2 finger exercises

[Drop1]

I can play most anything with 2 fingers, but my 2 finger plucking could use some refinement. I've also noticed that when I use 2 fingers to pluck, I have slightly less control over fretting pressure.

I like exercises that cover multiple things at once.
What I have been doing lately is running scales or playing songs without actually fretting the notes. Instead I just play a ghost note above the fret the note is on.

This seems to be helping quite a bit with the amount of pressure I'm using to fret AND making sure I get a nice solid pluck from both fingers with a similar attack.

Any other exercises for evening the plus from 2 fingers yall would suggest ? I'm especially interested in anything that will aslo help force a lighter touch.

 

[Lobster11]

I also like exercises that accomplish multiple things at once, but sometimes I think it's really important to be focused on just one thing at a time. Maybe the best way to do that is to work on a particular right-hand technique on its own, and separately to work on a particular left-hand thing on its own, and then combine the two into an exercise that practices both.

As for playing with a light touch, what did it for me was adopting the "floating thumb" technique with my plucking hand -- in which you do not anchor your thumb, but rather just lay it across the (lower, unplayed) strings to mute them. Here's a short video that I learned this from:



There are lots of benefits to this technique, but IME a big one is that it actually makes it difficult to "dig in" and encourages a soft touch. (Also, turn up the amp so that a soft touch sounds good, but digging in is too damn loud.)

 

[Drop1]

I also like exercises that accomplish multiple things at once, but sometimes I think it's really important to be focused on just one thing at a time. Maybe the best way to do that is to work on a particular right-hand technique on its own, and separately to work on a particular left-hand thing on its own, and then combine the two into an exercise that practices both.

As for playing with a light touch, what did it for me was adopting the "floating thumb" technique with my plucking hand -- in which you do not anchor your thumb, but rather just lay it across the (lower, unplayed) strings to mute them. Here's a short video that I learned this from:



There are lots of benefits to this technique, but IME a big one is that it actually makes it difficult to "dig in" and encourages a soft touch. (Also, turn up the amp so that a soft touch sounds good, but digging in is too damn loud.)

I'm sorry. I'd sind communicate something properly.
I have no problems playing "light". I can play so quietly you can barely hear me while sitting next to the amp.
When I said light touch, I was strictly speaking about the fretting hand. I have a bad tendency to fret harder than needed when using 2 fingers to pluck. If I only use 1 finger or a pick, everything is fine. The moment I start using a second plucking finger, every note I strike with that finger gets squeezed too hard on the neck.
It's like the more articulation I use on my right hand, the more I lose on the left. Does that make sense ?

 

[Drop1]

Oh, I wanted to add, when I was learning to lighten my actual plucking, setting a crazy low action is what got me there. I don't like fret buzz, so I'd just set my action so low that it forced me to play lightly. That worked great for me when transitioning from years of using pick only to fingers.

 

[El Trueno]

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

 

[Groove Doctor]

I'm sorry. I'd sind communicate something properly.
I have no problems playing "light". I can play so quietly you can barely hear me while sitting next to the amp.
When I said light touch, I was strictly speaking about the fretting hand. I have a bad tendency to fret harder than needed when using 2 fingers to pluck. If I only use 1 finger or a pick, everything is fine. The moment I start using a second plucking finger, every note I strike with that finger gets squeezed too hard on the neck.
It's like the more articulation I use on my right hand, the more I lose on the left. Does that make sense ?

It’s a mind association that needs to be unlearned.

Try to stretch regularly, & do some relaxing breathing exercises. That might be all you need.


If not ….
I’d suggest word patterns (mantra’s) to re-associate your mind. I used the phrase “smooth, like silk” to train my left hand to be relaxed and supple.

You may need to slightly alter your left thumb angle/ position to be more relaxed. My thumb points 45-60° towards the headstock for 90% of my playing. I switch to a more vertical angle for technical passages.

Try pointing the neck of the bass towards the ceiling slightly, and possibly lowering where your bass sits by letting out the strap too. These together might make your hand more relaxed also.

 

[enricogaletta]

It sounds like you just need to recalibrate the effort you use with your left hand, there are some specific exercises to do that and some tricks that can speed up to achieve that goal.
One of them is to use low action as someone else mentioned, it helps. I suggest you do some crossing exercises that combine some left-right hand work.
Check it out and if you need more help just let me know.

 

[Shenron]

I like exercises that cover multiple things at once.

