Pros and cons on 3 fingerstyle?

[chaosMK]

If you have to play aggressive and precisely muted "machine gun" rhythms or herdas (if anyone has a video of someone playing fast herdas with two fingers, I'd be very interested) pretty often, I dont see any other way to do it without struggling.

Once you learn basic plucking patterns with 3 fingers, learn them again using the reverse pattern.

[moloch]

Playing power metal I use three fingers for very fast parts where I mainly play root notes and make little passages, I use 2 fingers when I have to do scales. Speed is the same, the difference to me is endurance. Three fingers tech lets you grind 16th after 16th at 160bpm for a longer time than two fingers one. Three fingers movement, I use IRMI RMIR MIRM IRMI, is more natural. However, I saw very fast bassists playing with two fingers. The triplets effects is never completely eliminated and begins to reveal expecially when you are tired. It's all about training, training and training again. Use a metronome or dl a software drum machine, and practice slowly towards faster, raising speed max a bbm a day. You'll see results in less than a month. Remember, better an hour per day than 3 hours today and the next hours 3 day after !

[Geo313]

Hi, I think there's too much talking on something that is simpler than it seems, though as with many things it may requiere to work on it. Please, I'm not saying that I have the sorcerer's stone, it's just a matter of concentration. Anybody who played a little piano and practiced scales with triplet figuring, knows what it feels like when the accent falls on different fingers... and on different notes because most scales have 8 notes, not 6 or 9. You just don't change the scale fingering so that the accent will always fall on the thumb or the middle finger.
Here's just a couple of exercises I posted, which could also serve as a source for anybody to develop new ones... and they're not based on triplets. What I personally and usually do is practice with a metronome at a very comfortable speed, and place the accents on the "ands" not on 1, 2, 3, 4. Also play straight and swing eighths... and you'll see and feel the changes.
Hope this helps.

Three fingers excercise
3 Fingers Exercise II

[bassjamn]

I've been trying to play everything with RMI sheehan method for around 6-7 mo's now.
+1 to the metronome practice.

Also practicing every pattern you can think of with strict RMI alternation can take some work.
-Do all sorts of string jumps like singles note per string runs up the strings E, A,DG, then do 2 notes per string runs up EADG, 3 note, 4 note, 5 note, 6,7,8
-Alternating single notes on two adjacent strings
-Alternating single notes on two non-adjacent like A, G strings
-i've also found some other guys method of raking the lower strings, with the finger that last plucked a higher string to be a big economy of motion saver.

It's a pain, i am still working on getting everything as smooth
as two fingers myself.