"...when you grip a golf club to take your first swing at a golf ball every natural instinct you employ to accomplish that objective is wrong, absolutely wrong." - Ben Hogan
I frequently see bass players in bars and in music stores do three things that I do not see "trained" bass players do: 1. They leave their thumb up on the pickup all the time and stretch to all the strings. This means that the angle of attack on their plucking hand is different for each string, and the strings that are "above" the string they are plucking continue to ring. This also means that their plucking technique is based on a particular style and location of pickup cover, so it is not comfortable for them to play up and down the strings for different tones, and it is not comfortable for them to play a different bass or an acoustic bass that has different or no pickup covers. 2. They allow their fretting fingers to "fly away" from the strings as if they have been told to keep their pinky a maximum distance away from the strings as often as possible, so they get extra garbage sounds from thumping down on the strings and pulling off. This means that they will never get the good tone they want to have. 3. They play with their bass lower than the bass would naturally be when sitting. This puts the fretting hand and fingers in a position that is less than optimum.
I avoided the use of the word "wrong", except in the Ben Hogan quote, because there is a thinking here that there is no "wrong". You are free to do what comes naturally. "Hey, whatever works for you." But violin is not taught that way. You will notice that all the violin players in a line hold and play their instrument in a very specific manner. Anyway, in this thread I am simply stating what I notice as a difference between self-taught bass players and "trained" bass players.
One more thing. I mentioned that I "drag" my right thumb. I actually drag it when I am playing fast. It dampens the two strings "above" the string I am plucking because it gently rests against those two strings. But when I am playing slow, I rest my thumb on one string "above" the string I am plucking. Let's say I am plucking the second string of a five string bass. Playing that note over and over. My right thumb will be resting on the third string and against the fourth string. The fifth string is not touched by my thumb, but it was dampened by my thumb after I played it and as I moved down.
If you practice your scales and arpeggios and fingering exercises slowly by using this plucking hand thumb rest technique to climb up and down the strings like you climb up and down stairs, as you get faster the thumb drag will come naturally and the strings "above" the string you are playing will be dampened as you move down the strings.
If you practice your scales and arpeggios and fingering exercises slowly by fretting the note you are playing just right behind the fret almost on the fret, as you drape your fretting fingers on at least the one string "below" the string you are playing to dampen it, then relax the finger to allow the string to rise, leaving your finger in place for a just a moment to dampen the string, and if needed or if you want placing other fingers on that same string to dampen any harmonic that is created, then raise your fingers no more than 1/4 of an inch above the string, as you get faster fretting down and up you will get good tone and the strings "below" the string you are playing will be dampened as you move up the strings.
Do not get carried away. If you are playing the third string of a six string bass, your fretting finger can rest against the second string and your plucking hand thumb can rest against the fourth string and you do not have to be in contact with the first, fifth, and sixth strings because you already dampened them as your moved up and down away from them when you played them. Do not try to choke every string at all times.
So, what books can you practice from:
Hall Leonard Bass Method Bass Scale Finder
Hall Leonard Bass Method Arpeggio Finder
Bass Fitness
You can get these books from
BassBooks.com, but it would be nice of you to support your local music store. If they don't have a book, ask them to order it for you.
One last thing. When you are practicing scales and arpeggios from those books, you are not learning the names of the notes in those scales and arpeggios, you are practicing the fingering patterns.
You should at least pay attention to where the "root" note is for each of these patterns so you can play these movable patterna at different places around the neck. One step up from that is knowing the locations of all the notes in a pattern by their scale degree number, and the next step up from that is knowing the scale degree number and the name of the note, and then finally, you forget all that stuff and play what you hear in your soul. I am not there.
tim99.
