Advice on developing a lighter right hand technique?

[BurningSkies]

Things that helped me work a lighter right hand action with more efficient finger movement:

-Practice with a very low action.
-Find a bass with a fairly narrow string spacing (this helped me work on my control.
-Practice with your treble turned up...so you can hear every time you mis-hit, hit too hard, etc. It doesn't have to sound pretty, just honest.
-Practice with headphones. You'll hear yourself very well and with good detail...you won't be tempted to hit too hard, and you'll be able to hear every painful mistake clearly.

 

[Matthew_84]

Hey Fergie,

I just have a question regarding the technique that you showed me. It seems like there's a very fine line (for me) between plucking from the lower side of the string and pushing your fingers through, which at first caught my nails most of the time (I had to do a serious filing job there), or kind of popping the string from the underside. You know what, I'll make a graph below and if you could tell me about where I should be plucking the string that would help me out a lot...

So the red circle is the string. 12 o'clock is the top of the string (closest side to my face), 3 o'clock is the under-side of the string (closest to the pick-up), 6 o'clock is the lowest part of the string (closest to the floor), and 9 o'clock is the front of the string.

I tend to hit the string at about 4:30, which causes me to pop the string and pull it. I don't think this is correct, and I feel like I should be plucking the string at 6 o'clock. But this technique is pretty foreign to me and hitting the string at 6 o'clock seems difficult to pull off all of the time (it's easier to hit it at 4:30, except it's not as fluid since I'm pulling the strings) . But I think this is where I should be aiming for, am I correct in that I should be plucking the string at 6 o'clock?

Thanks

 

[BassAsAHobby]

I want to throw my 2 cents in. Try this. Practice without an amp on. Play the normal stuff you play, but here is the thing...you're trying to barely hear the sound, meaning...you are getting a lighter touch. After a while you will notice a difference. Then you turn the amp up and you wont hear the clacking noise as you pluck. My first huge influnce was Steve Harris and I was always clacking the strings. But by using the technique I just mentioned, I have a super light touch and actually gained speed plucking wise.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

Thanks a lot for that Fergie. I have seen this technique mentioned and I have tried it out once or twice, but I didn't see the importance of not playing with the big knuckle. I'd keep about the same arch described in the video in my other knuckles, but I'd still move the big knuckle just as much as I do when my fingers are relatively straight. Which gave me about the same amount of movement in the fingers and because of that, and the fact that I wasn't used to it, caused me to just play with the big knuckles and my fingers mostly straight, like I've always done.

Well, this morning I decided that I'm going to play with a three-finger technique and that I'm going to spend the next month or two working on nothing else until it becomes natural to me, and I will use it all of the time. But since I'm working at 40BPM again and drastically changing my technique. It is probably a good time to incorporate this in as well.

So far, just from sitting here and trying it out in mid-air, the action of moving only my second knuckle and keeping the big knuckle steady is a really difficult and odd motion for the fingers, but I'm going to go back to my bass now and try it out for the next little while. I grabbed onto the 3-finger technique pretty quickly, hopefully this will be the same.

Thanks again

It takes years to get a new playing technique/ideas down, but slowly does it. you will get good results fairly quickly, but not full results. this will make you compare the two, make you question the amount of work you do for little if not a worse result. When rationalized the decision may be not to carry on because the the way you play is good enough."
But what you are comparing is an incomplete technique against a tried and trusted one, you are not comparing the finished results of a new idea/technique with the old.

What i talk about is a classical fingerstyle. It is the same for bass as it is for guitar except we don't require the thumb (but can choose it if you want). There are many choices of fingers to use (that includes using the thumb), but what it does in all of them by virtue of the technique, is access to the instrument ( the forearm runs along the front of the bass more from the side) is that the wrist and forearm remains straighter than conventional "over the top" technique that allows the wrist to arch.
Now many player have many styles and an arch wrist may not be a problem for many, each to there own, but there are good and bad positions we can use, and all i do is highlight these to make others aware or offer some ideas to incorporate.....nothing is written in stone...well not on the web anyway, i may consider things different in a one to one situation, but not on a forum.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

Hey Fergie,

I just have a question regarding the technique that you showed me. It seems like there's a very fine line (for me) between plucking from the lower side of the string and pushing your fingers through, which at first caught my nails most of the time (I had to do a serious filing job there), or kind of popping the string from the underside. You know what, I'll make a graph below and if you could tell me about where I should be plucking the string that would help me out a lot...

