Playing dead notes, as notated

[Huge]

Hi all,

I hope your holidays have been happy.

My wife bought me Daily Grooves For Bass for Christmas, and I have question about playing dead notes. Should my finger be where the note is located, despite the fact that I'm just resting it there? If I play dead notes around the neck, I can hear a faint pitch that is very close to what I would be playing if I actually fingered it. At this point in the book, it's not a big deal, if a dead C is notated, I rest my finger on the C and play the dead note. I'm just wondering if it actually matters.

I don't play a lot of dead notes generally, and this is the first time I've run into them in notation.

Also, I'm on the second day of the preamble, for those of you who are familiar with the book, and might be curious.

ETA: Also, my action is really low, and I tend to fret a note when I intend to deaden it. If you play a lot of dead notes, do you keep your action a bit higher? Or is this, as I suspect, just a practice makes perfect thing. I really only have an issue with it at speed. 16th notes @ 76 BPM. I can do it fine @ 40 BPM.

[The_Low_Dude]

It doesn't really matter where you put your hand. You might here a slight different in pitch, but that's not important.

And I wouldn't higher my action. You are trying to fret the notes because that is what you're used to. When you still have an issue with dead notes at speed, just slow down your tempo and only increase it when you're starting to get a hang of it. That's what you should do with everything you learn, even though I sin to this rule myself.

[somegeezer]

When I play dead notes, I usually put my whole hand or as many fingers as comfortable on the string as to stop harmonics ringing.

[Huge]

That's about what I figured. Thanks guys.

[shadow_FIX]

You can put your hand anywhere...that's one way of looking at it.

The way that I look at it is slightly different. When constructing your line with dead notes involved, you can do the above method, or you can go ahead and "half fret" a note that you might play normally. This gives you more options. You can A) mute the note entirely so it's solely percussive, B) "Half fret" the note so that it comes out as a muted version of the actual note, or C) play the note normally, or even a combination of the three. I think the same way about using rakes in my walking lines, and ESPECIALLY when I'm laying down a funk groove.

Your action is really a personal preference. I tend to prefer a very, very low action for ease of playing and for speed, since I play a lot of music that requires agility. You don't need to raise your action in order to play dead notes, you just need to work at it and refine your technique.

Hope this helps!

[Huge]

Originally Posted by shadow_FIX

You can put your hand anywhere...that's one way of looking at it.

The way that I look at it is slightly different. When constructing your line with dead notes involved, you can do the above method, or you can go ahead and "half fret" a note that you might play normally. This gives you more options. You can A) mute the note entirely so it's solely percussive, B) "Half fret" the note so that it comes out as a muted version of the actual note, or C) play the note normally, or even a combination of the three. I think the same way about using rakes in my walking lines, and ESPECIALLY when I'm laying down a funk groove.

This is basically how I'm doing it right now. I don't have a reason to change, so I'll likely continue doing it this way. I just need to work on muting the note every time I mean to.

Originally Posted by shadow_FIX

Your action is really a personal preference. I tend to prefer a very, very low action for ease of playing and for speed, since I play a lot of music that requires agility. You don't need to raise your action in order to play dead notes, you just need to work at it and refine your technique.

Hope this helps!

I knew that practice would be the answer when I asked the question. I really should know better .

It does help though. Thanks.

[deaf pea]

Originally Posted by The_Low_Dude

It doesn't really matter where you put your hand...

It may not be important to YOU (The_Low_Dude) . . . but it DOES make a difference in what pitch (although muted) you'll hear . . . . . .