Right Hand Technique

[lord_mezry]

Hey Guys Help NEEDED

I seem to have trouble fast bassline, without the picks
i tried to play some iron maiden songs without picks and my hand was all stressed out.

I like finger picking syle so Helpp.

[rustinstrings]

Heh, same here, I guess the answer is practice practice practice.
I currently cramp up after 25-30 minutes of practicing the fast parts, gradually speeding up with a metronome, so maybe mindless repeating is not the way to go and should try softer attack (but that's not how Mr. Harris sounds like ).
When my right hand is too tired, even after slowing down again, I give it a rest and start "abusing" the left hand with some power chords (I think fear of the dark is an example but I didn't see tab sites mention this, afraid to shoot strangers is another example).
It is hard not to mess up the wrist when playing power chords in low fret positions, so careful with that.

[Bullet-Rule]

So you want to play Iron Maiden- triplets then? It took a while for me to learn how to play. Sorry if you already know the technique but this is a good way to learn it.

1- Index, 2- Middle 3- Third fiinger on your right hand.

Now you can either play 3-2-1-3-2-1 or 1-2-3-1-2-3, I prefer the first. Practice strumming your fingers across the strings in that order with a metronome, slowly increasing the speed over days or weeks until you have some kind of gallop. Just keep practicing, you will get it. Either that or you can adopt a two finger gallop technique like Mr Harris himself- but it's hard to explain what the fingers do in that- they just run...

Hope that helped.

[steve66]

Originally Posted by Bullet-Rule

Either that or you can adopt a two finger gallop technique like Mr Harris himself- but it's hard to explain what the fingers do in that- they just run...

I read in the Oct 06 issue of Bass Player that Steve Harris uses

index, index, middle

To get that rythmic gallop. Looks like from the transcription Run to the Hills that he is using 16th notes, the 2nd 16th note (e) is a rest.

i_im i_im

[K2000]

A big part of playing any instrument well is physical conditioning (a matter of practicing a lot, regularly). If you tried to run a marathon now, could you do it? No. But if you train for it and build up to it, yes. Think of Steve Harris as an elite runner. You're trying to copy him. You need to work at it, and give it time to build up to that level. It's not easy -- if it was easy then everyone would be doing it. With bass, the more practiced you are, the more you are able to pull off difficult passages, etc. It's not just a matter of knowing where to put your fingers, it's that physical component too. The more you do, the more you can do, if that makes any sense.

[tswd]

The first trick you need to get used to play faster is to play softer. Lower your strings, relax your hand, and don't strum so hard.

Watch clips of Steve Harris playing. Notice not only how much his fingers move, but how much his strings move. He's barely touching the strings. So how do they play so loud? The have amps the size of Cleveland.

Lower your strings. Play softer. Turn up your amp.