Right hand technique question

[Thrym]

Hi, Ive been playing bass for around a month or so now however having played guitar for several years i already had a degree of finger strength my left hand is pretty much sorted for now and i have just got the hang of right hand fingering i can do it quite fluently and fast now.but i have found that when i play fast right hand finger it makes a very clumsy kind of smacking sound almost kind of going towards slap sound. I have been told by a peer that this is "wrong" and so ive been working on playing with the right hand and ive found i can get a very smooth bass sound with no fret noise or anything just the bass from the amp i was wondering wether some bassists actually prefer to use the more viscous kind of sound as im finding it harder to get to the same speeds as i had before without creating this sound. *Im only trying to play fast as i do enjoy playing death metal i prefer the smooth sound when playing other styles

[MichaelScott]

The problem you have is that you are picking/plucking/fingering the string in a motion that is towards the fretboard/pickups. This is fine to do if you aren't going to put a lot of strength into your movements- but as soon as you want to get extra volume out of your hand you are going to get that clacking sound.

You can either:

1) Move the string in a motion that is more towards the other strings.
2) Use a gentle touch and get extra volume out of your amp or volume knob on your bass.

[Rattlehead]

A third option is playing closer to the bridge.

All your questions and more here:

Demystifying Metal styles, how to make fingerstyle playing heard in Metal

[scrotimusprime]

I think its important to have control over your clank.


Clank when appropriate (a la korn), don't clank when not appropriate (most things).


don't forget that you can do a little bit of magic with your eq (your bright button for example) to cut back a little when you don't want it.

Ultimately, you should be able to play what is appropriate for the song, your bass can do it.

[demented6th]

I sometimes suffer the same problem, but its because I like to play my fretless with ulta-low action. That really enhances the fretless sound but if I play aggressively it makes the strings very prone to clatter on the bridge end of the neck where the string movement is the greatest. Is your's fretless and how is your action set?

Cheers
Russell

[El-Bob]

Originally Posted by Rattlehead

A third option is playing closer to the bridge.

All your questions and more here:

Demystifying Metal styles, how to make fingerstyle playing heard in Metal

+1, don't let the death metal thing scare you if you're not into it, this is one of the most helpful threads I've ever seen.

[nsmar4211]

Spend some time with your bass to see how it reacts to how much force you use to strike your strings. I can get a rounded sound or the clacky sound out of the same string depending on how I pluck it. Clacky is wanted at times (depends on the song), I find to get that I use the tips of my fingers and pull towards the body of my bass. To get a rounded tone I pull my fingers into the palm of my hand, like when you make a fist. I played harp for a while, and found it's the same finger motion (not that you'll probably find a harp player around to demo for you!)

Might check your bass action, I keep mine a little higher so I don't clank accidentally. Have someone professiona/knowledgeable set up your bass . Check your treble too, too high and it'll pick up the clank quicker. Which pickup up use (if you have more than one) also makes a difference.

[Thrym]

thanks for all the replys. ive found i can get rid of the clank when desired by pulling up and with amore gentle motion. it seems the clank is much more present when i have my fingers straightish this is something i shall have to explore, im loving the variety of tones i can get from a bass the tone controls on the bass actualy seem to do soemthing unlike onmy guitar

[ba55i5t]

When I'm playing fingerstyle my type of digging in kind of pushes the string sideways. I change the area where my fingers attack the b string when I'm playing it fast, and it never makes any clank. Also, as previously mentioned play closer to the bridge...you can always eq your sound however you want it.