Changing plucking technique

[WayneS]

Ah... for years I have played hard. Really dug in.

Now I'm finding it impossible to play lightly.
I seem to have plateau'd on speed. I think though, if I played lighter, I could play faster.

So how do I undo something thats ingrained in the muscles in my hand and fingers?

I play with the floating thumb technique. My strokes tend to go towards the guitar. This leads to alot of fretboard clank, which I like but I'd like to be able to control it better.

Any tips?

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

A Ramp may help you dig in less. May want to check out getting a ramp of some kind...

 

[TOOL460002]

agreed that a ramp could be useful. i mean, even if you play using the same amount of force as you are now, itll lighten it up a bit. are you playing through the string, as in, your down stroke holds the string all the way down to the pick guard, and then it pops back up? thatd be playing really, really hard.

however, you are just better off starting from scratch and make sure you dont play so hard or follow through so much. your fingers need to learn to pull back after you hit the string. you will definitely be able to go faster, if thats really what youre after, though a light touch is very useful.

 

[XylemBassGuitar]

So how do I undo something thats ingrained in the muscles in my hand and fingers?

That's one of the problems with being human: your muscles and mind will learn anything, even if it is wrong or a bad habit. A year or so after I started playing I had to un-learn a few bad habits that I had acquired. More than anything, it just takes a lot of time and practice to get rid of the habits you don't want.

Even though it feels like you're getting nowhere when un-learning bad habits, you are beginning to correct them just by trying. Try to remember how ungainly and funny the bass felt when you first started playing it. Now remind yourself that un-learning your bad habits is very similar to learning the instrument for the first time.

I hear what you're saying about the difficulty of having a subtle technique though. I just finished building a bass that can get way low action (which is what the client wants), like .05" at the 12th fret. I've been testing it out before I send it off to Chicago and I keep having to ease up on my attack.

 

[WayneS]

Thanks for the replies guys. Good info here.

 

[makkE]

I started working on a lighter touch myself.

What helps me is playing with headphones and turn up really loud, so I have to play lighter or else it will hurt my ears and distort. I also have a drum machine in the mix, and I turn it down, so I have to keep the bass level low if I still want to hear it properly.

 

[mambo4]

like overcoming left hand "death grip" it's a matter of practice and awareness.
Sadly in a live situation your monitoring is usually suboptimal, so just going by ears alone ins unreliable: you must develop a muscle memory "feel" for it.

I like to mentally assign a number to my dynamics : 1=soft, 2= regular, 3=heavy. I'll often practice same passage at all 3 levels to get a feel for it.
As I play I force my awareness to "check in" and assess what level I'm at, and weigh it against where I ought to be to serve the music.
It becomes habitual eventually, but at first you have to force a conscious effort to assess how hard you're playing.
(and of course there's more than 3 levels...but its a good starting point )

Another thing that increases my "plucking awareness" for me is varying my right hand position between neck and bridge,
plucking outside of my habitual spot for some reason makes me pay more attention to all that my Right hand is doing...