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My right hand sucks

A

arock0627

Mar 20, 2013
209
7
Lawton, OK
#1
I am in desperate need of pizzicato exercises. I'm no Vic Wooten but by comparison my left hand is a tap dancing meat spider.

I'm currently just doing exercises keeping the beat on semi fast tempos, but when it comes to quick triplets my right hand just turns into a big mass of stupid meat and tendons. I might as well just start using a pick sometimes.

Is there any resource or exercise I can do to help my stupid hand out?
 
#3
start practicing your scales and patterns playing 16th notes to a metronome. Do this a lot and then do it some more and slowly turn up the metronome. This will work at getting your right hand faster but you have to do it a lot! In your case you may want to do the same thing with triplet feel.
 
#4
Appreciate the heads up. I'm more of a bald-faced groove style bassist, but I enjoy some bubbly fills and runs. Not to mention some riffs I play are particularly technical.

So, oi, back to the grind. Hopefully the new bass will be my inspiration!
 
#9
"Tap dancing meat spider"! LOL!

One exercise that I've never regretted learning is taking complicated riffs and identifying the "essential" notes to play a simplified version of the riff. I find that as long as I hit certain "target" notes, I can slur or omit notes in between.

This is especially true when playing in a band situation, and especially especially true when doubling the lick with another instrument.
 
#10
Start listening to and practicing some old Funk and R&B music and watch what happens to your right hand.
 
#13
Look up bass permutations and start practicing them slowly with as light a touch as possible. Slowly bring up the speed. These will pin point where the strength imbalance lies.

Also, pay attention to your right hand/plucking hand. Practice using a lighter touch with it along with the left. It is amazing how much a heavy attack with one will effect the other.
 
#14
Do yourself a favor and START with the Bootsy that played with James Brown. ,Not the space bass Bootsy.
 
#15
I've been concerned about my plucking hand as well because lately, it just ain't what it use to be. I just turned 60 and have had a life time of physical jobs. One thing I've noticed is how easily I'll spraign (spelling?) my right wrist these days, or how cramped up my right hand gets when writing with a pen or pencil. As far as playing, anything that requires a steady 16th note pattern is getting pretty rough for me and sounds very uneven. Instead of a nice, flowing da-da-da-da da-da-da-da it sounds like da-DA-da-DA da-DA-da-DA. I'm trying to practice this slowly but find that even this is hard.

Getting old.
 
#17
Once you pass the Iron Maiden test, give the Rush tune "Animate" a try. However, you are only allowed to play with one finger (up and down).

Not a practical style, but a nice workout to gain strength and to get a smooth but firm attack.

(For bonus points when you start to feel pain switch to middle finger only and see if you can make it sound exactly the same as the index finger.)
 
#19
DigitalMan said:
Once you pass the Iron Maiden test, give the Rush tune "Animate" a try. However, you are only allowed to play with one finger (up and down).

Not a practical style, but a nice workout to gain strength and to get a smooth but firm attack.

(For bonus points when you start to feel pain switch to middle finger only and see if you can make it sound exactly the same as the index finger.)
Click to expand...

Do bassists really play like this? I have recently, around 6-8 months, I don't like using a pick. It seems to work ok, I just thought it was my lazy way when I can't keep up to my first 2 finger pads, :D ...more woodsheddin for me.
 

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