Inconsistent Tone Index vs Middle Finger

[azureblue]

1 - no one says you have to play with your index finger, if 2 and 3 work.
2 - callouses - you should work on building callouses until the tone evens out

 

[azureblue]

That angles your wrist at an extreme angle a la Stanley Clarke when he plucks. That might be the short route to carpal tunnel syndrome of your plucking hand.

The tip of my index finger was partially amputated when I was 11 years old. A patch of skin was grafted from my arm. The nail is now hooked from the trauma (looks like a COPD patient's nails) with the cuticle past what's now the tip. So...I can make a pick sound without playing with the pick. However, there's enough pad on that fingertip to give me a softer pluck if needed.

I embrace the difference and utilize the ability to vary my tone.

SC's playing technique comes from being playing the heck out of an upright. And has adapted flamenco guitar type strumming. Perpendicular comes form classical guitar, and it is fine, as SC does, to use whatever works at the time.

 

[TJH3113]

They seem to do the job on your videos! Although what impresses me most is how you learn the parts apparently so easily and quickly.

Thanks, but you're giving me more credit than I am due. I put many hours into, even what might be considered to be, the simpler songs. The more complicated songs will sometimes take weeks to put together. Learning them is one thing, but the real time is spent trying to get them to the point where I can play them straight through without making any glaring errors.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Thanks, but you're giving me more credit than I am due. I put many hours into, even what might be considered to be, the simpler songs. The more complicated songs will sometimes take weeks to put together. Learning them is one thing, but the real time is spent trying to get them to the point where I can play them straight through without making any glaring errors.

Let me have my illusion and hero worship!

 

[g-dude]

Blinkers? Nobody knows what that is here… or their blinker bulbs are all burnt out.

If you have stale fluid, they'll never work properly.

 

[g-dude]

Here in Blighty, blinkers are put on horses to restrict peripheral vision. Perhaps that is what @g-dude meant?

Here we call those blinders.

Which is odd, because the horse isn't actually blind as a result.

 

[Les Fret]

I adopted Pino Palladino's technique as I progressed.... arm and wrist pretty much straight, which means no weird angles trying to contact each string.



Video quality isn't good, but you can get the jist here, especially with the super zoomed in shots. Make sure the pads of your fingers are doing the work... not the tips of your fingers.

That wrist doesn’t look straight at all to me. Nice recording. Love the drumming especially!

 

[JazznFunk]

That wrist doesn’t look straight at all to me. Nice recording. Love the drumming especially!

Bad example of 'straight wrist' there for sure because of the angle of the video, and Pino is sitting. However, his right hand technique is still the same... if you see it at a different angle, especially standing, he still has no extraneous or extreme bend in his wrist. He never attempts to be 'perpendicular' to the strings a-la Stanley Clarke as was previously mentioned.

 

[BassChuck]

I have the same situation, but I like it. I purposely keep the callous on my index finger stronger so the attack is different than my middle finger. That way I have the option of different sounds. (Jamerson only needed one plucking finger)

 

[SteveCS]

...
He never attempts to be 'perpendicular' to the strings a-la Stanley Clarke as was previously mentioned.

I've been 'watching' Pino on and off for decades and my observations are that his fingers are pretty much perpendicular - the parallax plays the usual tricks, but...

 

[JazznFunk]

I've been 'watching' Pino on and off for decades and my observations are that his fingers are pretty much perpendicular - the parallax plays the usual tricks, but...
View attachment 4763491

Not if you look at him playing dead straight on. That photo is still with his body angled back a bit, and the bass pointing more at us, the viewer. If you see Pino dead-on in the multitude of videos available on the net, his hand and arm rests at a natural, unforced angle on the body of the bass, or even floating off the body. He's not unnaturally bending his wrist, and is plucking while keeping his hand and forearm pretty much in the same line. I see the 'fingers are perpendicular' thing you're talking about, but there's still a bit of an angle BACK, plucking with a natural flow.

I mean, this video - even sitting - shows that he plucks with his hand angled a bit more back, without any extraneous bend in his wrist. It also helps to keep his hand ready for his palm muting technique we see so much as well.

 

[MixBass]

I have difficulty getting consistent tone with my index versus middle fingers. Middle finger is a lot thicker. Index is more boney. The middle finger is giving that softer tone expected from fingers. Index is close to a light pick.

Ring finger is thick like the middle and gives a similar tone. However, my ring finger has a lot of side curve and is not as dexterous.

Any advice?

This may already been stated but in any event it is an important factor. The harmonic overtones are different at the point of impact on the string from one spot to the next. Even the smallest distance between fingers such as in the last shot of Pino still make a difference. Even the same finger hitting a slight bit one direction or the other will sound different. I absolutely hear it when recording with phones, live not so much. As often as possible I employ the one finger approach when recording for this reason. Sometimes the difference is effective, sometimes not.

 

[SteveCS]

Not if you look at him playing dead straight on. That photo is still with his body angled back a bit, and the bass pointing more at us, the viewer. If you see Pino dead-on in the multitude of videos available on the net, his hand and arm rests at a natural, unforced angle on the body of the bass, or even floating off the body. He's not unnaturally bending his wrist, and is plucking while keeping his hand and forearm pretty much in the same line. I see the 'fingers are perpendicular' thing you're talking about, but there's still a bit of an angle BACK, plucking with a natural flow.

I mean, this video - even sitting - shows that he plucks with his hand angled a bit more back, without any extraneous bend in his wrist. It also helps to keep his hand ready for his palm muting technique we see so much as well.

Right, but the only bit that matters is the path followed by the tip as it engages engages with the string, which is pretty much perpendicular. Almost impossible to see in static images, but look at the 'hat' video, around 00:43 - 00:47 and again 01:46 - 01:49, where you can see he is playing over the fingerboard and watch the paths of the fingertips. See how his entire hand moves to make the stroke - like a combined pluck and strum - which draws the fingertip along a perpendicular path across the string. But I agree with you here - if you want a perpendicular approach with an anchored hand where you only move your fingers then you have to do the Stanley thing, which I am more than happy to leave to Stanley!!

The thing to remember with Pino is that his hands are massive and his fingers are extraordinarily long. His technique looks effortless because no single knuckle or joint is moving very much yet there is a huge amount of power and control due to the sheer size of everything. I met him in 1987/8 and his hand almost swallowed mine whole when we shook!