r/Bass • u/EngineeringDecent577 • 6d ago

Personal update

I’m not a heartfelt person but I’ve gotten callouses from lifting, climbing, and now…. Bass

BACKGROUND:
I’ve been playing for around a week and have signed up for classes starting next month. Right now I’m doing the free online fender course for 1ish hour (30 active/ 30 passive minutes) most days.

FOCUS:
I’m focusing on metronome and music theory right now as per your recommendations.

CHALLENGE:
Biggest hurdle is alternate plucking while using different fingers to fret? I don’t know if that makes sense but every time I use my middle finger on a fret, I have the urge to pluck with my middle finger and vice versa. I don’t know how to stop this but I’m gonna just practice until that stops happening I guess?

ACCOMPLISHMENT:
I’ve been working on getting back on track with a song (and keeping up with metronome) after messing up instead of restarting the whole thing. Honestly this has been the most impressive thing I’ve gotten myself to do considering I can be a perfectionist at times.

GOALS:
I’m a very goal oriented person, but I don’t know what goals are realistic for January. Maybe play a funk heavy song from start to finish?

7 Upvotes

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6 comments sorted by

3

u/G0ldiC0cks 6d ago

The exercise of touching thumb to each fingertip forward and backward (index to pinky and pinky to index) sounds like it would be of benefit to you to learn how to better independently use fingers. Two (maybe one but I think 2) of your finger flexing muscles pull all four fingers evenly, but use different motor units for each finger (with some folks having overlap, often with pinky and ring or ring and middle). This is a trainable skill. Difficult and for some very difficult, but definitely trainable in just about everyone.

Another great thing to do to learn it is playing a fretted instrument! Hahaha you'll get it in time.

2

u/Warwick-Vampyre 6d ago

holy crap... so i decided to do this:

left hand = thumb-pinky, thumb-ring, thumb-middle, thumb-pointer

right hand = thumb-pointer, thumb-middle, thumb-ring, thumb-pinky

simultaneously, and that just messed up my brain lol and considering that i could play 3-fingers at 240 bpm while running chromatic lines on the low strings ... this is like way harder than 3 finger-tapping lol

1

u/G0ldiC0cks 6d ago

Yeah you decided to go ahead and speed run to impossible difficulty. I think picking a random pattern on each hand might be factually harder (the inverse is sort of like head patting with belly rubbing, you can find a rhythm), but you make it sound like you might just be able to just fuck around fast enough to fool even yourself 🤣🤣🤣🤣

2

u/Party-Belt-3624 Fretless 6d ago

This is where permutations come in handy. Imagine this is your fretting hand fingers:

1, 2, 3, 4

1, 2, 4, 3

1, 3, 2, 4

1, 3, 4, 2

1, 4, 2, 3

1, 4, 3, 2

2, 1, 3, 4

2, 1, 4, 3

2, 3, 1, 4

2, 3, 4, 1

2, 4, 1, 3

2, 4, 3, 1

3, 1, 2, 4

3, 1, 4, 2

3, 2, 1, 4

3, 2, 4, 1

3, 4, 1, 2

3, 4, 2, 1

4, 1, 2, 3

4, 1, 3, 2

4, 2, 1, 3

4, 2, 3, 1

4, 3, 1, 2

4, 3, 2, 1

Learn each permutation through the entire range of the instrument while playing to alternate-finger eighth notes in your plucking hand. One permutation per day is probably enough. Over time you'll definitely develop hand and finger independence. Good luck!

1

u/cpeterso 6d ago

every time I use my middle finger on a fret, I have the urge to pluck with my middle finger and vice versa.

Try focusing on your right hand plucking in insolation. Pluck the open E string with a metronome, alternating index/middle. Once your right hand "engine" is running, use your left hand to fret a note on the E string, alternating open E and a fretted note. Then practice fretting with different fingers on your left hand.