Using 5 fingers to pluck...

[Suckbird]

So for a couple of months ago i started to use 3fingers, it instantly became a standard to my playing.. for a couple of days ago i started to use 4fingers, i like this one aswell and i'm going to devolop it and hopefully it will become my standard plucking technique... anyway, this morning i started to use 5fingers... and it actually didn't feel to awkward...

i think going to practice using 5fingers for a while to see where it's going.

Does anyone else use 5fingers for plucking or know any other player that does it?

Is there any disadvantages by using 5 fingers?

I use this pattern: Pinky, Ring, Middle, Index, Thumb...

I'm pretty new to bass playing(2years) so i'm experimenting alot and i have never seen a bassplayer using 5fingers and maybe that's for a reason? Anyway, i play for about 6hours and i'm interested if it's going to be worth wasting all this time learning how to use 5fingers...

what do you think?

[ninefingerbass]

you should try to go T I M R P, it will increase your strength in your hand. think about it. when you tap your fingers on the table whats the easiest way of doing it? plus using 5 fingers would work best if you had five fretting fingers or in full five string chords utilizing every string, but then sometimes those chords sound muddy. so it has its disadvantages as well as advantages, you just have to think about how you are going to use it. I use thumb down thumb up I M R. its five but I have no practicle use cause I only have 4 fretting fingers that I use. other variations I use include T I M R and T-up T-down I M.

so in conclusion five plucking fingers would look and sound cool in getting quintuplets but I dont really see how you can incorporte it into your music.

[lemur821]

I was working on that for a while. I think it's a logical extension of three and four finger technique. I like that it doesn't emphasize either triplets or quadruple figures. Both are equally hard. I was doing it timrp (or pimac, as I would write it), but I'm not sure which way is best. I'd still be working on it, but I've just decided to give in and use a pick, since I'm a better pick player already. It seems stupid for me to do it the hard way.

A thing that I like about five fingers is that you could potentially mute every note you play with your plucking hand, rather than only the notes on the same string as the next note like usual. Just be prepared to skip a finger and pluck with the next if the usual one is ending a note on another string. Again, I never got a chance to learn that, since I quit fingers pretty much altogether right after that. I'm a hybrid picker now.

[Suckbird]

I dont think i get everything that you're talking about..

when i use 5fingers, i always do it strict alternation and i dont see why i would need to play 5-tuplets? I can play a strict 16th note line without having any kind of physical problems...

also, i dont know why but for the moment i only use 5fingers when i
play with free strokes(not landing on the next string) and just 4fingers when i play "normal"...

[bassist66]

you're right, most people don't play 5-tuplets, but i can see where it can be a handy technique, especially for playing arrpegios and whatnot. i played classical guitar for 5 years so i was very used to it. although i don't really use it when playing bass, it could be interesting to learn and use. there are actually bass musicians use 3 and 4 fingers as natural techniques.