Slide hand or turn wrist?

homercaholic · #1 02-14-2007, 08:17 PM

Im having a bit of trouble wondering which path I should take in a song. The song is Holiday by Greenday and the part im having trouble with is where Billy Joe gives his seig heil speech. The tab goes on the E string 1-1-34 and im wondering that from going from the 1st fret to the 3rd and quickly to the forth should I turn my wrist just a bit to reach or should I slide my hand. I cant quite reach it if I just keep my hand straight. I find this part of the song over and over again just kills my wrist and im wondering if its because im turning it to reach.

Overall ive been really really trying to not turn my wrist upwards to avoid bad habits but its hard!

MichaelScott · #2 02-14-2007, 08:21 PM

Your fingers should be one per fret- pointer on the 1st fret, ring on the third fret, and pinky on the fourth fret. Your hands should be positioned to finger each fret comfortably. You shouldn't need to slide your hand or twist your wrist.

Edit: I made this video : http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...39659301394487

A few months ago for another TBer's line. It isn't exactly the same as what you are playing but you can see how my hand is positioned and how I am using my pinky.

homercaholic · #3 02-14-2007, 08:28 PM

Im working on the 1 per but ive only been playing for a few months so my fingers havent spread out as far yet. Before I practice I stretch them out by putting the neck between each one and slowly sliding my hand down towards the body, but im not quite there yet, almost though.

MichaelScott · #4 02-14-2007, 08:37 PM

Work on it with your teacher and keep at it.

doctorjazz · #5 02-14-2007, 09:23 PM

Yeah, definitely go with one finger per fret. Don't slack off on this, because if 1-3-4 is a problem, you're going to kill yourself if you ever try to learn Chromatic Fantasy. I like the way Vic Wooten put it: Control the technique, don't let the technique control you.

BullHorn · #6 02-15-2007, 10:02 AM

When I got my first bass a year ago, I just Googled for "How to play Bass Guitar" or something, anyway, it lead me to a site that taught me the most basic thing: Stretching.

Practice pentatonics or chromatics with 1 finger per fret. If it's too hard on the 1-2-3-4 frets, go higher a bit, to the 5-6-7-8 frets as a beginning. Then slowly go down back to 1-2-3-4.

chaosMK · #7 02-15-2007, 12:08 PM

Try to do the one fret per finger thing, or slide.

My hands are too small to do one fret per finger on 0-4 on my 35" scale bass. I use a sliding motion to reach the notes and try to keep my wrist as is.

Sounds like you just need to build up strength in that range.

I like to use the scales from the Bass Grimoire to exercise my hand on the low frets.

thewanderer24 · #8 02-15-2007, 12:44 PM

DEFINITELY shift your hand a little if you can't reach. Rolling your wrist back and forth, which you've already said is hurting, is a recipe for long term injury.