Smoother notes when speed up and less percussive attack?

[RayRayWong]

Hi! This is my first post here.

I Started learning by myself for slightly more than a year, practice around an hour daily.

My question is what to do to make my playing less staccato when speed up?

Another questions is for E sting, my plucking finger rest on the other finger. But on A D G string, it rest on the lower string. It sound differently. I like how it sound on E string. I practice using small finger muting. Any tips?

Thank you!

 

[Badwater]

It's all in the finesse of your attack and how you let up on the attack if you're using fingers. IF you use a pick, you may need to soften the attack or gently mute with the palm, or use your fretting hand/finger to mute the note on the fret.

 

[dreamadream99]

Tips, yes. For normal playing don't curl fingers and strike string near nail; instead flatten fingers a bit, and rub string from floor to ceiling. This gives a smoother attack, and gets the string vibrating parallel to body, not perpendicular.

Muting: use trailing fingers on plucking hand to mute lower strings; use fingers on fretting hand to mute higher strings.

 

[SteveCS]

...

My question is what to do to make my playing less staccato when speed up?

...

This is about synchronisation of left and right hands. Imagine the mechanics of playing the bass -

A: You finger a note with your left hand.
B: You pluck the string with your right hand.
C: You let the note ring for its full time value.
D: You lift your left hand finger to move to the next note amd start over

You are only producing sound at step C, and the time available is determined by note value and tempo.
Steps A, B and D are determined by your technique. They all take time, which must be stolen from C... How much time depends on your technique...

Let's say A, B and D add up to 0.05s.
Playing quarter notes at 60bpm (one note every 1s), that amounts to 5% of the note value - probably not enough to worry about.

But playing 16th at 90bpm (1 note every 0.167s) it amounts to 30% - definitely heading into staccato territory. Go to 120bpm and you have 40% dead time.

Depending on which of A, B or D is early, late or taking to long, you might get away with it or you might not...

The dead time needs to be minimised.
Listen carefully to yourself playing
1: the same note,
2: different notes on the same string ascending,
3: different notes on the same string descending, and
4: different notes on different strings
to determine which of A, B or D is the problem...

The aim is to lift off the previous note as late as possible, then to finger and pluck the next note at the same time...

 

[RayRayWong]

Thank you for help!