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Picked the wrong bass or my hands need more training?

#101
Hey, Take Bass Lessons "Now is the Best thing for ya "even if it is just for a yr. or 6mo.. Fine a good music store who Teaches Bass, and "Less'son " never hurts to let a Pro who is good enough to Teach,.He Will Show You The Way on your Hands There is a Method that works you should be able to play most any 4 string, neck when you get comfortable grab a a 5 but you got to really stretch here and there,. . I did take some way back in time .. stop'ed and took some for 7mo. Really Helped just doing what my instructor said and Practice a bunch, then 'still play'n,.
 
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#103
I came to playing bass through playing guitar, originally, and have played both for many years at this point. On guitar, it's the norm to play "one finger per fret" and also to do a certain amount of stretching for other frets, which it's generally expected that people will do (though even there, variations on this are common - i.e. Django played with only two fingers, blues players often use only, or primarily, their first three fingers, and so on).

So, I definitely evolved my guitar playing using the standard one-per-fret approach, and my left pinkie is literally a quarter inch longer than my right pinkie, from years of doing that. I think this is useful, and I find it useful on bass as well - I can play one-per-fret when it feels appropriate, but also often use the 1-2-4, index-middle-pinkie approach when that feels right. It's nice to have the option, and I'd certainly disagree with the idea that one should never stretch - while one can play great bass without stretching, one can also play great bass with stretching. Never get caught up in absolutes! :laugh: All roads lead to Rome, try to practice various techniques, and do the best you can!

Also, what Scott said in the video above!:thumbsup:
 
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#104
Mushroo said:
Exactly, that's one of the top benefits of playing a 5 string! @gebass6 mentioned how "flat" keys like F minor can be a difficult stretch on 4 string. On 5 string, you can play the F at the 6th fret of the B string. Then you only have to reach 2 frets to catch the Ab at the 4th fret of the E string. Another way to achieve this fingering benefit is by stringing a 4-string bass in low tuning, like BEAD or DGCF. :)
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I never said it was difficult to stretch.I said how easy it is for me to stretch a first fret minor interval.
Regardless of 4,5 or 6.

Even so,it's not right or wrong to do one or the other.
It all depends on what you are doing and where you are going after the minor third.
 
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#111
villarddefender said:
I'm 5'11" and got to move my hand a bit when my index is on the 1st fret and I want to play a note on the 4th fret with my pinky. The scale length of my bass is 34"

I know a popular bassist named Tetsuya Ogawa from japanese group l'Arc-en-ciel who's 5'6" and the scale length of his bass is 35"...

This makes me wonder if I should go for a small/medium scale bass OR if I just need more "stretch training" lol
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That is a long distance for most. I’m a fan of shift and or pivot. I agree with the advice to seek out a qualified instructor to learn the proper way to employ it. It shouldn’t take more than a lesson of two to master it.
 
#113
Stretch training,
1. I say, do the "Live Long and Prosper greeting a lot with both hands".
2. Do jazz hands often.
3. Learn to palm a basketball, (start with two fingers and the thumb then add fingers), to teach softness of touch. (volley balls, and #4 soccer balls work well too.)
4. Get your self a gumbie and squeeze until you can get gumbie's eyes to bulge. Fuzzy tennis balls work well to.
5. Make flour tortillas for friends, and gig snacks.
I was palming two basketballs in 9th grade, at 5'3". I have big paws. (xl gloves are tight).
 
#115
I know plenty of guys who still play "power fingers" that played guitar and want to show off on bass. Honestly I like having 4 fingers. Now, the difference, 3 vs 4 fingers? In my beginnings I was a very big first position (on the fretboard) player. As I played more I found this caused me to flub no matter how "good" I was. I eventually got more of a grip on "board economics" (how much string skipping you need to do to reasonably "play well") and found it's easier than I made it. Now your pinkie. Well dude, you gotta stretch. If you want to have an easy time, you need to have three semitones range vs 2 semitones range, if nothing else for options.
 
#116
I love how my new tuning has shifted my whole fretboard to the right by 5 frets by going from E-A-D-G to B-E-A-D plus I have access to the lowest notes now I don't feel the need to have a 5 string or any other basses in the future unless something so dramatic happens that even my luthier cannot fix it or would ask much more than the bass is worth to fix it I'd jump on the pink SX pj bass lol
 
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#117
Hevy T said:
I’m 5’11” and I have small hands and short fingers.

My hands can only span 3 frets so I move them back and forth while stretching all the time. I don’t really care what scale length but I usually look for skinny necks like the fender jazz or Ibanez SR series.
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I have short fingers as well. We should start a “Stub Club” here on TB:roflmao:
 
#119
villarddefender said:
....This makes me wonder if I should go for a small/medium scale bass OR if I just need more "stretch training" lol
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Hey villarddefender

Thought I would weigh in on this before the Mods move it to the "Technique" area.

I have very short stubby fingers and this is how much my fretting hand has stretched over the years:

Hands Rick2.jpg


No trickery at all in the photo, my thumbs and index fingers are lined up and both hands are stretched as far as they go. Please hold the fingernail comments to a dull roar. Yes, I work for a living.

Perhaps it is long-winded and tedious at times, but I have a little dissertation on the subject - and you might enjoy my take on it here:

3 Finger vs. 4 Finger Technique and Scale Length Issues

If you are doing, or planning on doing your own original music - you are suddenly competing with the big folks and you owe it to yourself to develop your chops and your technique in a way that makes you competitive. You need to maximize your abilities, and if that means finding comfort on a smaller scale instrument, so be it. If that means using 4 finger guitar technique - so be it. Last I looked the instrument was called Bass GUITAR.

Dozens of world class players have played shorter scale instruments, from Stanley Clarke and Jonas Hellborg, to rockers like Jack Bruce, Paul McCartney, Tina Weymoth and Bill Wyman. Comfort is king - it's as simple as that. I switched to medium scale in 1976 and never looked back. Sure, I can play full scale basses just fine - thank you very much - but I can't take my playing abilities to the next level on one. Not without hand cramping and other repetitive stress related issues on certain lightning fast passages in the lowest position - so why would I bother? It makes no sense. It's taken years to develop my playing style, chops and abilities. Why would I want to go backwards?

Cheers and good wishes to you - whatever way you decide to move forward, but I say play the bass that fits you - whatever bass that may be!
 
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#120
Anyone knows how's the B-E-A-D tuning on a short scale bass? I think I read somewhere that because of the shorter scale you wouldn't get a solid B hence the reason why you don't find any short scale 5 string basses is this true?
 

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