Rock Technique

DumbChild · #1 05-19-2006, 12:00 AM

Since my bass lesson today this question has been bothering me a bit. It may be really simple but anyway.

Id watched a few of my favourite bands which are Metal, Rock, Classical Rock all mixed into one. And the bassists all have somewhat of a dodgy technique, i mean their thumbs move like crazy one min its on the neck, next its hanging and then its hanging over the top.And Their fingers never seem to part yet they still play very well. However i know proper technique is keeping your thumb in place and the fingers arnt meant to stay like that, the new teacher got up me for doing it

.

But can someone explain to me, is there a difference in the playing or are both correct, do i just suck or do they suck or what. I was thinking maybe it was a rock look or something cause personally i hate having my hand stretched across 5-6 frets, it looks ugly.

The BurgerMeister · #2 05-19-2006, 12:09 AM

you know what?

as long as it rocks, technique doesn't matter.

The BurgerMeister · #3 05-19-2006, 12:14 AM

now to be a little serious:

i learned the same way. one of the most important techniques i learned was "play as many notes as possible in one position."
keeping your thumb correctly postitioned, your strap the right length, your fingers poised just above the frets always ready to play whatever notes are needed... these are all very helpful, particularly if you want to play faster lines.

i would say: it's cool to break the rules, that's what rock&roll's all about. but you have to KNOW the rules before you can break them.

all that being said: rock&roll.

The BurgerMeister · #4 05-19-2006, 12:15 AM

all THAT being said: alot of rock&roll's about image. it's gotta look cool.

thank all the great rockers for that.

DumbChild · #5 05-19-2006, 12:20 AM

haha thats basically what my instructor said today, get those fingers in the right place, dont move that thumb. Even though my playing was fantastic. But if you can play just aswell without following the rules and looking cool then i guess its alright to break them.

40Hz · #6 05-31-2006, 07:23 PM

For what it's worth, I learned from experience that keeping my thumb approximately in the center of the neck and directly behind my second finger gave me the most bang for the buck. I eventually discovered (I be but dumb sometimes!) that when I was "hooking" my thumb, I was attempting to compensate for not arching my fretting fingers enough - which caused me to "grab" the neck in an attempt to get enough down-pressure on the strings. Once I got my thumb positioned where it was "supposed to be" I found I could play longer, faster and switch positions all over the neck with greater speed and accuracy. And doing that also looks pretty cool IMHO! It's true you should always go for what works best - but I suspect the guys that sound and look so good doing it wrong would be even more fantastic if they did it right.

40Hz · #7 05-31-2006, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetpackbassist

all THAT being said: alot of rock&roll's about image. it's gotta look cool.

thank all the great rockers for that.

Amen to that!!! But then again, Bass is so intrinsically cool to begin with. That's why we all got into it in the first place, right?

"Girls just love those low notes..." Suzi Quattro

scourge · #8 06-04-2006, 10:08 AM

I think most rock bassists are not classically trained, but self taught. So you get a "Whatever works" mentality.

lemur821 · #9 06-04-2006, 11:13 AM

If you're bending you will want to have your thumb on top of the neck for leverage. I just thought I'd throw that in.

I do see a lot of bassists playing with horrible technique, and it bugs me too, especially when they're moving all over the place and never spreading out their fingers and putting their thumb behind the neck. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the baseball bat grip if you're just playing a couple notes, but why anyone would try to play an active line with it is beyond me.

ludwig109 · #10 06-04-2006, 04:51 PM

sometimes when slapping on a wide neck six string etc. i hook the thumb over to mute the b or e strings for while doing something on the higher strings. but only for muted slaps and whatnot when im doing things on many strings at other than that though i would always have thumb behind the neck

mimaz · #11 06-04-2006, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40Hz

It's true you should always go for what works best - but I suspect the guys that sound and look so good doing it wrong would be even more fantastic if they did it right.

I couldn't agree more! It's kinda the case of "its works for me" vs "leaving a lot of potential untapped". There's a reason that the very best players use the "right" technique - It works the best for most of the best players most of the time!

MarkMyWordsXx · #12 06-04-2006, 05:11 PM

ive never felt the need to use my thumb to frett notes, thats what your talking about i assume. ive always used it as a clamp, but maby its cuz i have big hands?

i also couldnt agree more with 40Hz, its the 'right technique' for a reason. if you can play it better another way go ahead, but shortcuts will catch upto you in the long run. learning the proper way will only make you better

mimaz · #13 06-04-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkMyWordsXx

ive never felt the need to use my thumb to frett notes, thats what your talking about i assume. ive always used it as a clamp, but maby its cuz i have big hands?

If I'm interpreting correctly, he's not talking about fretting notes with his thumb, rather, keeping the thumb on the back of the neck, roughly at the center line (think of the stripe that covers the truss rod in many basses). By keeping the thumb in this position as much as possible, it makes the entire neck more accessible, as opposed to "strangling" the neck or "hanging" your thumb from the top of the neck.