River People by Weather Report

[SSINTENSE]

How do you play octaves that fast and smoothly? These lines must have been synthed. I was told that it is good to keep your thumb planted on the string below the one which you are plucking. If I try to play these octaves at a fast pace I will find myself using too much effort to physically move my hand and this makes me unaccurate. What is a good trick for mobility across strings?

[BigOldHarry]

Nah, this is a matter of practice. Great tune, too.

[TheBasicBassist]

floating thumb technique, sir.

[Danny Fox]

and practice slowly til you got it down. Technique first, speed second

[sir juice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0x794zGQmQ

[bassrique]

I put that record on years ago at a little cocktail party. One of my friends said that song sounded like a porn soundtrack. Everyone laughed in seeming agreement. I was pissed. I'm an expert in 70s porn tunes and "River People" sounds nothing like 70's porn music.

Oh yeah, I play that [and most everything else] with arched picking fingers, strict alternation, a nail option, and a floating thumb - though it's still fun to anchor the thumb and really dig in sometimes.

[Jaco who?]

I helps if you wrote the tune, too.

[Technicolor]

It's hard for me to describe here, and I don't have a web cam, but when I fall into this groove I notice my wrist is doing this steady rocking back and forth motion that is put into play by my elbow pushing forward. This might not be an economical use of energy, but it seems to re-adjust my plucking hand without changing thumb anchor points.

[Swampman Cory]

Before trying this sucker I would suggest working on both your plucking dexterity and your basic string crossings. Turn on a metronome, and just go index-middle-index-middle (assuming you do two-fingered plucking) making sure that you're locked in, and build up tempo with time. Then go do 8th notes on a muted G, then cross to a muted D, making sure you're consistent (and then go on and on down the bass) ((I know that's a lot easier than the double string crossings you need to do for octaves, but hey, this is the foundation of what you'll be playing)).

Now, you may be a whiz at that stuff already. I find it comfortable to keep my thumb on the E string, and just in the air when I'm plucking on it during this song. I do a standard index-middle deal, but my teacher finds it easier to play middle-index.

The big thing is to practice is. Work your way up from a slower tempo. I've never tried to master the song, so maybe my info is false, but that has gotten me able to play the main riff for a while.