That is often a bad habit, thinking that doing 2 things at once makes you better at both for the price of one (i.e. saving up time).

There are of course different degrees of complexity in exercises, from the simplest ones (isolating one difficulty) to repeating patterns to etudes to full songs. They are all useful. But when you have a single specific mechanic to improve, isolating it from everything else is the best choice.

However, I think your case is already about the combination of two things.

When I said light touch, I was strictly speaking about the fretting hand. I have a bad tendency to fret harder than needed when using 2 fingers to pluck. If I only use 1 finger or a pick, everything is fine. The moment I start using a second plucking finger, every note I strike with that finger gets squeezed too hard on the neck.
It's like the more articulation I use on my right hand, the more I lose on the left. Does that make sense ?

What I think is happening, is that you are just tensing up. This commonly happens when you are pushing your technique, but you said that you are very good at plucking lightly with the right hand, which suggests that you are already relaxed with your right hand: did you mean you can play lightly also when plucking with 2 fingers?

If your right hand tenses up when using 2 fingers, I would remove the left hand from the exercise and just leave it pressing the same fret/note all the time, then focus on increasing relaxation of the right hand plucking 8ths or 16ths notes with alternating fingers, increasing and decreasing speed freely (no metronome).

If only your left hand is tensing up, pick a constant comfortable speed, simplify the left hand work by doing a pattern instead of a scale, first on a single string and on the middle of the neck where it is most comfortable (e.g. a 7-8-10-8 frets pattern). As you play the pattern, shift your attention back and forth between the two hands (i.e. literally look at one and pretend to ignore the other) and see when the other hand learns to work on autopilot with less tension. If everything works fine on one string, try a 4-notes pattern across two adjacent strings. If you have no problem in the middle of the neck, try doing the same at lower frets where stretching naturally increases the tension, and at higher frets when otherwise the cramping spaces get in the way.

 

[Drop1]

That is often a bad habit, thinking that doing 2 things at once makes you better at both for the price of one (i.e. saving up time).

There are of course different degrees of complexity in exercises, from the simplest ones (isolating one difficulty) to repeating patterns to etudes to full songs. They are all useful. But when you have a single specific mechanic to improve, isolating it from everything else is the best choice.

However, I think your case is already about the combination of two things.



What I think is happening, is that you are just tensing up. This commonly happens when you are pushing your technique, but you said that you are very good at plucking lightly with the right hand, which suggests that you are already relaxed with your right hand: did you mean you can play lightly also when plucking with 2 fingers?

If your right hand tenses up when using 2 fingers, I would remove the left hand from the exercise and just leave it pressing the same fret/note all the time, then focus on increasing relaxation of the right hand plucking 8ths or 16ths notes with alternating fingers, increasing and decreasing speed freely (no metronome).

If only your left hand is tensing up, pick a constant comfortable speed, simplify the left hand work by doing a pattern instead of a scale, first on a single string and on the middle of the neck where it is most comfortable (e.g. a 7-8-10-8 frets pattern). As you play the pattern, shift your attention back and forth between the two hands (i.e. literally look at one and pretend to ignore the other) and see when the other hand learns to work on autopilot with less tension. If everything works fine on one string, try a 4-notes pattern across two adjacent strings. If you have no problem in the middle of the neck, try doing the same at lower frets where stretching naturally increases the tension, and at higher frets when otherwise the cramping spaces get in the way.

Yes I can pluck lightly using 2 fingers.
I think yall are on to something with the tension part.

I noticed last night when running cetian scales "up", I will often misplace the middle finger on my fretting hand. I can blaze through scales plucking with a single finger, but when plucking with 2 fingers, my fretting hand starts to stumble a bit, but only in 1 or 2 specific scales on the way up through the scale. Specifically my left middle finger. Something about using the middle fingers on both hands I think is confusing my brain bit.
I'll try yalls suggestions but now that I've zoomed in even further on the problem I think it will work itself out with more practice. I havent been playing with 2 fingers very long at all. Maybe 3 months now.

 

[Element Zero]

Try working on a song that uses lots of alternate fingering. Bang Your Head - Quiet Riot is a good example. Or maybe Rainbow In The Dark - Dio, Countdown to Extinction - Megadeth… fairly straight forward songs that focus on letting the fingers run those 8th notes.

 

[Derek Kay]

My middle finger is longer and made a slightly different sound from the index. I use index and ring fingers together, and index and middle for octaves. Would that approach help you?