speed and accuracy

[Jordan_Frerichs]

just put a thumb rest on my p bass. helps a lot with plain finger playing. now all i need is to work on speed and acuracy, and i will be pick independent! now what are good tips for that? things like not accedntally bumping the wrong string, really fast playing, ect., also starting to get into slap playing, soanything that would apply to that too would also be great.

[Jordan_Frerichs]

another promlem is on the e string i am able to get a strongerpluck, so the other strings don't sound as solid because i have trouble quickly getting under them

[rh15951]

practice practice practice

[oak tree]

I pick downwards, not pluck upwards like you seem to do, I found that if I kind of 'pushed' the string downwards towards the pickups (so that it vibrates at a right angle to the body and pickups rather than parallel to it) with a light touch to avoid buzzing and clicking that I got a much fuller tone, and it makes a consistant attack easier for me too.

[Omega Red]

floating thumb

[Jody LeCompte]

The bassist from a black gospel/shout music group I used to sit in with on the occasional sunday morning service would always tell me "The lighter the touch, the quicker the fingers"

[lemoley]

The bassist from a black gospel/shout music group I used to sit in with on the occasional sunday morning service would always tell me "The lighter the touch, the quicker the fingers"

quoted for tr00f - i also love the fact that you mention the guy is black, not trying to say anything about you just think its a funny trait people have

also to the TS - whats wrong with using a pick? sure i can understand if you just wanna learn a new technique but if you just want to learn as you think playing with a plectrum is bad then your greatly mistaken

if you are just wanting a new technique ignore me :p

[Jody LeCompte]

I didn't say he was black :P Black gospel is a style of music.


....

He was black though.

[lemoley]

oh, i thought it was just 'gospel' :lol:

:thumb:

[Jody LeCompte]

Gospel music is a bunch of honkytonk mother****ers talking about how jesus is real and theyre gonna shout it. Black gospel is like "ARE YA READY FOR A MIRACLE CUZ THE SPIRIT SET ME FREE!" -bass solo-

[lemoley]

:lol:

best defintion of 'Gospel' ever

[Jody LeCompte]

It can't top josh's definition of funk.

"Funk to me is like...-pelvic thrust-"

[lemoley]

ha ha thats a good one too

[EADGC]

for technique, lighter touch + louder amp is the way to go

it allows you to play with less effort, allows you to have lower action, and (imo) produces a better tone on top of that


like Josh said, floating thumb can be useful for fast passages with lots of string skipping as you won't have to focus on muting with your fretting hand


also if you're really serious about speed + accuracy I'd look into a finger ramp. I've never played one personally but they're basically designed for (among other things) to help those two aspects of your playing.

[exit]

whats a finger ramp?? :s

[EADGC]

can't really find a good pic since they are usually designed to blend in with the finish, but

basically just a piece of wood attached (usually not permanently) to the body of the bass between the pickups or sometimes between the neck pickup and the neck. Usually, it matches the radius of the fingerboard and the height is adjustable.

it's for a few reasons, mainly:

- comfort
- having a reference point
- keeping you from digging in too much, which can slow you down
- keeping you from playing too hard (same reason)


Few people use them right now but probably the most well known are Gary Willis and Matt Garrison

[exit]

seems like a nice tool to practice

[rh15951]

for technique, lighter touch + louder amp is the way to go

it allows you to play with less effort, allows you to have lower action, and (imo) produces a better tone on top of that

The tone I get from playing harder with a loud amp is a sexy overdriven tone and that's with seriously low action (Of course will differ from bass to bass etc)

[EADGC]

The tone I get from playing harder with a loud amp is a sexy overdriven tone and that's with seriously low action (Of course will differ from bass to bass etc)


I know what you mean (I use it too for effect sometimes) but I think it's more fretbuzz than overdrive

when I want overdrive I use my overdrive pedal :cool: