Need excersizes to increase finger speed

[homercaholic]

Hey Guys, just started about a month ago and ive found out after trying some tabs that my finger speed on both hands are terrible. I tried For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is well thought of as a very basic song and I couldnt keep up! My biggest problem right now I find is I just have no speed, my muscles dont want to move that fast. Does anyone know any excersizes to increase the speed of my fingers?

[Pugz]

You just need to play stuff you can play already regularly and that should build up some strength in your fingers. Try some stuff you find more challenging and play through it slower then try to build up speed.

The best way to practise is always to start slow then build up gradually getting faster. Assuming your bass is near your computer now... this website is good - http://www.metronomeonline.com/ so that you can keep time. Turn it on and find a tempo that suits you so that you can play without too much effort. Play through it and then gradually increase the speed. Keep doing that and you should get some speed going.

[peaveyuser]

try yyz by rush, you don't have to play at the exact speed when you start but just try building the speed up. i also have this program on my computer that slows down music for you which can be used as a great tool. It's called amazing slow downer, it will cost money though.

[svans]

you can also slow down the music using winamp. It has a plugin on the winamp.com page thats called "pace-something"

[chaosMK]

Are you playing finger style?

You are probably having more of a general skill level issue.

Maybe start by learning some scales and work from there. If you are using a 4 string bass maybe try out this one (G minor), up and down-

--i m r ------ i m p
G-------------------3-5-7
D-------------3-5-7------
A-------3-5-6------------
E-3-5-6------------------

First try and master this by playing a single note per tone. Once your left hand is comfortable practice it with two notes per tone. Once you are comfy with that, practice it with a three notes per tone.

Another pretty simple way to get the triplet part from For Whom the Bell Tolls down is by working on that one rhyhtm by itself. There is no really quick way to do it. Just isolate that one part and practice it for 15 minutes a day, or more, until you are up to speed.

[rainbownorth]

For whom the bell tolls is simple, yes, but that doesnt mean its not quick. Cliff Burton was a damn good bassist, and a DAMN sight better than that Newsted gimp. But thats beside the point. Start with songs you can play easily, or slow the song down with a computer program and gradually get faster. Its not easy when starting, there were a hell of a lot of songs i wished i could play straight away that were out of my league.

[Demon]

Originally Posted by homercaholic

Hey Guys, just started about a month ago and ive found out after trying some tabs that my finger speed on both hands are terrible. I tried For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is well thought of as a very basic song and I couldnt keep up! My biggest problem right now I find is I just have no speed, my muscles dont want to move that fast. Does anyone know any excersizes to increase the speed of my fingers?

Are we speaking about the same For Whom the bell tolls? I checked the powertabs for it and it really wasnt fast at all:P

[rainbownorth]

Theres only one for whom the bell tolls. Hes only been playing a month, anyway. Most of it isnt that fast, but the chorus riff is reasonably quick.

[Demon]

Yeah, i missed the 1 month part.

[BullHorn]

Scales. Scales, man, scales.

I've been playing bass for about 8 months and I only started learning scales today. They are awesome for training both your hands, moving from string to string fast, and the biggest plus from this all is that you will learn to improvise, etc.

Start with the Pentatonic scale, that's what I did.


Ah, and my favourite warmups are Hysteria by Muse (fast two finger picking) and Mother Man by Atheist (Really really really fast, some parts get to about 330bpm ).

[Sandman1278]

G---------------------------4-5-6-7---------------------------
D------------------3-4-5-6----------5-6-7-8-------------------
A---------2-3-4-5----------------------------6-7-8-9----------
E-1-2-3-4---------------------------------------------7-8-9-10

and keep going up