Stupid third finer:(

DumbChild · #1 03-23-2006, 08:05 PM

Oh great i spelt the title wrong. Ill just blame my pinky for that one aswell k. Sorry guys!

Lol hey there guys.

I just have a quick question. I havent been playing bass for very long but i noticed that when i place my fourth finger down on a fret, the third finger seems to want to sit on top of it. I dont do it purposely but yea i always seem to pin my fourth finger down. And i seem to lay the fourth on a little over the third aswell. Argh.

Any ideas on how to correct this bad habit, or is it like normal for fingers to be a pain in the arse.

Cheers.

Poop-Loops · #2 03-23-2006, 11:16 PM

Yes, it's normal.

Only thing you can really do is SLOW DOWN, slow down so much that you get it right. Keep doing it, and when you get it, then you can speed up. Also, it's doing it because you need a lot of pressure to press down the string, right? So play on higher frets for a while.

adisu · #3 03-24-2006, 02:26 AM

If I'm not wrong and i understood you right it's a matter of fingers control.
You need to practice exercises that will give each finger independency. (john pattituci have some exercises for this in his DVD's).
I saw some threads discussing simillar issues try the search method maybe you'll find some some drills for the finger control problem.

Adi.

PB+J · #4 03-24-2006, 06:15 AM

The third finger is weaker than the others--it lacks some of tghe muscles the other fingers have. Put your hand palm down flat on a table, and try to raise each finger, one at a time. Notice how much harder it is with the third finger? It's just weaker, and the tendency is to help it out, which you're noticing. On the upright bass, you almost never use the third finger. But on electric, it's common to use all four, one finger per fret.

Just go slow,like people here said. Practice with a metronome, slow, till you get it down.

DumbChild · #5 03-24-2006, 06:51 AM

Yea im gonna slow it down, ill have to search for some exercises, cause at the moment it still likes to rest on top of my 4th finger when i fret a note, making it rather hard to get back to the frets which require the use of my third. (just incase my above writing was not understandable). Thanks guys.