Taking pics at gigs to monitor technique

[Guiseppe]

A while back, my girlfriend came to the gig armed w/ camera, with the intent of taking some promo pics for us. Last night I was flipping through the pics on my computer and realized how screwed up my technique looked in several of the pics. In particular, it made me realize how weak my left-hand fretting is - at times I was fretting notes with all 4 fingers together, positioned completely flat (sort of like a slide or capo). Well, like everyone else here, I knew I play a bit "sloppier" than I'd like, but this gave me incentive to really start refining my left hand technique, along with doing some flexibility and strength exercises.

Also, I've been fighting to keep down "clatter" (noise that I'll say is either due to technique, setup, or both). I've never really thought about what my attack was doing to increase or decrease this, but in looking at one of the pics, I think that this looks pretty suspect:



Seeing that made me realize the likelihood that I'm getting "slap" from string-against-string...one more thing to guard against. I've always had a penchant to not play overly loud (ie keeping my volume down and doing "peak" volumes with attack rather than using my amp), but I think I'm going to be bumping my volume and controlling my attack more with my hands than the amp - and there's that volume pedal thingee, too!

Having the ability to (later) look at my hands while I played was an option I'd never looked at: seeing in detail the "mistakes" I was making with my own 2 eyes. Have someone bring a camera to your next gig - not only can you (hopefully) refine your technique, but you can get all those classic bass faces you're always bragging about!

[El Bajo]

Jesus mam, is that how hard you pluck your strings!?!. I must just tickle mine, I dont even have calouses!

[Dave Muscato]

This is why Ron Mahdi says to practice in front of the mirror!

[Grinky]

LOL. You must have really really strong fingers if you've been keeping up that technique for a while. :-)

[Colonel Monk]

Yeah, I have the same problem when I get excited.

No, it doesn't really make you much stronger, just hurts alot more.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by El Bajo

Jesus mam, is that how hard you pluck your strings!?!. I must just tickle mine, I dont even have calouses!

+1

[TFunkadelic]

holy ****

[Guiseppe]

...a picture says a thousand words. I've fought "clatter" for some time, both with changing my setups and with my gear. Seeing the picture in front of me made a huge impact.

Since then, I've bumped the master up a couple notches and used my hands a lot differently. Not only am I already playing a lot more quietly (less clatter), but I'm playing a lot more refined/accurate/quickly as well.

[Chebass88]

I've done the same thing you describe, although I was not necessarily looking at the pictures for the purpose of analyzing my technique. I noticed that I bend the strings with my left hand (fretting), making it go out of tune.

Personally, if I play that hard (and I certainly can), I am unable to provide accents to notes, and everything tends to have the same overly aggressive tone.

The other thing that I found is that if playing a repetitive figure, I tend to keep my fingers in the same position, so a photograph looks like I am playing some sort of chord. Economy of motion, I presume.

imp

[SC Bassboy]

Dude, the back of his finger looks like a Bicep!


Someone took this picture at a show last weekend. I have NO idea why the hell I was using that finger to pluck.