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Major technique issues

S

Sippy

Aug 1, 2005
1,341
4
42
Stuart,Florida
#1
Okay guys. I just realized in the past week, that I look at my hands when I play. I need to stop this!!! When I'm reading I have problems sliding down the neck. For Instance when I go to a D note on the G string I miss by sometimes a whole fret, or other times i'll land in the wrong place in the fret box so I don't produce a full tone. I need to work on this, so I devoted 4 or 5 hours a day to doing nothing but reading so I can work on this, but I'm really not getting any better at it.
Playing it slowly doesn't help, and playing the music while looking at my hands doesn't help because I obviously nail it every time. Can you help me out on how to fix this?
 
#2
practice your scales and all that without looking, keeping to a fret a finger. Try looking at the inlays at the top of the fretboard instead of the fretboard itself. glance to the board whenever you feel yourself getting lost, you don't have to completely look away. practice, practice.
 
#3
visa said:
practice your scales and all that without looking, keeping to a fret a finger. Try looking at the inlays at the top of the fretboard instead of the fretboard itself. glance to the board whenever you feel yourself getting lost, you don't have to completely look away. practice, practice.
Click to expand...

Yea man thats what I've been doing :(... Reading... Scales...arpeggios.. and I can't look at the inlay markers because I have to be able to play basically blind, and it's not working. I've been working collectively for roughly 30 hours this past week and I haven't gotten any better whatsoever.
but I really appreciate your reply!
 
#6
Hand positioning is very important. Use your thumb as an anchor. For example, if you have to reach a fret out of position, you shouldn't have to move where your fretting-hand thumb is positioned. You'll have to rotate it slightly, but not move it up or down the neck. That gives you a point of reference so that you can target notes.

It's very helpful to have a teacher or experienced friend to show how this is done. Hard to explain but easy to demonstrate.
 
#7
Yea i have two teachers, and I do keep my thumb as an anchor. my problem is when I slide down the neck I sometimes land on the wrong fret, No matter where your thumb is if you're going down 4 or 5 frets, your thumb isn't going to help. I just have to get a feel for the fretboard a little more thats all.
 
#9
i think bassmandave may be on the right track. ive studied position syle playing a bit, and i can play a first position pentatonic minor scale with my index on the 3rd through 9th fret without moving my thumb from the 5th fret. 3rd through 7th without moving it at all. about an 8 or 9 fret stretch {index to pinky} with no effort is a good reason to explore this. if you already know this, you may want to consider the fact that most guys with great ears can slide any which way but loose without giving it much thought. but that may be the very reason you are learning to read in the first place or it is just where your at right now {doing it the right way} i dont know your details. can you sing/ hum the music you are reading? well you know if its your ear or not. as for serving two masters i would choose just one. i find it very hard to find the time to practice too many things during the span of a week.perhaps take a little time off off the rigorus schedule and spend a little time sliding around the bass.
 
#10
When I teach my more advanced lessons I actually turn out the lights on my students and play we in the dark, the only light comes from amp face glow. We run through everything we've been working on (except for reading of course) and we play songs. I play a lot of drums along with the students to improve feel, so when students are getting ready to start gigging we'll even run through their set in the dark. Students are always frustrated at first but love it after the first few times. Best part is that I don't have to watch them look at their hands at their gigs, lol!
 
#13
temple_of_boom said:
why do you turn out the lights?
Click to expand...

It fosters playing by feel rather than playing by sight. Tactile learning by rote, if you will. When the lights are on I can tell a student not to keep looking at their hands, but they do it anyway - it's reflex, they can't help it. When the lights are out my students can't look at their hands when they so they don't. After about a month of this when the lights go back on they don't look at their hands nearly as much. Once learn to play by feel there's no need to watch your fingers (unless it's something complex) because your hands already know where the notes are so you (mostly) stop doing it. And then you can do whatever you like - read sheets, watch tv, look at girls, whatever...
 
#15
temple_of_boom said:
i think bassmandave may be on the right track. ive studied position syle playing a bit, and i can play a first position pentatonic minor scale with my index on the 3rd through 9th fret without moving my thumb from the 5th fret. 3rd through 7th without moving it at all. about an 8 or 9 fret stretch {index to pinky} with no effort is a good reason to explore this. if you already know this, you may want to consider the fact that most guys with great ears can slide any which way but loose without giving it much thought. but that may be the very reason you are learning to read in the first place or it is just where your at right now {doing it the right way} i dont know your details. can you sing/ hum the music you are reading? well you know if its your ear or not. as for serving two masters i would choose just one. i find it very hard to find the time to practice too many things during the span of a week.perhaps take a little time off off the rigorus schedule and spend a little time sliding around the bass.
Click to expand...


yea I know how to read, I can hum the tune if I'm just looking at the music. It's just that i am always a little off when reading and playing at the same time. I do have a good ear, when playing my fretless I do slide into the right note when I'm off a little, but on a fretted bass I land ON the fret sometimes and get that "fret" noise, so if I slide from there it sounds lik garbage. It's all coming together when I practice I refuse to look at the fretboard now and I'm getting the hang of it. As for having two teachers, I'm a music major and my college has a bass teacher, and a jazz teacher. I go to both of them, my bass teacher teaches me technique and mechanics, my jazz teacher taught me how to read and improvise etc.



sync00 said:
Is it really that important for you to be able to read and play at the same time?
Click to expand...


ummm is that a joke or are you serious?



BassChuck said:
Are you sitting and standing the same way? Do you ALWAYS use a strap? Do you practice with the same bass everytime?

If your output is inconsistant, perhaps your input (posture, hand position) is inconsistant.
Click to expand...

yea I do use the same bass. I sit the same exact way everytime, otherwise I can't play crap! I'm very particular about how my bass sits on me.
 
#16
agreatheight said:
It fosters playing by feel rather than playing by sight. Tactile learning by rote, if you will. When the lights are on I can tell a student not to keep looking at their hands, but they do it anyway - it's reflex, they can't help it. When the lights are out my students can't look at their hands when they so they don't. After about a month of this when the lights go back on they don't look at their hands nearly as much. Once learn to play by feel there's no need to watch your fingers (unless it's something complex) because your hands already know where the notes are so you (mostly) stop doing it. And then you can do whatever you like - read sheets, watch tv, look at girls, whatever...
Click to expand...

I have honestly never even thought to try this after 25 years of playing, but this actually sounds like a great idea.
 
#17
Joe P said:
I have a habit of looking at the neck - a habit that I'm slowly breaking - but I pretty-much CAN'T look at my right hand; I'll screw-up every time.

Joe
Click to expand...

Funny thing for me is that I actually slap better when I'm looking away from the fretboard or even at my right hand instead. Sometimes, I'll do a whole slap "solo" (if you want to call it that) while looking at my right hand or at the bass body instead of at my fretting hand.
 

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