Playing with Index and Ring Fingers (right hand)

[tiredman9]

Hey, Ive recently been etting cramps and have always found it uncomfortable to play wih my index and middle finger. So a couple of weeks ago I was sitting down with my bass and thought "Maybe I should play with my ring and Index fingers instead of index and middle finger because they are much closer in length to one another." I've gotten just as proficient as it (well almost) as I am with Index and Middle and I asked a bassist much better than myself and he told me one or two players that did it this way and that my thinking behind it was correct. So anyone else do this?

[junction42]

lol, I switch depending on what type of attack I need for a particular song ...I find I can be more percussive with my first and second fingers and a bit more mellow with my second and third fingers

[tiredman9]

Yeah I find that the Ring finger with the Index does give me a more mellow attack. But I like it and I feel more in control.

[BassManDave]

When I first started playing, my teacher made me do scales using different right-hand picking exercises.

i = index
m = middle
a = ring

So I'd play scales, each time using one of the following alternating finger patterns:

i-m
m-i
m-a
a-m
i-a
a-i

The ring/index finger combo works great, because these fingers are basically the same length.

For soloing or difficult lines I'll stick with ring/middle, but I change back and forth for regular playing.