How Forcefully Do You Play?

[blankstare77]

I'm stuck in this dilemma of not knowing exactly how hard my left fingers should be pressing down and how forcefully I should be striking the string with my right hand in fingerstyle playing? What sort of ratio should be applied?

Left more than right?

Right more than left?

Both as little as possible?

Both as hard as possible?

Attempt to find some evenness between the two?


HELP! Thanks!

[Poop-Loops]

Left hand I believe it's pretty universally accepted that you only press down the strings hard enough so that you don't get any buzz when you pluck them. So it really depends on your plucking hand.

For that, it's different for different people. I'm lazy, so I play as lightly as I can. Other people want a punch out of their playing and dig into the strings. That gives you a lot of tone choices. So play around and see what you like.

[cowsgomoo]

on a fretted bass your left hand fretting pressure doesn't really affect your sound, provided you're not touching so lightly that the note isn't being fretted properly, or that you're not touching so hard that you're bending the notes... so do like Poops advised: firm enough to make the note sound correctly, and no further

for your right hand it's largely a matter of taste... how firmly you attack the strings can make huge differences in tone... so experiment...

I play mostly with a pick, and play Fenders... and I like to play hard... there's something about my basses that gives good results in the music I play (which usually has to sound loud & aggressive & sometimes not very subtle) by really whacking them pretty hard...

although other basses (like these fancy modern expensive active boutique thingies) and other styles of music (serious grown-up's jazz fusion music) I'm sure don't require such an aggressive style, (and you're expending more energy than if you played lighter, which isn't ideal), I believe that under certain circumstances, you have to play hard

this is a subject that gets a bit heated on Talkbass, and I fully respect and agree with the 'play lighter.. you have more control' people... but in certain musical situations (and with certain basses) you have to play hard to get the best sound

[IanStephenson]

Basically i agree with the others - left should be as light as possible, as any more is just wasted effort.

Right hand, I can and do play lightly at home, practise sound check etc, but I know that by the end of the final set I'll be digging in far harder then I'd consider ideal in more reflective momments - My FX unit has a meter on it, and in should check I CAN'T get it into the red, but by closing time it's hitting red all the time!

It does change the sound, and probably more the articulation of your playing, so try it, and ideally master it so you can CHOOSE how hard to hit in any situation.

Ian

[pseudo7]

I think a general rule i've always played by is:

Slow music or melodic/jazz - lighly and by the neck

Funk/hard hitting rock - On the back pickup (in my case only pickup) and hard




Then its up to you to adapt it abit. I mostly play hard but thats the kind of music i play - funk!

("Funk - The deformed cousin of jazz" The mighty boosh)