How fast should a competent bass player be able to play sixteenth notes

[funkymonk13]

Interesting, i thought there would be a sorta general consensus. I remember reading a few threads on the same subject here where people where saying they could do straight 16ths at 140+bpm. I was a little worried but I guess for practical stuff you dont really need to be that fast. Still, trying to work on getting faster; i feel like if you can do straight 16s at 140, you're gonna be really comfortable at 110.

124 bpm, I think.... with a pick, though:

Yup, thats with a pick. I think this is fingerstyle @ ~115bpm

IT's the spaces between the notes that makes it hard.

You know it always blows my mind that those funk dudes will be playing fast and play those syncopated 16ths; then theres rakes or rests everywhere in between. I can kinda memorize the licks but trying to count that out at speed and coming in on the "e" of the third beat or something is mindblowing.

 

[Chrisk-K]

If you can play as fast as Billy Sheehan, no one will criticize your lack of speed.

 

[csc2048b]

To answer more directly:
"What is Hip " is variously reported at 105 -110 bpm, and Rocco Prestia is arguably competent.

punishingly fast! and i think i like this drummer more than garibaldi.

 

[Bunnoodle]

This might be too fast for any actual use.

This guys technique is completely different because he uses a drum technique to strike the strings. He does not play like a conventional bassist. (in his other videos) like this

 

[bassbully]

I just thank God I don’t have to ever play 16th notes.

 

[popcat]

This might be too fast for any actual use.

Fast, but kind of shallow... like a stone skipping across the water.

 

[IamGroot]

Billy Sheehan' speed is partially attributable to using 3 fingers on his right hand. There was a bass player with Zawinal who used 4. His father was a great jazz player. Tribal Tech guys used to put a ramp under the strings to speed up plucking.

Jaco used only two fingers anchored by that double jointed thumb. He was as fast as anybody.

James jamerson used only one finger- the hook.

 

[IamGroot]

Billy Sheehan uses 3 fingers as does the Tribal Tech bass player Gary Willis. Matthew Garrison ( zawinul uses 4 fingers. Gary and Matt use wooden ramps under the strings.

Jaco used only 2 fingers anchored by a double jointed thumb and he was as fast as anybody.

James Jamerson used only one finger... the hook.

 

[Thumpin6string]

I believe it is 1896.5BPM. I'm lucky if I can play 1/8 notes.

 

[SteveCS]

This might be too fast for any actual use.

Speechless, because the only things I can think to say would get me banned...

 

[bruno40gr]

Rocco is probably one of the best performances on that video, and the camera guys didn't get it!

Camera men are genetically conditioned to ignore bassists.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Lot of good jokes here ... i'll give you a more technical judgement parameter: as fast as to be able to play Come On Come Over in a satisfactory manner ... this has always been my paramount and i was better at it 10 years ago ... i decided later that playing bass was much more than managing 16th notes

 

[Andy Daventry]

Fast bass playing? "It's not that it's done well that excites praise, but that it's done at all...."

 

[edbass1]

In all serious, i'd say about 120 is getting pretty far up there. Past 120 is getting into the territory of technique olymips (for example, teen town is 130something).

You definitely want to be at 100 or so including string skipping patterns. 120 is a good goal IMO for fluid playing of your typical lines, after some warm up.

For context, I have spent a few years of jazz school with my instructor drilling me with a lot of 16th note metronome routines, with various patterns of string skipping. What I like to do (when i'm practicing it) is switch on the metronome, get really really settled on a single string 16th note rhythm, and once i'm really feeling the groove I will start to introduce string skipping, increasing the complexity. The aim is to first perfect your tone and consistency on one string, and then maintain the same tone and consistency when string skipping - basically, the listening experience of your playing should not be affected by the technical factor of your string skipping.

For about 2 years I would do an hour of this a day in the morning, starting at 90 bpm and going to 120. Past 120 is kind of silly fast and i'd just go there for sport but not really get that musical at that speed.

 

[cnltb]

faster than the lead guitarist.

 

[cnltb]

This might be too fast for any actual use.

you mean too sloppy. Yes?

 

[pcake]

i used to play death metal and other super fast stuff, but it probably helped that i used three fingers rather than two fingers - i couldn't have gone as fast with two fingers.

btw, for me, building up speed took time and practice. i had been working my way up for a while when i auditioned for a punk band, and i loved their music but just wasn't fast enough, and that really made me want to speed up, so i practiced like crazy. these days i have finger, hand and wrist issues, and can't play at half the speed i did back in the '90s and early 2000s.

 

[Mik75]

Well, a good and healthy technique is an important part of playing an instrument. If you want to be versatile in your playing, and you want to be able to play to the most common styles while still having a bit of headroom (because one tends to sound sloppy and strained when playing at or around the technical limits), 120 bpm is the tempo at which you still should be feeling comfortable while playing 16th lines. (using the index and middle finger)
For (much) faster stuff, I’d personally take the pick. Playing with the pick definitely is an important part of bass playing technique. It belongs into everyone’s bag of tricks. ;-) It produces an unique, distinctive sound, and one gets often asked by producers to play with a pick, when it comes to recording.

 

[billinbrasil]

I can play the 162 bpm pseudo-triplets of "The Trooper" all day long.
However, the 113 bpm string jumping octave runs of "The Immigrant Song" still give me fits to play cleanly.....

 

[IamGroot]

You shouldn't play any faster than the wavelength of the note. As a matter of fact, don't even get close to that. If you do, what you hear wont be musical.

The freq. of a bass B string is 30 Hz = 1800 BPM. Per information theory, you would need to double that as a min to affect the sound. So, 3600 bpm would be deaf metal. The songs would be real short and played by robotic hands.