wierd fingering technique

[Phunky]

Hi

I got this wierd fingering technique that i'm trying to get rid of, it looks horrible...
Now, my main bass influence, is Nick Fyffe, i think he make the bassplaying with his right hand looks really cool, and that what inspired me to pick up the bass, but i can't do it like him, he has his fingers VERY straight, my mines are soooo crocked. how in hell can he have them so straight? i would really like to learn that...

anyway, i'll try go get some videos up of him so you can see what i mean.

Thankfully //Phunky

[the ombudsman]

The goal is not to look cool, it is to sound good.

As long as you sound good and you don't hurt yourself playing, you shouldn't bother.

[Joe P]

Well it's certainly reasonable that in many cases, how a technique looks has something to do with how it sounds.

I can think of one thing I've learned about straight fingers vs. curved: Straight fingers tend to set the strings vibrating toward and away from the bass, and curved fingers tend to set the string into motion parallel to the plane of the bass/fretboard. Not only must this have an impact on the angle that a string begins to cut through the magnetic lines set up by the pickups (I say 'set into motion' and 'begins to cut..." because the string doesn't maintain the same angle, but gyrates all over the place once it is left to sustain for very long), but affects whether the string is going to tend to clack into a fret or not.

Also - on this matter of 'looking bad': I think it's good to study videos of myself playing. For example - I noticed in a vid of one of our first shows that my posture, facial expressions and a strange habit of rocking foot-to-foot NOT in time to the music looked awful, and HAD to change! More on-topic here is that I also noticed that when I use a pick I crunch-up my unused fingers into the DORKIEST position - I look crippled or something. The audience does have to look at you!

At any rate, if you want to capture the sound of another bassist, I'd think it would be reasonable to consider his exact hand position. This matter of setting the strings into motion makes a differance in tone - I can here it myself. I run very low action, and I often LIKE the sound of fret-clack at the beginning of a note, so I'll make sure to come down with straight fingers for a nice kank-kank-kank! Does this bassist you're talking about like to make a fret-clack with those straight fingers?

Joe

[Whafrodamus]

It's nothing a hammer can't fix.

[mrWr0ng]

fingers straightening will come with muscle strength as you continue. my fingers used to be very crooked and i could barely play 'dmv'. now my fingers are almost completely straight and i can play it much more easily as well. your finger muscles still aren't used to being stretched to finger the bass - you have your fingers out a lot but rarely do you ever keep up that stretch you need to play. it's awkward to them.

[Daniel Baskin]

I am teaching a friend of mine the bass and was curious as to why he had the tendancy of crooked fingers. I guess its a muscle thing as stated. I never had this problem...because I started on DB. Good to realize this though, I won't be so hard on him, just tell him to keep playing through it.

[Joe P]

Wait-a-sec: We're talking about RIGHT-hand plucking technique, right?

Joe