bpm.

slackerdefined · #11 10-20-2006, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

i just play as fast as possible, play things like yyz and some iron maiden. When i do a complex riff i just keep on practising it over and over, i put alot of pressure on myself though. If i make one very notisable mistake i just start the song over again. I tried doing three fingers and it just didn't feel natural for me, it had to much of a galloping sound. If i need to get to the point where i play so fast that two fingers isn't enough then i'll pick up my pick and try with that. I rather be a guy who can go just as fast with two fingers as some other guy playing with three. I want to see how fast i can go now but i don't have a metronome and all the ones i found on the internet are confusing or don't work properly does anybody have any recommendations on an online metronome that works?

http://www.metronomeonline.com/

rainbownorth · #12 10-24-2006, 07:27 PM

Thanks for those, recomms. Admittedly, I havent really tried playing a lot of metal atm, and im not much of a maiden fan, its just not where im at with my musical tastes at the mo. But if theyll help develop my speed a little, ill try some out and see what happens.

peaveyuser · #13 10-25-2006, 06:26 PM

try invaders and number of the beast by iron maiden and yyz by rush.

yaniv · #14 10-27-2006, 02:37 PM

iron maiden is good finger practice,especially the song "aces high"
at first play hard and near the bridge to build up some finger strength,and then when playing more gently you can reach high speeds