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Left hand dexterity

#7
Whatever you are playing, play it as slow as necessary to do it correctly and maybe a bit slower than that. If you ever goof up by playing a note out of time, too hard, too soft, or with finger/fret noise you are going too fast.

Speed comes from repetition of movements, not by practicing fast. Let it come naturally over time.

Remember that it's very hard to unlearn sloppy playing once you've already trained yourself to be fast and sloppy.
 
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#11
This is my favorite exercise for fretting hand dexterity. It is called the Spider. Start somewhere near the middle of the neck (say, around 5th fret D on the A string). Keep the fingers spaced out at one finger per fret, and keep the fingertips close to the neck at all times, hovering just above the strings until they fret.

Firstly, it is a fingering pattern: 1 3 2 4, 3 1 4 2. Secondly, it crosses two strings, like this:

- - - 3 - - - 4 - - - 1 - - 2

- 1 - - - 2 - - - 3- - - 4 - then repeat the pattern, over and over, without pause.

Keep tempo at steady eighth notes, but it is designed to increase speed as dexterity increases.
Start on adjacent strings, then when very good at that, move to two strings apart.
 
#12
IamGroot said:
Jaco s electric bass method.
Click to expand...
I recommend this book highly, but with one reservation.

Jaco liked to do 5 fret stretches using 1 4, which is not a smart thing if you have small hands. Just substitute a more workable fingering.

For example, in Ex. 2, he does a descending scale in 2nds starting on high G on the G string and going to C on the E string. He does all of this in one position (9) and uses 5 fret stretches to finish the run.

An alternate approach is to shift to (7) on the F note in the 6 group of 16ths. The ascending triplets can be played multiple ways other than a 5 fret sttetch.

Cheers
 
#16
BoogerMan79 said:
Learned several bad habits on drums that took years to correct.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if we share one. Mine, which I'm still fighting to this day, is playing right handed accents left handed (I'm ambidextrous about a lot of things). I learned it that way when I first started and nobody corrected me. Wish they had, because it kind of ruins your ability to do a lot of fills.

The weird left-hand semi-dominance thing I have was a boon for my bass playing, though.
 
#17
dreamadream99 said:
This is my favorite exercise for fretting hand dexterity. It is called the Spider. Start somewhere near the middle of the neck (say, around 5th fret D on the A string). Keep the fingers spaced out at one finger per fret, and keep the fingertips close to the neck at all times, hovering just above the strings until they fret.

Firstly, it is a fingering pattern: 1 3 2 4, 3 1 4 2. Secondly, it crosses two strings, like this:

- - - 3 - - - 4 - - - 1 - - 2

- 1 - - - 2 - - - 3- - - 4 - then repeat the pattern, over and over, without pause.

Keep tempo at steady eighth notes, but it is designed to increase speed as dexterity increases.
Start on adjacent strings, then when very good at that, move to two strings apart.
Click to expand...
I agree. Do as much fingering as possible!
 
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