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Which 2+ Finger Technique?

cjac9

cjac9

Apr 21, 2008
278
84
Nashville, TN
#1
I need to add at least finger to my right hand technique. I’ve been playing for 25 years with alternating 2 fingers. Rest strokes.

The fastest I can play 16ths cleanly, on a good day, is 80 bpm. There’s so much music I can’t play. I’m not talking shredding or fusion solos. I’m not that interested in that. Just normal bass lines in popular music. I can’t play Jamerson lines like “For Once In My Life” or a lot of fingerstyle funk. A lot of fills in bass lines I can otherwise play are out too.

I was curious so I tapped my fingers on my leg as fast as I could. 16ths at 120 and not for very long. That’s not very fast.

But if I add a 3rd or 4th finger, it’s so fast I can’t even count it.

So this has me looking to adding a finger or two. Seems like index, middle and ring à la Billy Sheehan will get me closest to the sound I’m used to and that thumb + index, middle and ring à la Matt Garrison is more of a free stroke thing that sounds cool but maybe isn’t as applicable to most music.

Has anyone gone down this road? Was it worth it?
 
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#3
Ggaa said:
Try to use all four, ime that makes the other three viable sooner. And I can kinda use the pinkie, but I have to practice with them all.
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In messing around with 4, it feels really natural but I can’t dampen anything with my right hand. I do the moveable thumb anchor thing and that goes out the window. How do you deal with that?

Also, are you able to do rest strokes or just free strokes?
 
#5
Docduval said:
For playing 16ths, easiest is to try and develop your 2 finger speed. 3 fingers is mostly for easy triplets. And my pinky is useless. Find songs you like just above your comfortable speed level and play it once or twice every session. You’ll be amazed by what 2 fingers are capable of.
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I’ve really tried. For months I’ve been focusing on speed. Can’t top 16ths at 80 bpm. Like maybe in 3 months I could get to 85bpm. But “What Is Hip?” is 30-40 seconds of straight 16ths at like 105. “Come On, Come Over” is 110bpm. It doesn’t feel attainable for me in this lifetime honestly. Just have slow hands.
 
#9
Honestly you should learn “For Once In My Life”. 2 finger plucking. If you say you “can’t” do something, well you will never get better. Scotts bass lessons has plucking technique videos that will help you. Learn as much James Jamerson as you can. Push yourself. If you don’t, you will never get better.

my favorite tip for fingerstyle is to turn your amp up! You don’t have to pull the be-jeezus out of the strings. In fact, I like to pluck as lightly as possible to get my desired tonal effect.
 
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#11
cjac9 said:
I’ve really tried. For months I’ve been focusing on speed. Can’t top 16ths at 80 bpm. Like maybe in 3 months I could get to 85bpm. But “What Is Hip?” is 30-40 seconds of straight 16ths at like 105. “Come On, Come Over” is 110bpm. It doesn’t feel attainable for me in this lifetime honestly. Just have slow hands.
Click to expand...
Then by all means, try 3 fingers. Try 1,2,3 or 3,2,1. Which ever order your fingers are most comfortable with and just start playing. For me it’s really hard to get a good even sound this way, but it is possible. But I think you will find this is even harder than using just 2 fingers.

With 2 finger playing, can you do bursts? Short bursts of like 2 notes that are faster than what you can sustain long? If so, try doing that more. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Slowly add more notes to it.
 
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#12
You have to find a way with two fingers.

Three fingers won’t oscillate correctly on a song like what is hip.

You can do it. Just find a progression of songs that speed up from 80 to where you want to be.

40 seconds is great for a first try. Try adding 20 seconds more each week.

Every song (mostly) including what is hip have little moments of rest or reset to shake it out and keep going.

Also, there are ways to fake it when your hand gets tired mid-song. Do whatever it takes. You got this.
 
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#13
Might be time for a few sessions with a qualified in-person bass instructor. Dont just pursue this one issue, make the most of it and get a full technique critique, and a list of things you can do to improve overall.

