That's like asking if you use a socket wrench or a box wrench. Tips or pads? Yes, based on the playing needs of the moment.
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Tips or pads?
- Thread starter Greenman72
- Start date
I was always taught, on every instrument, to play with gently curved fingers, similar to an average sized adult hand holding a tennis ball. So that's how I finger every instrument I play. If you look at the real technicians on any instrument, that's how they're doing it. Check out how symphony musicians finger their instruments.
Now of course on a multi string instrument there are occasions where "barring" across two strings is needed for a particular passage, so you do that when you need to.
Now of course on a multi string instrument there are occasions where "barring" across two strings is needed for a particular passage, so you do that when you need to.
The right way to do this is the way that works best for you. I know that's sort of a cop-out answer, but it's also true.
Me personally, I tend to use more of the pad if I'm playing on the E or A (or B) string, since I'm reaching across more of the fretboard. This also allows me to rest my finger on the upper strings that I'm not playing and mute them. If anything, I think that makes it sound less sloppy. If I'm playing on the G or D string, it'll be closer to the tip since it's awkward to place the full pad down with my fingers curled up that close to my hand.
One time I do use flat fingers against all the strings is when I do my "open handed slap" thing with my right hand while chording with my left, kind of a hack thing to do, but it seems to work ok for me. Example at 3:26 into my bass/voice cover of "Child In Time":
I would have voted "both according to circumstance". Carrots was the closest option.
I played piano for way too long than to use anything but my fingertips. Ya can't flat finger piano keys
Agreed. Made me wince abit when I tried to answer. You can easily hit with pad and still only be on 1 string on bass.
And besides, tip vs pad is more of a dexterity thing, or more comparable to finger length.
"Hey guys, do you play with long fingers and precisely or do you have stubby fingers and suck at bass?
Pick one choice only, thanks."
Absolutely right @Lobster11. I use both pads and tips. Pads when I want a note to ring out and sound full and tips when I'm playing a fast passage. And I am absolutely NOT sloppy! Come to find out, that's the same way that Bobby Vega plays and it challenge anyone to call him a sloppy player.
Here's a video of him explaining what he's doing to Scott of Scott's Bass Lessons. I've always played this way (since 1965) and I don't have to think about which one to use or when to use it. It's all automatic. I've cued the video up to the part where Scott is asking him about the way he's fretting his bass.
Using the pads of your fingers does NOT require you to keep your fingers flat. That's because you are approaching the note from above on the fretboard with your fingers at an angle. That's what allows you to use "the meat" as Bobby Vega refers to it, of your finger and allows you to put the pad of your finger right up against the back of the fret wire to fret the note.. Take a look at the video I posted on message #33. That video is cued up to the section where Bobby explains his method to Scott Devine. This is the way I started playing bass back in 1965 and is still the way I do it. You get a different tone and a fatter sound when using the pad than you do when you use the tips. It's just one more example of the saying, "your sound is in you hands".
It's also a far more relaxed hand position to use when you are playing 4-hour gigs because you can keep your wrist straight most of the time. Keeping a bend in your hand puts tension not only in your hand but also in your forearm. With a bent wrist, that playing with the tips pretty much requires, you'll feel pulling on your muscles in your hand and your forearm. Straighten your wrist out and that tension goes away. This became ingrained in my playing when I was touring in the early 70's playing 4-hours per night, 5 nights a week, 50-weeks a year. Did that for 3 years. In addition, it allows you to use your thumb on your lowest string (E or B) without any tension in your hand.
The poll is all wrong.
Sometimes I need to let a string ring while fretting another, and then it's arched finger, and the tip doing the fretting, and sometimes I need to use the fretting hand for muting, when the finger will be lying flat. Sometimes I need to fret the same fret on two different stings in quick succession and then it might be better to use one finger for both, or to use two, depending on how we got here and how we plan to exit.
Sometimes I need to let a string ring while fretting another, and then it's arched finger, and the tip doing the fretting, and sometimes I need to use the fretting hand for muting, when the finger will be lying flat. Sometimes I need to fret the same fret on two different stings in quick succession and then it might be better to use one finger for both, or to use two, depending on how we got here and how we plan to exit.
This depends on what you are doing.
Are you letting each note ring or muting each one.
Listen to Dave LaRue let the notes ring at 0:15
Or like like Jaco at 0:31
Are you letting each note ring or muting each one.
Listen to Dave LaRue let the notes ring at 0:15
Or like like Jaco at 0:31
Whatever helps me get the job done. Questions like this and OFPF vs Simandl, IMO, miss the point: it's about making music, not about imposing artificial constraints. The very nature of the instrument (ANY instrument) is constraining enough. Rant over. Time to go outside and yell at clouds... 
BBB
BBB
I tend to use more pad on the fatter strings and shift towards tips as I get into higher register stuff on the D/G. Especially if it's trickier passages. If I'm plowing through caveman stuff on the E, probably all pads.
I've found a video of Tal Wilkenfeld playing country blues.
Tal is a Serious Pro Bass Player!
(P.S. After all those studies, all those jazz-rock tracks, it all comes down to playing simple country music
)
But what has caught my eyes was Tal's left hand position - a lot of "straight" left hand fingers.
I don't know how to evaluate it.
It's from here:
Tal is a Serious Pro Bass Player!
(P.S. After all those studies, all those jazz-rock tracks, it all comes down to playing simple country music
)But what has caught my eyes was Tal's left hand position - a lot of "straight" left hand fingers.
I don't know how to evaluate it.
It's from here:
