Rake or strict alternation?

[dougjwray]

You have to put Jamerson in historical context. He wasn't playing during a time when bassists were tapping or playing rapid 16th-note grooves or bebop heads on the electric bass, and slapping came along several years after his heyday.
He started on double bass, where single finger plucking was commonplace, pre-Scott LaFaro, Richard Davis, Dave Holland, etc.
But here is why Jamerson's technique was brilliant: He played some pretty hairy syncopations, and every note was *perfectly* articulated and cleanly fingered. The solidity of his sense of rhythm was unparalleled, IMO. He was incredibly centered, as though his feet were growing out of the earth itself, no matter what tempo.
I won't even go into his sound, or his imagination and taste, because those are topics for other threads.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

could someone please tell me what's so good about jamerson?

what i've heard he's playing with one finger... and you cant play SA with one finger can you? Also, did he have any chops at all, if not i dont see why he would be a good example of any kind of technique...

Listen to some of the Motown records he's played on. If you can't tell what's so good about him, you're in a lot of trouble.

He got a lot of use out of that one plucking finger ("the hook"), and his timing and sycopation was fantastic...try playing some of his lines using just one finger, and play them with the same skill, timing, and feel that he had. It's not easy. If you can get it down, and then do the same with any other plucking fingers you use using just one at a time, your multifinger plucking would vastly improve because of the great finger control each finger would have.

I tried doing this a few years ago and didn't get too far...maybe I should try again one of these days. He had some fantastic control.

 

[JimmyM]

Slurring is more of a function of the left hand and how long you hold each note down as you hit the next one. You can slur just as easily with SA as raking.

 

[strummer]

Raking is what it's called when you descend strings by having the last finger that plucked the higher string go through and pluck the string below. For example, if you plucked a C on the G string with your index finger and the next note you need to pluck was an E on the D string, you'd let your index finger continue through the pluck on the G string and pluck the D string as well. Since most bassists use reststrokes (meaning after each finger pluck, the finger comes to rest on the string below the one just plucked, which aids in muting), it's often more economical to rake notes when descending. Strict alteration means that you always alternate between the fingers when ascending or descending...the pattern of your plucking fingers no matter what the string is 1-2-1-2-1-2...etc. with some exceptions such asl playing octaves.

Reading, reading, reading, and finally I got an explanation. Now I can vote.
I do not think raking is any good. Not to me at least. It ruins the "flow" for me.

 

[JimmyM]

could someone please tell me what's so good about jamerson?

what i've heard he's playing with one finger... and you cant play SA with one finger can you? Also, did he have any chops at all, if not i dont see why he would be a good example of any kind of technique...

I think I detect a note of sarcasm here. Jamerson was great and he definitely set a lot of standards in soul and funk bass playing, and yes he did play with only one finger. But like I've said many times before in this thread, you and I aren't Jamerson.

 

[Garun]

I know this is an old thread
But I disagree that raking is best.
Simple reason why is use STRICTLY ALTERNATING and 0 raking, is because when you rake, you make a million patterns, and every song you play differently (in different patterns). When using alternate plucking, you can go one of two ways with a song. when i need to hit more than 2 strings, i use 3 or 4 fingers (my technique is 90% 2 finger plucking and 8% with ring finger like gary willis, and 2% thumb when needed).
I haven't come across any song that I can not play with this technique, and the economy of motion doesn't exist in this.
The other thing with alternating is that you have more control. I know when I started playing, I couldn't control that much rakes. They were a bit dragging or pushing into next note. With alternating (which i needed 1 day to make it permenate), I have more control over everything.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't think raking is bad, there are a lot of guys that use strictly raking (like Scott Divine for example), but I think you need less time and that you can get more with alternate.
Think about it, why are more guitarists using alternate picking then direct picking?

 

[pravus]

I use both, actually. I find them equally useful in different situations. I don't know why I would limit myself to just one technique.

 

[Garun]

I'm not limited (and most guys aren't limited to just raking)
Just saying that I've made a permenate change to this in my head. I have no need for raking now. Not even for fast runs descending.
I'm just saying my opinion, and it's logical and simple, and more control over everything
If anyone wants, I can write you few simple exercises that I use for alternate plucking. Works with pick aswell (since i play a bit guitar)

 

[zcwilkes]

I'm pretty strict SA. I've spent many years (20 years ago) working on it and it was hard breaking the raking habit. I'm not saying that I think raking is bad. I think both have their places but at one point in my bass playing life SA made sence and I put alot of time into it. I felt at the time it was cleaner and more consistent than raking. I knew another area bassist ,who was sort of a mentor to me, considered raking to be a bad habit. When I was younger I used to think there was a "right" way but now I know better.

 

[cheechi]

Is there a possibility of neither? I mean I suppose I am raking when I play a chord but that's really it.

And I am very bad at remembering/training my hand to SA. It's more of a 'this works and I hit the note' type thing. It sounds really weird to say this but I can only really SA on fast stuff. If it's too fast to always play the down stroke, that's when I can SA. Im sure that makes me sound more talented than I am.

Playing a more hard rock/metal song where it's all one note, vs playing a lick somewhere between phrases, you are going to get totally different sounds and that's the kind of thing I play it a few different ways until I decide what sounds best to me. So far none of them have been strictly anything. I may go down down down up down down type of thing. So I'm neither of your choices!

 

[Andre678]

I was just simply taught only with SA. Every where I read when I started says to learn to play with two fingers alternating so I always figured that was just the way. I will sometimes rake when messing around but never when playing seriously. Well, maybe unconsciously but never intentionally. Although sometimes I am playing and my right hand seems to have a mind of its own. I am not even sure what it is doing but it is hitting the notes and it sounds good.

But back on topic I never even knew raking was a real option. I just thought it was sloppy/comfy playing. I lean more towards make the music and who cares how but start with good technique.