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  #1  
Old 12-27-2011, 10:22 PM
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Left hand speed

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I've been trying to learn "Do I do" by Stevie wonder on bass and I found out that when it hits the fast runs, its not my right hand that can't keep up: its my left! Any exercises/tips/tricks that would help me improve my fretting hand speed?
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  #2  
Old 12-28-2011, 05:43 AM
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What you need to do is play slow. your problem is not one of speed but co-ordination between the hands. by slowing down and playing the lines slow, all you have done is slow the tempo to allow you to meld the hands together and learn the co-ordination required to play the song. ( you can do this with all songs, since tempo is just a relation of time between notes you learn the relation between the hands to play the notes in the correct order)
what you are doing is trying to learn two very different skills or task, playing the notes in the correct order, and playing to a tempo.

Since the note order will never vary then that is the first task to learn, once you have this down then choosing a tempo is easier. Because tempo is a variable task, in as much as it can change to suit any situation, then learning to combine the two at the same time can result it the hands tripping over each other. Because an element of hesitation comes into it when the brain does not exactly know what the pattern or sequence is, then because music flows and does not stop, the fingers will trip over where they should be and where they need to be, and where they will be.....that can happen at any speed.

So take all the songs you know and see how slowly you can play them in tempo, that means the sustain and relationships between notes is consistant.

I would be surprised if you did not see results within hours of doing this. It is a mental process of internalising the movements, it is a physical thing to speed or slow them down. But since all concious movement is essentially controlled by the brain, then give you brain a clear idea of what you want it to do, again you will find this gives better results than just playing on regardless.
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Old 01-02-2012, 09:18 AM
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Also, if you are experiencing left-hand tiredness, you should spend some time doing scales. If you haven't already, learn a scale all the way top to bottom of the fretboard, and play it repeatedly.

Speed doesn't really matter at first with that, just getting the patterns under your fingers. Start with the scale this song is in. I'm talking like 10-20-30 repetitions consecutively. After a few days of that, your hand won't get as tired, and it will know a new scale.
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