Right hand alternating excercises

[Dennis098]

Alright, so i've been raking strings all my bass-playing career until someone tells me that I should be able to alternate the fingers too. I'm able to alternate fairly well, but it gets tricky sometimes. probably a sign that I focus way too much on my left hand. anyways......anyone have any alternate picking techniques to share?

thanks!

[burno70]

ok, If you have to concentrate on your left hand then I'd start by taking it right out of the equation.

Just practice on open strings. Start on the E and work your way down, alternating each finger and play each one say 8 times. That should get you started. Once you have this down then start on the open E and after 4 strokes move to the 1st, 2nd 3rd then 4th frets then move down to the A and do the same, etc.

Hope this helps.

[Dennis098]

haha well I can do that.
I'm just thinking finger independence excercises, something tricky

[bassrique]

A simple thing you can do w/out even needing a bass is to hold your left hand out in the "Karate chop" shape, palm facing towards your body. Your fingers are the four strings. Your index is the E, your middle the A, and so on.

Now you can play triplets with two "notes" on one "string" and one "note" on another "string".

[Dogbertday]

honestly I don't see much wrong with raking. It's the equivalent to different bowings in a orchestra.

however, My first thought is to take a tricky bassline that you normally rake and just do it very slowly and make sure you alternate. if this seems hard... slow it down even more... then when your muscles start wanting to do it that way you can start to speed it up... but keep it slow as long as it's awkward... you have to teach your hands to WANT to alternate instinctively

[Dennis098]

its not just raking, i feel like my mind wants to pluck with the index while the index is fretting..... I'm sure someone knows what I mean

the karate-chop suggestion is nice. ty ty