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Originally Posted by -executor- I just got a bass guitar and I have a very basic question. When I play the bass and I am switching to a different string do I stop the last string I was playing or let it keep vibrating as I am playing the other string?
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Your question doesn't make clear if you actually know how to damp the string you have just plucked. I'll tell you how, but if you already know excuse my explanation of what is obvious to you.
The damping technique I was taught after two years of playing without knowing how is the so-called "rest stroke" in which one plucking finger rests briefly and lightly above the string just plucked. If you pluck the A-string, your finger passes over the A-string when you pluck it but then touches very lightly against the E-string in the follow threw from that pluck.
In order to master this technique I had to give up the trick Billy Sheehan advocates of keeping the right thumb fixed at some point on the bass as an anchor, so to speak, while you pluck your strings. This is fingerstyle, of course.
I had to adapt the "floating" style in which the thumb rests lightly on the E or A-string to alow your plucking fingers to reach the other strings.. Thus if you have just plucked the E-string, but are moving to the A-string, your thumb would rest lightly on the E-string. Resting the thumb also acts as a damper of the string on which you are resting your thumb. Remember, keep it light.
I wish I could demonstrate the rest stroke and moving thumb techniques for you because it is hard to describe this way in writing. It takes awhile to get used to these techniques without being slowed down by them, but then they do become second nature.
It is important to become adept at damping your ringing strings because when you play at high volume as on a stage, the ringing is very apparent amd magnified.
