Cannot play fast and fluid...

[dpbass66]

if you watch guys who can play fast and fluid you might observe that most of their articulation of notes comes from the LEFT hand not the right hand. I only recently noticed this. watch Oteil Burbridge, Victor, Hadrian....etc....they arent necessarily making a decisive pluck of each note, but rather activating the string for fingering whatever tone (or note, or notes) they want. So what I am suggesting is that it is more like what horn players do, they "slur" notes in fast runs, they dont "tongue" each note: one breath many notes.

Other things to remember are to be very relaxed and have excellent technique. I've also learned that fluidity comes from knowing WHAT you intend on playing. So, just random notes I think confounds the connection between the head and the hands. Rather, if you know where those hands are going, you will be more fluid.

Finally, remember, fast playing (speed) for speed's sake is not music, it is fingerboard gymnastics. Priority should be with musicianship.

 

[tonynoriega]

Some of my most significant gains in fluidity and speed have come from near forced situations. I can recall several instances where I had practiced a song, or a passage of a song, many times over in advance of an important gig, but was not completely happy with my competence going into the venue.

I would arrive and think to myself "...am I going to be able to pull this off?," but when it came down to the actual playing of it in front of an audience, I pulled it off! My thought process was "damn, I've GOT to do this right or I'm going to look (sound) lousy" and that's what ultimately carried it through.

It's still worthy of mentioning the point that first and foremost you must practice, practice, practice.

Writing the above brought a favorite quote to mind.

"Some people are born into mediocrity, while others have mediocrity thrust upon them, and then there are those like me that strive for a lifetime to achieve mediocrity."

 

[Buxtehude]

I'm starting to get really discouraged here.. When playing fingerstyle.. i cannot play fast and fluid at all...

i cant even play moderate speed...

It feels like my fingers cant move fast and the friction between the strings is high like not smooth....

I try to play relaxed with least effort...

Am i expending too my energy is my motion not economical?

I play like standard fingerstyle...... My technique seems fine.. though...

I see guys like hadrien feraud and janek play fast they look so smooth and have amazing tone and make it look so easy

Dude, you have a technical problem. You should take your problem to a bass teacher even if just for one lesson because I'm sure you're doing something fundamentally wrong. As a teacher I have noticed that some self taught students were not pushing their finger through to be stopped by the string behind it. i.e. they were plucking up instead of pushing through. This results in slow speed. I think that this is your problem but can't be sure. Either go to a teacher to get them to look at your right hand or post a video of you playing and send me a message. This is not your fault but am pretty sure you are doing something wrong if you've worked this hard for minimal improvement.

 

[Wyrm74]

I'm not particularly fast either. That used to bother me and then I realized...I don't really ever actually NEED to be! The speed I am competent at has carried me through hundreds of gigs, and I just had to get comfortable with that.

Making it "look easy" though, there I can help...If you want your playing to "look easy" too, then practice in front of a mirror. That perspective changed my playing quite a bit! You'll probably be surprised at how sloppy you look when you play, I know I sure was! So, I focused on making it "look easy".

By the time I achieved making it look easy, guess what? It WAS easy!

Good luck, and never give up. You can do it!

 

[Devaghost]

I see guys like hadrien feraud and janek play fast they look so smooth and have amazing tone and make it look so easy

I'm gonna guess that you're trying to do a lot more with your right hand than you have to (they're not plucking every note - not even close).

Try playing the lines with just your left hand. Work on hammers and pulls. Pluck only the notes you have to. Faster. Smoother. Easier.

Oh, and btw, don't get discouraged that you can't play like Feraud. If all of us who can't play like him got discouraged, this place would be empty.

 

[Margus Alviste]

My friend a world class bass player from Senegal usually takes one day per technique. He starts really slowly and in the end of the day (well, his days last 15 and more hours) he can play this stuff extremely fast. Then the next day the next technique. And so on.

I found that it helps to become more fast if you start with really slow tempo like 60bpm or even less. I usually try to FEEL every note. After playing 4-5 hours it starts to feel very very natural. The bass becomes like a part of my body. The next day my fingers find the notes so quickly that I wonder myself.
The other good "trick" is to record yourself every time you play. And don't just practice! Play music. Better with some other musicians or prerecorded parts/tracks.

 

[CostaBass]

Stop posting, start playing.

 

[Margus Alviste]

Stop posting, start playing.

Wow, that's a good idea!

 

[T.A.P Bass]

Cire, I felt the same way when I made the initial switch from pick to fingers. Now, when I have to use a pick it feels so alien to me.... I'm not the best at finger style by any means, but over time I have built up the needed muscle strength to do what I need to do and not have it sound like complete junk. I just got done doing some tracking of my bands material, I never realized that I play with my fingers differently when it comes to playing with the band (2, sometimes 3 fingers) and when I was tracking my lines ( 1 finger)... I realized that when I play with more than one finger in a live context, my attack isn't even and I tend to dig in way more than when I play with only one finger. One of my guitarists actually commented on it, and in a typical guitarist fashion to boot... But after listening to how my tracks sounded, he quickly retracted his comment..

What I'm trying to say is what others have posted before. Play with a metronome to build your technique, it will come and it will take some time, we don't all learn things the same way. Be patient, and more importantly don't let it get your frustrated either. More importantly, play to your strengths, but work on your weaknesses too... I'm always trying to write basslines that are just outside of my comfort zone and my playing level, always try to push yourself but try to do it more in a unconscious level.

I hope any of this helps and sorry for being so long winded..

 

[MrLenny1]

Play sales with the cycle of 4th's nice and slow, use a metronome to track your progress and remember that it takes a lot of time & work to play fast.

 

[Mr wiggl3s]

If you need techniques on increasing finger speed, look at the demystifying metal thread

 

[anonymous122511]

... should i just keep playing slow..??

Maybe....but that probably isn't the whole solution. Recently I watched a video of a clinic with the great jazz pianist Hal Galper where he asked the students if they thought they could play what they were hearing in their heads. They all said they couldn't play what they heard in their heads. Hal then tells them they all are playing exactly what they're able to hear. You may not be having physical technique issues as much as listening issues. Certainly isn't going to hurt you to explore this.