Drilling the Major Scale

[Beginner Craig]

Hi all. Me again ...

Starting to drill the major scale. Struggling with the 1 finger per fret when further up the fretboard. Do you guys with smaller fingers use a sort of micro shuffle. If Try with 1 finger per fret my finger are a mess and very sloppy. If is worth trying to nail the 1 per fret method. Will this help me in the future or is a micro shuffle ok and atill make me progress?

thanks

Thanks

 

[Mushroo]

Welcome, Craig!

The vast majority of bass players do NOT use the "one finger per fret" system. It is by no means a requirement to becoming a successful bass player. If you have to reposition your hand between notes, that is perfectly okay (and how most people play).

I would encourage you to learn some fun and easy bass lines to your favorite songs. This will give you a feeling of accomplishment and forward progress. Many famous bass lines require only 1 or 2 fingers on your left hand. Watch your favorite bass players on YouTube and study their moves.

Over time you will get better at using more of your fingers. Most pros use at least 3 left hand fingers to fret the notes. A few even use all 4. But there is no rush for you, a beginner, to get there.

Have you found a good teacher yet?

 

[FatStringer52]

Don't try to stretch to make the OFPF work. You'll only do more harm than good. Wherever your fingers go your hand should go along on the journey. This is an area where proper fretting hand technique, including how you position and hold the thumb on the back of the neck, must be learned. And I echo @Mushroo, find yourself a good instructor (if only for a lesson or two), nothing beats having someone there to guide you along. If you're unable to do that, watch a lot of the YT videos on fretting hand technique.

*Edit - Forgot to add, up the fingerboard is higher in pitch (towards the body), down the fingerboard is lower in pitch (towards the headstock).

 

[Malcolm35]

Try post # 4 in this string. How to get started?

Read the whole string there is some good information there.

Good luck.

 

[Beginner Craig]

Yeah planning on getting afew lessons, more just to keep me right. I’m following fender play and watching some youtube vids. Thanks. This forum is full of very good info, glad to be part of it

 

[tshapiro]

I'm a pro player and I subscribe to doing whatever puts your hands in the strongest position. I honestly feel the best way is to NOT think about fingering - think about the notes. With this, your hands will figure out the best way. And, they will get better and more efficient over time. The more you think about it, the more you hold your hands back from finding their way.

For all I know this approach whacked, but, it has worked wonders for me learning bass, guitar, drums, piano and golf - the first 3 I do professionally.

 

[Beginner Craig]

I'm a pro player and I subscribe to doing whatever puts your hands in the strongest position. I honestly feel the best way is to NOT think about fingering - think about the notes. With this, your hands will figure out the best way. And, they will get better and more efficient over time. The more you think about it, the more you hold your hands back from finding their way.

For all I know this approach whacked, but, it has worked wonders for me learning bass, guitar, drums, piano and golf - the first 3 I do professionally.

yeah makes sense mate. Thanks

 

[Tottery]

Nothing is wrong with shifting a little to help you be comfortable. It beats injury.

Not to overwhelm you, but I would like to give a little advice about learning the Major scale; Make sure you can not only play the moveable shape, but learn to play the entire scale on 1 string as well. Follow the W-W-H-W-W-W-H approach and it will be easy. Call out the name of each note you play(even if it takes you awhile). Do this for all 4 strings in various keys. This will help you out a lot in the future, if you aren't already practicing it that way.

 

[BassPilot]

Getting a teacher that knows how to teach (including watching and listening to the student) is the best thing you can do for your playing at this point.
Good technique is imperative to being efficient and effective. And building good technique now will only help you going forward.
Years ago I had a great teacher that would not put up with bad technique. He drilled it into my head and fingers and I am a better player for it!

 

[Mushroo]

Good technique is imperative to being efficient and effective.

The problem with this statement is that there's no consensus what "good technique" actually means. Who gets to decide what is "good technique" vs "bad technique"?

This is why I always recommend that beginners study YouTube videos of successful players. Seeing all the different paths to success can be a really valuable lesson to beginners. I would argue that (just to pick a few random examples) John Entwistle, Paul McCartney, Les Claypool, and Geddy Lee all have "good technique" (even though they are all very different from each other).

 

[mambo4]

the closest thing to consensus about technique is that one should avoid what causes undue stress and injury.
Before obsessing about a specific fingering, I recommend watching the Holy Trinity of Beginner Bass Technique videos.

 

[BassChuck]

Good technique is getting to the right note at the right time (musicianship is know what that right time is). I use OFPF method. It works OK for me (I only have average size hands) when I play fretted bass, but when I play fretless I have to make some micro shifts the closer I get to the headstock. I can play in tune just fine, but within the first 3 frets I couldn't hold a double stop 5th in tune... but then, it just doesn't come up all that much.
Why wouldn't I shift to DB fingering on the low end of the board? (a good number of players do) I prefer to remain constant in my finger patterns. My choice, I don't teach bass and I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone. It's just an option.
One of the beautiful things about EB is the lack of universal pedagogy. You get to design your own technique. And therefore the first sentence.

 

[Beginner Craig]

Good technique is getting to the right note at the right time (musicianship is know what that right time is). I use OFPF method. It works OK for me (I only have average size hands) when I play fretted bass, but when I play fretless I have to make some micro shifts the closer I get to the headstock. I can play in tune just fine, but within the first 3 frets I couldn't hold a double stop 5th in tune... but then, it just doesn't come up all that much.
Why wouldn't I shift to DB fingering on the low end of the board? (a good number of players do) I prefer to remain constant in my finger patterns. My choice, I don't teach bass and I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone. It's just an option.
One of the beautiful things about EB is the lack of universal pedagogy. You get to design your own technique. And therefore the first sentence.

what is DB fingering?

 

[jallenbass]

what is DB fingering?

Double Bass (Upright)

 

[Wasnex]

Hi all. Me again ...

Starting to drill the major scale. Struggling with the 1 finger per fret when further up the fretboard. Do you guys with smaller fingers use a sort of micro shuffle. If Try with 1 finger per fret my finger are a mess and very sloppy. If is worth trying to nail the 1 per fret method. Will this help me in the future or is a micro shuffle ok and atill make me progress?

thanks

Thanks

@honeyiscool describes a five fret box with the fingers grouped either 123 or 234...you avoid using 1234 to prevent hyper extending the hand. See this post: Am I not built right to play Bass?

There is quite a bit of related dialogue with honeyiscool throughout the rest of the page if you are curious. I found it interesting how she developed the fingering system from her foundation on piano. Also she comes up with efficient fingering patterns that I would not think of.

IMHO, OFPF is extremely beneficial, but only if you can use it without risk of injury. I struggle with certain types of repetitive minor patterns when I am playing low on the B string, especially if I need to play 5ths, 6ths, and octaves. Normally when my hand does not work well with OFPF I revert back to Simandl (1,2,4) fingering.

Some players use a six fret box with OFPF. Micro-shifts are used to reach up or down a half step. Basically it's a 4 fret box +/- 1 fret when you throw in a micro-shift.