Right Hand Specific Excercises

[sketchyluke]

Hey

I recently joined a death metal band taking on the role of bass. I've been on 6-string duties for years but this is a new thing for me.

I've got no problem fretting with the left hand but I really don't know where to start with fingering with my right and I don't want to resort to using a pick forever.

The excercise thread was helpful but I'm really looking for something that specifically tells me what finger to use to pluck which string and how the best way to finger metal riffs with lots of alternating strings etc. I can use all four fingers with power, however it's just learning when and where i should put them that I have no idea about.

The same goes for slapping, I don't really have a clue how to effectively do that either.

I'm new so I'm sure the answers I need are to be found here somewhere and I just haven't found them but it would be cool if someone could point me in the right direction.

 

[Schmorgy]

Here's your literal Death Metal bass Bible: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f21/d...-make-fingerstyle-playing-heard-metal-378173/

Especially the part about learning how to do 3-finger tempo exercises and the pseudo-slapping style with harsh plucking that gives you that edge metal bass seems to have.

 

[chaosMK]

There are a bunch of techniques that you can look up or discover on your own... it basically all comes down to spending hours and hours on this stuff and finding what works well for you at a particular stage. Speed is just part of the fun... mastering attack (if you are good you wont ever need to use compression) and muting (clean separation between notes at speed, like having a noise gate) are the next things.

I've been dilligently working on my RH for more than a decade.

 

[Rev J]

Watch this video. Although not "Instruction" per se. You can clearly see the right hand technique:



Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

[mebusdriver]

The best advice I've ever gotten has been to work very hard on always alternating your index and middle fingers. I took lessons with the great Adam Nitti, who has some serious speed and tough string skipping lines, and he made me work on alternating at all times. I used to drag one finger when string skipping or playing a line across multiple strings. But really getting the alternating down made life a lot easier. I'm assuming that you'll be playing a lot riffs that will involve string skipping and a lot of really fast rhthyms on single notes. I played in a progressive band that had a very dream theater like sound and the alternating practice payed off big time. It really comes down to practice. Slow, slow, slow, faster, faster, faster, slow, slow, slow, faster, faster, faster.... Your left hand can help out a lot too tho. Work on strengthing trills and hammer ons and it could save in a lot of situations. Dilligence is probably the best technique to learn. Hahahaha.