Sean Hurley: efficiency

[Geepers]

Was watching a Sean Hurley interview and the interviewer said “your fretting hand is hardly moving yet you’re playing quite a busy line”. Sean went on to talk about how important economy of motion is to him - both in terms of not lifting his fingers higher than he needs to and playing across the strings as much as possible rather than moving up and down the neck. I know tonally there can be reasons we like to go up and down the neck but I’m wondering if those reasons are often outweighed by the smoothness that can be achieved by keeping the hand more stationary and letting the fingers do the work so to speak. Interested in thoughts on this.

 

[JonathanPDX]

The more advanced your speed and technical goals become, the more important it is to maximize your economy of motion. Whether it's walking, soloing, or just playing tricky lines or busy fills, you'll be limited by the physics of your hands long before you run out of ideas.

I've always thought that the "Play everything on your E and A strings of consistent" tone thing was an outdated idea. Modern basses and amplifiers have great response and it's not hard to dial in a tone that sounds good on every string. Also, the difference in tone becomes far less noticeable in an ensemble than it does when you're playing alone in your bedroom.

If you watch the great technical players like Wooten, Manring, Matthew Garrison, Steve Bailey, etc. you will see very efficient left-hand technique that gives them the most access to range with the smallest amount of vertical motion.

Sure, you can play fast and even technical with poor technique, but you're going to hit a ceiling that can only be bypassed with a lot of effort on efficiency and clean technique with both hands.

 

[chris_b]

Economy of effort is the goal. Wasting energy is pointless and gives us no advantage.