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01-18-2007, 01:46 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Northampton, England | |  Playing Octaves
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Recently began playing a lot of funkier songs, mostly jamiroquai!
These songs are mostly octaves and ive seen people play these using different fingering.
I use my 3rd finger to player the higher note in the octave but have seen a lot of people use there 4th.
Is there a reason to use the 4th instead of the 3rd? |
01-18-2007, 01:55 PM
|  | The Lowdown Diggler | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Amitio  Recently began playing a lot of funkier songs, mostly jamiroquai!
These songs are mostly octaves and ive seen people play these using different fingering.
I use my 3rd finger to player the higher note in the octave but have seen a lot of people use there 4th.
Is there a reason to use the 4th instead of the 3rd? | yeah. It frees up your first finger, which is a good strong finger with a lot of reach. Also if you're playing funk, a lot of that stretch goes in the direction of LOW. But whatever works for you. There's no law against anything you do on the bass as long as you do it funky.  |
01-18-2007, 02:00 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2005 Location: Denver, CO | | | It's about comfort and being placing your fingers in a position where they can easily flow to the next step. I recommend practicing octave in as many positions as you can think of, including open strings. |
01-18-2007, 02:03 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Moorpark CA | | | The standard hand position for playing major and Dominant chords involves the root being played with the middle finger, the third being played with the index finger, and the 5th and octave being played with the pinky
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01-18-2007, 02:06 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada. | | Quote: |
Is there a reason to use the 4th instead of the 3rd?
| It's easier. |
01-18-2007, 02:07 PM
|  | Secret Member | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Nashville, TN | | | I use my pinky to make it easier to reach the octave, and free up my middle two fingers for upcoming notes. When you're playing 50 songs in a night, it's wise to conserve hand strength as much as possible.
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01-18-2007, 02:36 PM
|  | Registered User
Owner: BassStringsOnline.com | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: LA California | | | If you know you are only going to be playing the root and octive... sure, go ahead and use your 4th finger...
butr if you know you are going to be playing a major third.. used 2nd / 4th for the root and octive and your first for the third.... |
01-18-2007, 03:34 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Northampton, England | | | Thanks for your help!
Ive been using my third finger to play them so its easier than my fourth, but im sure it wont take too long to break the habit! |
01-18-2007, 04:01 PM
|  | prefers electric miles davis | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by guy n. cognito I use my pinky to make it easier to reach the octave | +1
especially if you're playing a bass with less frets (ie more distance between each fret) like my fender jazz. it can be a reach in first position to get some of those octaves.
to the OP, i'm a big jamiroquai fan myself, keep on funkin' to those jams |
01-18-2007, 06:51 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Moorpark CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by markjazzbassist especially if you're playing a bass with less frets (ie more distance between each fret) like my fender jazz. | Having less frets does not equal more distance between frets. That is scale length.
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01-18-2007, 08:57 PM
| | prefers electric miles davis | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelScott Having less frets does not equal more distance between frets. That is scale length. | so take two 34" scale basses, one has 24 frets, one has 21. The one with 21 will have more distance between the frets since there's less frets for a larger distance. |
01-18-2007, 09:16 PM
| | | | I use thumb and index finger to pluck octaves.
Or is this about the fretting hand?
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01-18-2007, 09:21 PM
| | prefers electric miles davis | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by All_¥our_Bass I use thumb and index finger to pluck octaves.
Or is this about the fretting hand? | It's about the fretting hand. |
01-18-2007, 09:32 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Moorpark CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by markjazzbassist so take two 34" scale basses, one has 24 frets, one has 21. The one with 21 will have more distance between the frets since there's less frets for a larger distance. | No.
In your example the bass with the 24 frets will have a longer fingerboard- compensating for the extra 3 frets. The distance between frets is exactly the same on all basses that have a 34" scale.
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01-18-2007, 09:34 PM
|  | TalkBass' resident Bongo + Cowbell player | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Bucaramanga, Colombia, South A | | Quote:
Originally Posted by markjazzbassist so take two 34" scale basses, one has 24 frets, one has 21. The one with 21 will have more distance between the frets since there's less frets for a larger distance. | Two basses of the same scale length are supposed to have the same exact distance between the frets. The thing is, extra frets are added towards the bridge (the fingerboard is extended in that direction), so the body must have a deeper cutaway to reach them. That's why some players don't like to slap 24-fret basses since the right hand must be moved more towards the bridge in order to slap/pop the strings at the very end of the fingerboard. Here are two 34" scale basses, one with 20 frets and a fretless with 36 "frets":  
The distance between frets in both basses is supposed to be the same.
Last edited by Alvaro Martín Gómez A. : 01-18-2007 at 09:51 PM.
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01-18-2007, 09:52 PM
| | prefers electric miles davis | | Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A. Two basses of the same scale length are supposed to have the exact distance between the frets. The thing is, extra frets are added towards the bridge (the fingerboard is extended in that direction), so the body must have a deeper cutaway to reach them. That's why some players don't like to slap 24-fret basses since the right hand must be moved more towards the bridge in order to slap/pop the strings at the very end of the fingerboard. Here are two 34" scale basses, one with 20 frets and a fretless with 36 "frets" | wow, didn't know that. sorry about that. thanks for the explanation. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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