Another possibility, though not a fast solution. Spanish guitar. I learned to use all 5 fingers on the right hand. For bass that's not practical (for me) because of the muting, so depending on the song either the thumb or pinky hand edge gets main muting duty, leaving 4 fingers available.

But, for quicker fix. As mentioned above a very light touch with the amp carrying the workload is a good step. Also, for repeated notes can you strike the string twice? Once down and once back up? Just a light flick, like a guitar pick, very easy to get what you are looking for at well over 120. Does the alternating hit sound the same in both directions? No. Is it close enough for live performance? Often.
 
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#16
cjac9 said:
I need to add at least finger to my right hand technique. I’ve been playing for 25 years with alternating 2 fingers. Rest strokes.

The fastest I can play 16ths cleanly, on a good day, is 80 bpm. There’s so much music I can’t play. I’m not talking shredding or fusion solos. I’m not that interested in that. Just normal bass lines in popular music. I can’t play Jamerson lines like “For Once In My Life” or a lot of fingerstyle funk. A lot of fills in bass lines I can otherwise play are out too.

I was curious so I tapped my fingers on my leg as fast as I could. 16ths at 120 and not for very long. That’s not very fast.

But if I add a 3rd or 4th finger, it’s so fast I can’t even count it.

So this has me looking to adding a finger or two. Seems like index, middle and ring à la Billy Sheehan will get me closest to the sound I’m used to and that thumb + index, middle and ring à la Matt Garrison is more of a free stroke thing that sounds cool but maybe isn’t as applicable to most music.

Has anyone gone down this road? Was it worth it?
Click to expand...
I went down this road before. My main issue was breathing. Make sure you keep breathing properly while playing fast passages. I would hold my breath during hard, fast parts (think Tower of Power stuff). Once I got over that issue, it was just a matter of adding a finger. My really fast licks are achieved by hitting the strings with the pad of my finger and then again with the back of the finger on the way up. Two fingers become four. I've never really seen anyone else do it, but surely someone on here does. Honestly, at this point I don't even know what my plucking hand is doing. It just does whatever I need it to. It's wierd.
 
#17
It's time for some in-person lessons, one-on-one with a skilled tecaher. Someone who can show you what you're doing wrong and stop you right there fifty times in a row if so required. Internet courses are fine for many things, but for this particular issue I believe that you'd be better served by spending some $$$ on a qualified instructor.

My $.02 only...

Good luck.
 
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#18
SC Bassboy said:
I went down this road before. My main issue was breathing. Make sure you keep breathing properly while playing fast passages. I would hold my breath during hard, fast parts (think Tower of Power stuff). Once I got over that issue, it was just a matter of adding a finger. My really fast licks are achieved by hitting the strings with the pad of my finger and then again with the back of the finger on the way up. Two fingers become four. I've never really seen anyone else do it, but surely someone on here does. Honestly, at this point I don't even know what my plucking hand is doing. It just does whatever I need it to. It's wierd.
Click to expand...
How do you handle string dampening when playing with 4 fingers?
 
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#19
It’s weird - I was always a pick player (still am) and when I needed used a 2 finger approach. Sometime like 15 years ago I picked up the most beautiful sounding acoustic guitar (2 x Mahogany Hohner from the 70’s both were made from the same wood and have consecutive S/N actually have two one normal size the other smaller body and that’s the sweetest finger pick tone I ever heard)

I spent a lot of time that year playing acoustic to the point I was going to play in an acoustic band etc and it fell through. What I was left with was a very modified approach to using my fingers with bass… I still do a 2 finger approach, but there are times I bring my thumb in and also use the rest of my fingers like you would finger picking a guitar. I also was just showing my wife last night raking technique and using 2 and 3 fingers to rake (sweep).

A good friend of mine had an odd technique that I picked up as well - one finger per string much like people do with their fretting hand but also with his picking hand (he uses a lot of techniques - he’d even lightly rub just over the saddles to effect the decay of the notes during melodic parts - was very musical).

I can honestly say my finger pick technique has been evolving my whole playing life.

Bringing the pinky in was different.

I guess what I’m saying is - figure out what works for you.
 

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