Stanley Sheldon, a lesson in "economy of motion"

[Matthew_84]

Hey everyone,

I just got home from a 3 hour long Peter Frampton set and it was AMAZING! Though I love and listen to many classic rock bands, I never really got into Frampton all of that much, other than "I Love Your Way" and I was always amazed with him talking through his guitar in "Do You Feel Like We Do". But I must say that he blew me away. I will be buying some albums from him very shortly.

Anyways, the whole time, I was watching his bassist Stanley Sheldon who actually played on Frampton Comes Alive 35 years ago, and many other Frampton albums.

And the thing that kept popping into my mind was that it looked liked his hands weren't moving at all, except for up and down the fretboard. I noticed that he only used his index and middle on his right hand and that the other two fingers were curled up in a fist, which prevents his other fingers from flicking out of control, and wasting energy. His index and middle fingers hardly looked like the were striking the strings, and his tone was pretty aggressive, though he was playing with either a Music Man or a Warwick (I've heard that active basses make it easier to play with a feather light touch and still get an aggressive tone). But it was just so different than my plucking technique. I'd say that each of my downstrokes is about 1.5" long during fast runs, whereas his was probably half of that, maybe less.

And his fretting hand was steady as a rock. His fingers hovered right above the strings and he pressed down whenever he needed them to. I don't play like this at all. If I'm not using my pinky, for example, it tucks itself underneath the neck even when I try to keep it above the strings. My fretting technique is very animated and exaggerated. Lots of big, obvious movements there, and the majority of it is unnecessary.

I realized that playing the way he does drastically reduces the amount of energy needed and also allows to be quicker and more precise. I've always known this to be important and it's nothing new to me, but I don't think I really realized it until I saw how easy a seasoned pro made it look.

Though you may have not learned much by this thread. It may be a good reminder to think about how much your hands are working when they don't need to be... Plus it's always good to give respect to great bassists when respect is due.

Thanks,

Matt