Troubles playing fast triplets..

[cire113]

I'm not quite sure how to play fast repeatable triplets ala stanley clarke style... I play with two fingers... Im not quite sure the best way to finger them... to play fluid and fast..

any thoughts?

I try alternating but because its an odd number 3 its really weird when u repeat it.. you end up using a different finger every time

Does anyone know what i mean

[tZer]

There are a few techniques to pick up the speed of triplets that I have found to be effective.

1) middle, index, back of index on the back-stroke
2) three finger - ring, middle, index
3) 'hybrid classical' thumb, middle, index
4) single-finger back and forth
5) thumb (ala Vic Wooten) where you use your thumb as if it were a pick

And you could always do like Steve Harris and simply get your two fingers so damn fast and strong that you can pull it off 'organically' with a natural, two finger approach.

For me, and for the most part, I am able to swing my triplets two finger style - but that's mostly because they don't go for super-long stretches in the tunes I play. So getting good and warmed up and practicing the tune a lot usually cuts it. But for songs where you are facing a very long stretch on non-stop triplets and a quick tempo, these other techniques leverage 'economy of motion' and don't force you to develop biceps on your fingers.

[cire113]

on one string im fine.. the problem is when i have 2 notes on the g string and lets say 1 note on the d string..

good advice though

[tZer]

Originally Posted by cire113

on one string im fine.. the problem is when i have 2 notes on the g string and lets say 1 note on the d string..

good advice though

I actually find those to be easier - to fingers on the notes on the G string with whichever finger struck last raking down to the D.

Now going the other direction is a little more challenging when you don't have the benefit of naturally being able to rake. But I think that's just a matter of practicing and getting your fingers up to speed. Personally, I have an easier time with triplets on two neighboring strings.

For triplets that don't have to be crisply articulated, you can use a slur in the left hand to handle 2 of the notes on whichever string, 3rd note plucked.

There are also some left hand techniques you can explore with hammer-ons and pull-offs that make playing triplets pretty damn easy too.

Right hand, pluck a note, left hand hammer a note, right hand pluck...

[Mayers]

Practice slow and your stamina to play for long ...

I can play triplet with whatever I want ... Take a metronome and say Ta-da-da ( emphasis on the Ta marking the first note in the triplet ) or Tri-ple-et ... and make your metronome go faster and faster until you have it at your speed.

I also think that if you can sing it you can play it.

[jgroh]

Originally Posted by Mayers

Practice slow and your stamina to play for long ...

I can play triplet with whatever I want ... Take a metronome and say Ta-da-da ( emphasis on the Ta marking the first note in the triplet ) or Tri-ple-et ... and make your metronome go faster and faster until you have it at your speed.

I also think that if you can sing it you can play it.

Good advice. My old bass instructor made me play them while saying 1-trip-let, 2-trip-let, 3-trip-let, etc. It really worked for me just doing that.