Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Galloping motion
- Thread starter icarus88
- Start date
Ring, middle, index. I can barely do 150 with 2 fingers, lots quicker with 3.
There is a 16% difference in speed between 150 and 174, the difference is small, the difficulty is big, I am now tickling the strings
I know this struggle. Try using your top knuckle and just skin the string with your finger on the way by. Its a different feel for sure. Also consider floatiing your wrist and stay loose.This with mucho gain, practice you’ll get there.
I have also tried 3 fingers and his lines are much easier.
I have also tried 3 fingers and his lines are much easier.
Last edited:
I straightened my fingers, I use the floating thumb technique, the wrist is fixed to the body, I use 2 fingers (more controlled than 3 fingers), i touch strings lightly,darn, I'm stuck at 150
Last edited:
I find I am much less accurate and worst timing with 3 fingers. Lighter touch was the key to building my speed.
Looks to be just using the natural power of his middle finger to accent the one and three. Right hand is anchored to the body when he's sitting down.
Take it slow and concentrate on getting a clean sound. Only bump the tempo once you sound awesome on the old one. You'll never sound amazingly fast to yourself. But you'll be racking the big numbers soon enough. You've heard it a million times because it works.
3 finger technique can give a boost to your gallop. Different story when you try to play melodies with it.
I generally use flats, they do tend to be stickier I think and if you have high tension, they do lend to playing fast. Not surprisingly, the best flats to gallop are probably the Roto Steve Harris ones. Ultra high tension.
Also, watching that video, I don't think he is really gaining any speed from the wrist action. If anything, it would lead to inconsistent striking of the strings and unwanted volume spikes.
I'm not convinced by that video. For one thing, that hand movement looks suspicious to me - it is spurious and out of control. It only happens when the tempo gets higher. At lower tempo, it isn't there, which suggests that the slow-tempo technique isn't scalable and is therefore, IMHO, flawed. YMMV.
I don’t think it has anything to do with his wrist other than his own natural movement and comfort. You might also notice his pocket is GONE at those higher speeds.
Best way to do this is pick some repertoire and practice it until perfect with a click or metronome, then increase a couple of clicks in speed and repeat. You get there before you know it.
Seems to me that the wrist movement is just keeping his wrist loose, there's no other benefit to technique that I can see. In fact, it's making him sloppier. In the old days when I was learning I'd shake my hand a little from time to time (in between notes) to keep it loose, looks like he's incorporated that into his playing, at the expense of accuracy/clean playing. That's not a trade off that I would make, but to each their own.
Also, if you notice, in many places he's not really galloping and he's missing notes. I wouldn't pay much attention to copping his technique, like others have said, practice slower speeds until you are solid, then increase speed and repeat.
I don't mean to bag on the guy or anything, especially since he can't respond, so I don't mean it like that at all, just saying what I observe.
Also, if you notice, in many places he's not really galloping and he's missing notes. I wouldn't pay much attention to copping his technique, like others have said, practice slower speeds until you are solid, then increase speed and repeat.
I don't mean to bag on the guy or anything, especially since he can't respond, so I don't mean it like that at all, just saying what I observe.
Last edited:
Also, just sayin' Steve Harris has repeatedly told interviewers that any other player would blow the speakers with his bass due to how lightly he actually hits the strings.
I can only gallop if I alternate my fingers . .
index - middle - index
middle - index - middle
index - middle - index
middle - index - middle
I was trying to learn Iron Maiden/ Stranger In A Strange Land when I discovered that. Also, it helps if I keep my fingers so close together that they slightly rub against each other (only when I'm doing the galloping thing. The rest of the time I play normal.) Also, I keep my thumb on the top of the neck pickup (Jazz bass)
index - middle - index
middle - index - middle
index - middle - index
middle - index - middle
I was trying to learn Iron Maiden/ Stranger In A Strange Land when I discovered that. Also, it helps if I keep my fingers so close together that they slightly rub against each other (only when I'm doing the galloping thing. The rest of the time I play normal.) Also, I keep my thumb on the top of the neck pickup (Jazz bass)
I find that I tend to do this as well, P or J. It might be old habits from when I first learned Iron Maiden tunes many many years ago.
2 or 3 fingers, I wouldn't take advice from that SLOPPY PLAYED video, sorry. I'd go more like this...
I like to copy Mr. Harris's floating thumb technique. I don't play a lot of hard rock. And I used to think it looked really strange. But dang I like the way it feels. Thumb right down near the action means plucking nearly vertical. Stops me digging in so much. Much easier to feel where the string I want is. Took a minute to learn. But totally worth it.
