I'm not really sure how to play notes on adjacent strings at the same fret especially in faster passages. What I'm wondering is if I should try to "jump my finger" and try to hit the second note with my finger tip or flatten my finger and play the second not with the underside of my finger. That is when playing a note on a lower string to a higher one. When going from higher to lower how do I do this? Is there a special technique to doing this when you are shifting from one string to the next when you are changing strings back and forth on every beat? Like should I hold both down like a chord? I hope I am clear with the question.
I often use two different fingers, one on each string. One of the notes might suffer a small amount of intonation error, but if it's a fast-moving part it won't be noticeable. You might have to cock the wrist of your fretting hand a little differently than you are used to.
Don't be a slave to conventions. Do what works best for you. You can always move your fingers back to the "conventional" alignment when you're done playing those fast 4ths. Your fingers can move pretty fast through thin air. You can tell your instructor I said it's not necessary to always keep your fingers hovering uselessly over unused strings in the "proper" alignment just because that's the "convention".
I don't have a teacher per say. I am using David Overthrow's beginning bass book. The way the example is written there are multiple notes being played in adjacent strings same fret but they are supposed to be using the same finger. I may just be retarted though. LOL! That's how I understand it's supposed to be played. I've found that he usually has a reason for writing the stuff the way he does. I don't want to play something to make it "easier" if it's going to short change my technique. That technique may be something I need in the future. Am I just being ridiculous?
You can finger-roll on and off adjacent strings as well. Let say you are playing a note on the A and the next note is on the E then back to the A again, fret the note on the A a little bit lower on the pad of your finger then roll your finger up to fret the E with your finger tip and roll back to fret the A again with the pad. With a little practice, it's really easy to do. I'm not sure if this is what you were asking about so I hope this helps.
That is what I was looking for archer121. Thank you very much. I started practicing it last night and it works really well.
In case it helps... http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=563380 Check adamneely.com, Adam is a terrific player and composer who has written about this subject and many others here in TB and in his website.
That convention id for linear playing over one string, when crossing strings, you are greatly limiting yourself if you try to use the same finger for all the four strings
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