Technique and Music Genres'

[Fajah]

So our band got together last Tuesday night to rehearse for tonight's gig. We usually rifle through all the beginnings and endings of the tunes on our list first, leaving the rest of the evening dedicated to adding new arrangments to what we already play, and to work new material.

On one of the new tunes, our lead guitar player wanted to end on a three chord vamp which he will solo over, and wanted me to play sort of a funk/reggae/muted/sticatto kind of bass line over the changes. He kind of showed what he looking on his guitar, but it was late, I was tired, and couldn't quite follow what he wanted. He further went on to say that maybe I should use my thumb, or try stop time (step time...can't quite remember which one), or blah blah blah. I hate when he does this, but that's another matter. I'll eventually put something together, I always do, but it got me thinking about technique in general.

When I first got back into bass playing, I actually played with my thumb. Over time I switched to playing with my fingers. Slapping aside, what right/left hand techniques do you use (if any) when playing different genres of music?

[JimK]

For a Reggae/muted groove-
...SOME may employ a palm mute technique.
The thumb is used to pluck the strings while the palm mutes the strings. You will need to experiment in order to get the 'correct' balance between "too much of the note" vs. "too much of a muted thump".

[Depth_Charge]

I pretty much use the same techniques regardless of the genre I play (mainly thrash, rock n roll and Top40 pop stuff).

Sounds to me like he wants you to play an off-beat slap line and mute the slapped note with a stacatto feel on the on beat. Personally I wouldn't do that over a solo as it risks stealing the moment from the solo...but without hearing what is going on I am merely speculating

Try slapping the E then laying your thumb on the string almost immediately to stop the note to produce the stacatto feel...maybe he wants a strong off beat attack with no sustain or something.

Good luck

[JustOpenYourMind]

A lot of reggea player use their thumbs for plucking because the finger has more flesh and it gives a fatter sound, I don't think there is something wrong with using your thumb for a few bars where a fatter sound is needed.