Using One Finger Per Fret And Being Uncomfortable

[fretlessman71]

A simple hammer on exercise will help loads.

Play D on the G string, 7th fret, first finger. Hammer on the F at the 10th fret with your pinky. Doesn't matter at all if you get a good sounding note, just hit it as hard as you can. Then pull OFF to the D, also as hard as possible and with little regard for sound. But be sure to hold your index finger down good and hard for the pull off.

Repeat until the muscles on the pinky side of your hand get tired (there ARE no muscles in our fingers themselves). Do this 1x/day and in a week you will notice a big improvement.

 

[SteveCS]

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You are never going to create any kind of distance between your fingertips holding the neck like that. Before saying any more, can you clarify if this is how you hold your hand whilst playing? And if so, is this 'endorsed' by your teacher?

 

[2F/2F]

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If that's how you're holding your hand to play, that's very bad, and no wonder you're having problems reaching notes or holding down clean notes.

You want your fingers to arch down on the board from above, not drag on the side of the neck and wrap around it closely like that.

You need to get your thumb farther down. You should be playing with the neck at at least a 45 degree angle.

These are all things your instructor should have taught you on day one, before you ever played a note or even learned the names of the strings. How to hold the bass and place your hand are steps number one and two – just like how to properly adjust your seat/mirrors/steering wheel, and how to hold the wheel, are the first lessons in driving school.

 

[SteveCS]

Lower down, I use an upright technique and typically don't use my pinky.

This makes no sense. What established double-bass method are you using that doesn't use pinky in lower positions?

 

[themickster]

I'm 5'7. My teacher is smaller than me and be seems to get around fine.

Is that hand size?

 

[Watchootognbout]

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A close up of your hand gives no one a reference comparison.(Tape measure)

 

[Acoop]

Try this,
Run to the corner and back, now rest, tomorrow, do it again.
PS, Don't complain while you're running.

 

[SteveCS]

@SteveCS some of your excellent pictures of hand position would help clarify some things in this thread for the OP.
...

Let's get a bit more from the OP before coming in hot with a whole bunch of do's and don'ts, but thanks for the nod

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Really difficult to walk proficiently without using 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th fretting fingers on BG. Once you're good at this using the right passing notes you can get a little sloppy on stage.

 

[BismarckHerring]

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As others have said, you're seriously limiting your range by holding your hand like that. Compare these pictures:


[edit: replaced the second image, as the original wasn't a great example)

My index finger is on the 3rd fret. Now, it seems my fingers are longer than yours, but I'm still not able to get my pinky anywhere near near the 6th fret when I hold my thumb like you do. When I hold my thumb behind my middle finger, roughly at the height of the A string, it's still a bit of a stretch lower down the neck, but doable. And I can rotate my thumb a bit to make it easier to reach the higher frets with my pinky.

I don't always hold my fretting hand like that, but I'm glad I can when it's needed.

 

[Les Fret]

As others have said, you're seriously limiting your range by holding your hand like that. Compare these pictures:





My index finger is on the 3rd fret. Now, it seems my fingers are longer than yours, but I'm still not able to get my pinky anywhere near near the 6th fret when I hold my thumb like you do. When I hold my thumb behind my middle finger, roughly at the height of the A string, it's still a bit of a stretch lower down the neck, but doable. And I can rotate my thumb a bit to make it easier to reach the higher frets with my pinky.

I don't always hold my fretting hand like that, but I'm glad I can when it's needed.

Second picture looks fine, but your ring finger is collapsed. Try to avoid that if you can...

 

[Donald Thompson]

How long have you been playing and how old are you? If you’re a new player then you just need to develop those muscles. I was self taught before internet and what not so I never used my pinky and never even thought about it for years. It just never accrued to me. Well… after I got to a certain level to progress I had to start using my pinky and honestly I think it slowed me down for a while without me even noticing it.
Now if you have been playing a few years and they bother you still than maybe you need to have someone else look at your technique.
If you’re young your hands will get stronger.
If your old than maybe you should just enjoy playing and do it to the best of your ability. I know I’ve had to adjust the way I play over the years. I grew up playing fast and heavy rock. Turns out you don’t have to beat yourself up to make the bass just good and heavy. Go figure.

Playing on and off for 5 years. I had an shoulder injury before. I'm about to turn 28.

 

[BismarckHerring]

Second picture looks fine, but your ring finger is collapsed. Try to avoid that if you can...

Yeah, you’re right, it’s not like that when I’m actually playing. I’ve replaced it with a better one.

 

[Donald Thompson]

You are never going to create any kind of distance between your fingertips holding the neck like that. Before saying any more, can you clarify if this is how you hold your hand whilst playing? And if so, is this 'endorsed' by your teacher?

That's normally how I hold the bass. My teacher is trying to fix it.

 

[Donald Thompson]

Is that hand size?

No, but his hands are smaller than me.

 

[lark_z]

I capo'ed at 2 fret for a month or two (poor man's 30" scale). Then capo'ed at 1 fret for a month or two (poor man's 32"scale). This helped.

You also have to rock your hand somewhat using the thumb as a pivot. From Ed Friedland's "Hal Leonard Complete Bass Method" p. 65:

"... you must learn to use the pivot in the left hand between the 2nd and 3rd finger...pivot slightly on the second finger and thumb to reach the note..."

 

[brianrost]

For some reason, I find it easier to keep my fingers down while playing double bass than on electric bass.

Double bass uses a three semitone (i.e. 3 frets) fingering. The ring finger is used to support the pinky, so the actual fingerings are only index, middle and pinky. While using the 4 fret stretch on bass guitar is preferable, I often use the 3 fret stretch in lower positions, especially with lines that used a 3 fret “box”.

 

[nnnnnn]

I prefer to shift to using my pointer finger and middle finger to play the bass lines.

Doesn't that make it difficult to play octaves, or to go from a root note up to the fifth on the adjacent higher-pitched string? I just tried it and it hurt my hand immediately.

If I were going to play bass guitar with only two fingers fretting, in most cases I would choose index and pinky. If only three fingers it would be index, middle, and pinky. No strain and no pain.

 

[evanrunyon]

There’s a difference between discomfort due to unfamiliarity and discomfort due to pain. Learning the difference will be a boon to your life experience generally, not just re: playing bass. Muscles get stronger when placed under mild-to-moderate strain, tendons don’t.

I have reasonably large hands (I can palm a basketball) and I still don’t typically use my ring finger independently below, say, the seventh fret. Almost certainly not without pivoting, that is, leaving my thumb in place while I rotate my hand at the wrist to avoid a stretch.

I would generally say to listen to one’s teacher and attempt to follow their instructions to the letter—you may later decide to follow other advice, of course—but if something legitimately hurts, I would avoid doing it for long.

 

[Donald Thompson]

Doesn't that make it difficult to play octaves, or to go from a root note up to the fifth on the adjacent higher-pitched string? I just tried it and it hurt my hand immediately.

If I were going to play bass guitar with only two fingers fretting, in most cases I would choose index and pinky. If only three fingers it would be index, middle, and pinky. No strain and no pain.

I'm not talking about octaves. My teacher is making me play bass lines with just the pinkey and ring finger to avoid shifting and build independence between the two fingers.