So the red circle is the string. 12 o'clock is the top of the string (closest side to my face), 3 o'clock is the under-side of the string (closest to the pick-up), 6 o'clock is the lowest part of the string (closest to the floor), and 9 o'clock is the front of the string.

I tend to hit the string at about 4:30, which causes me to pop the string and pull it. I don't think this is correct, and I feel like I should be plucking the string at 6 o'clock. But this technique is pretty foreign to me and hitting the string at 6 o'clock seems difficult to pull off all of the time (it's easier to hit it at 4:30, except it's not as fluid since I'm pulling the strings) . But I think this is where I should be aiming for, am I correct in that I should be plucking the string at 6 o'clock?

Thanks

Great visual the clock face, anywhere between 4 and 6 is a good position. The video was an exaggeration of what happens to highlight what to be aware of.

Influences on your personal choice will be fingertips shape,
some players will have high nailsbeds so once trimmed the angle will help determine the angle.
Fingerpad shape, some players will have a round pad some a flat, some a soft, some a hard, the pad is the only contact we want so it is important to look after them.

To highlight the action, have your palm face you fingers straight up. Now if you bend from the large knuckles on the back of the hand, the fingers saty pretty much in there own lengths. but if you bend from the finger knuckles the fingertips become even fairly quickly.
So what you want is is the finger knuckles to make the shape for plucking, and the large knuckle to place it in position. After this the large knuckle does not get involved other than reacting to the movement of the fingers....the large knuckle does not get involved in creating movement. When it does its inconsistancy changes the fingertips interaction with the strings, it may put the tips deeper in, or more under etc. What we look for is less moving parts in the finger use.

So the hand knuckle sets it and the finger knuckle controls the movement, so in effect it is one movement from the finger knuckle to develop and control rather than many moving parts. Incorporate that with a floating thunb and the forearm will postion the hand to allow the fingers to play from the same position everytime, so consistancy in the technique can become fluid and smooth.

Hope that answers your question, or maybe raised another one, either way let me know and i will try and help again.
Questions are good, especially here where no one can get face to face to clear up such matters with a simple demo.

 

[Matthew_84]

Yeah that helped me out a lot. I know exactly what you are talking about. I was trying so hard to not move the big (hand) knuckle at all, but found it nearly impossible. What I found, is basically what you said: the finger knuckle will do the plucking movement where as the hand knuckle will place it in position (the hand knuckle will move down a bit as I pluck, and will move back up to its "at rest" position).

So far this is a difficult technique to grasp (since I've been playing with a completely different technique for about 4 years), but I do already see its advantages. I can get a much more consistent sound between the three fingers, my fingers hardly move, and I can tell that once I'm used to it then I'll be able to play much quicker. Heck, even now, when I'm in a decent groove playing 1/16ths @ 40 BPM that I have to slow my fingers down from what they're used to doing.

I just have to get used to it, and find that sweat spot for my fingers to pluck and get that consistent. Since I'm also learning a three-finger technique, I'll soon progress into fretting notes on one string, and then move to jumping to two strings, and then chords and scales, and I'll be on my way. It will take me a while to get used to, but I can already see that it will make me a much better player in time.

Thanks a lot for showing me this technique Fergie and answering my questions. I really do appreciate it.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

Yeah that helped me out a lot. I know exactly what you are talking about. I was trying so hard to not move the big (hand) knuckle at all, but found it nearly impossible. What I found, is basically what you said: the finger knuckle will do the plucking movement where as the hand knuckle will place it in position (the hand knuckle will move down a bit as I pluck, and will move back up to its "at rest" position).

So far this is a difficult technique to grasp (since I've been playing with a completely different technique for about 4 years), but I do already see its advantages. I can get a much more consistent sound between the three fingers, my fingers hardly move, and I can tell that once I'm used to it then I'll be able to play much quicker. Heck, even now, when I'm in a decent groove playing 1/16ths @ 40 BPM that I have to slow my fingers down from what they're used to doing.

I just have to get used to it, and find that sweat spot for my fingers to pluck and get that consistent. Since I'm also learning a three-finger technique, I'll soon progress into fretting notes on one string, and then move to jumping to two strings, and then chords and scales, and I'll be on my way. It will take me a while to get used to, but I can already see that it will make me a much better player in time.

Thanks a lot for showing me this technique Fergie and answering my questions. I really do appreciate it.

No problems, one more thing i file my nails rather than cut them. I pay special attention to the edges of the nail to ensure that there is nothing to catch the string there. You can also file the pads and the skin around the nail....a bit like a safe cracker LOL.