what can I do to get my left hand quicker???

[Little_Idiot]

I am defenately too slow with my left hand grabbing the chords!!! Is there any special technique or training program that I can use???? Please help me!!!!!!

[Deynn]

I am not sure what you mean by..."grabbing the chords". But I still believe that there is no substitute for good old practice. I spent time every day...just playing scales in every key, up and down the neck of my bass. Slowly , but surely, my speed and intonation has improved....go figure....

[reedo35]

Originally posted by Deynn
I am not sure what you mean by..."grabbing the chords". But I still believe that there is no substitute for good old practice. I spent time every day...just playing scales in every key, up and down the neck of my bass. Slowly , but surely, my speed and intonation has improved....go figure....

In addition to the scales you should do arpeggios as well.
What are they, you ask? Well they are the notes of a chord broken up. Say you are playing a c scale, you should also practice the c arp that goes with it. C,E,G,C,E,G,C and back down. After you get this in all keys, You can also practice the 7th and Dim Chord arps.This will do three things. It will improve your facility on the fingerboard,
(make you faster)You will actually hear the notes and know what to play over chord changes, (make you better)and it will loosen up your fingers for better technique (make you stronger) try it!

[LeftyBass]

Write left handed... hey it works for me! 'Course, I'm left handed. But my right hand (which does what your left hand does) is faster now because I use it to do more than fret my bass. Try doing other things with it that you normally do with your right hand. Like eating, picking stuff up, turning door knobs, whatever you normally do with your right hand try doing with your left. I know that sounds dumb (and a little dangerous) but it works. That's why when you see a left handed bassist or g****rist play they are usually pretty good... we've had to learn to be at least a little ambidextrous to live in ya'll's righty world, so both hands are pretty nimble. Now don't get me wrong, I can't play righthanded nearly as well as I can lefty... my brain ain't wired that way. My right hand has almost no rythm. You ought to see me try to play a right handed g***ar right handed. NO RYTHM!

But anyway, try it... it works I promise.

[JimK]

Originally posted by LeftyBass
Try doing other things with it that you normally do with your right hand.

...hey, this is a family show, huh!


Seriously, consider practicing with the ECONOMY of motion ideal; the less distance your fingers travel, the quicker/faster you'll be able to
"grab those chords".

[scheissmacht]

Originally posted by LeftyBass
Write left handed...we've had to learn to be at least a little ambidextrous to live in ya'll's righty world...

Agreed there. I'm mostly left-handed but when I took up bass I forced myself to learn right-handed because I knew it would make life easier in the long run. It was awkward at first but now it's the only way I can play. It might be tougher for the more "chronically" left-handed out there. I can't write at all with my right hand but I've always been somewhat ambidextrous. Now that I think about it, I do almost everything right-handed except write (batting and throwing in baseball, mousing and joysticks, etc.) I do remember though that when I first picked up a bass left-handed was my natural inclination that I had to make a concious effort to break.

[reedo35]

I am the same way, I write left-handed, but was always taught right handed technique on bass, so now it's so natural for me I can't even think of playing lefty.

[Edited by reedo35 on 09-06-2000 at 03:51 PM]

[Stingray5]

Ahh, so you do not follow the path of the true southpaw!

Sir Paul would be dissappointed.

(But it does make life a living hell...)

[LeftyBass]

Man, ain't that the truth! Like I said, I can't play right handed well at all. And it sure does make finding basses a pain! Course, it's prolly a good thing for me... I'd spend a lot more money on gear if I were a righty! As it is, I have three basses (one is flipped so it doesn't really count, but it was $60 and sounded ok, so I am not complaining).

[tekmage]

I'm a lefty too, however...

Something to keep in mind while you're doing your scales and arpeggios to speed up your left hand. Make sure you keep your hand relaxed enough to go fast; don't get too tense or your hand will just cramp up.

You want to be applying just enough pressure to the string to firmly sound the note. Anything more and you're just wasting energy.