Bill Dicken Lesson

[GreyBeard]

Any of you tried this?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kyUCOeUTM...elated&search=

[ColoradoBass]

Have I tried it.. yup

Can I do it without sounding like poop... nope

[Baryonyx]

Youtube? Buy the dvd, it's excellent! Massively underrated player, a bit of a virtuoso really...he is so incredibly versatile! I learned a lot from that DVD but I can't even touch Bill!

[roadkill2309]

So, is that Voodoo rope thing available?

[spade2you]

The Buddah rope is......just rope. Just find a piece that works and call it good.

[Dave Muscato]

You don't need rope or anything to do that. I learned that finger exercise from a Dave Weiner video... it's just a chromatic warm-up. If you practice playing without a rope, IME, you'll have better results. Then you can not only work on finger strength for clarity and articulation, too.

Dave has about 80 videos with stuff like this on YouTube.

Here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DAVEWEINER

Best,

Dave

[GreyBeard]

I couldn't see why the rope was necessary. Just what is it suppose to do?

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by GreyBeard

I couldn't see why the rope was necessary. Just what is it suppose to do?

mute it.

[JAUQO III-X]

The rope goes under the strings and you practice your scales etc. it builds up strength in your hands and fingers,you will notice a difference once you take the rope from under the strings and play the instrument.

It's like weight training or lifting.

[Dave Muscato]

So, the idea of the rope to raise the action, more than mute it?

It seems to me that it would be better to practice fretting while you're practicing fingering - that is, playing cleanly & sounding solid, clear notes.

Why not kill two birds with one stone, and just raise the action for practicing?

- Dave

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

Why not kill two birds with one stone, and just raise the action for practicing?

Do you really want to keep raising and lowering the action on your bass ?

[ibanezcollector]

the reason is most musicians dont know how to set up there own instruments so it would become a expensive thing to raise the action every time you wanted to practice.

How hard is it to slide a rope versus redo your setup.

[Mark Wilson]

I think it was Bill who said,
"I always saw these upright bassists switch to electric bass, and when they soloed they had killer speed!"

The reason is because the action on the Upright, compared to the electric is VERY different. Upright is higher usually.
So in raising the strings with the rope, you get the effect of higher action, therefore, greater finger strength and agility.

It's the same deal with baseball players, swinging a bat with the weights on it.
When they take them off, they have more power!

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

The reason is because the action on the Upright, compared to the electric is VERY different. Upright is higher usually.
So in raising the strings with the rope, you get the effect of higher action, therefore, greater finger strength and agility.

Thank you.

[Mark Wilson]

Originally Posted by JAUQO III-X

Thank you.

No problem

[JAUQO III-X]

People should be able to understand the concept behind what Bill is doing with the rope.

[Dave Muscato]

Originally Posted by ibanezcollector

the reason is most musicians dont know how to set up there own instruments so it would become a expensive thing to raise the action every time you wanted to practice.

How hard is it to slide a rope versus redo your setup.

I meant, use another bass (setup with higher action) for practicing. I have two Line6 Variaxes for this reason.

- Dave

[Billy Low]

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

I meant, use another bass (setup with higher action) for practicing. I have two Line6 Variaxes for this reason.

- Dave

I wish I could find a good bass to practice with that cost the same as a piece of rope!

[Aaron Saunders]

This seems like the same kind of snake oil crap as "Gripmasters."

Thanks, but I'm comfortable NOT sounding like the first 12 seconds of that video

[HaVIC5]

This seems like the same kind of snake oil crap as "Gripmasters."

Not at all. Its no different than just playing your bass with really high action. Like people in this thread, and Mr. Dickens himself have said, its just a tool to mimic the playing conditions of upright basses on the electric to help build strength/endurance. It works really well. Try shedding on a complicated riff with a piece of cloth wedged underneath the strings (same effect as the Buddha rope). It will be a lot harder than if you played normally, of course (not to mention you won't actually hear it since the cloth dampens all of it). However, if you just keep practicing that riff for about 5-10 minutes and then take the cloth away, you will notice that your fingers will fly over the strings as soon as you're back to normal.