2 "Must Know" Plucking Techniques For Bass Players (L#148)

Just under 10 years ago I'd hit a complete road block in my bass playing. I was working on all the usual stuff - time feel, fingerboard and harmony visualization, chord tones, standards... they were all going well, but the one thing that I just couldn't seem to get together was my SPEED!

Now I know... it's not all about speed, but let's face it - at some point or another pretty much all of us want to tear around the fingerboard like the Paganini of bass!

Well, I just couldn't get it together! When I went over a certain speed my lines just became messy and uncontrollable... and it would be the understatement of the century to say this did not drive me absolutely CRAZY!

So enough was enough, I finally decided something had to change. Something within my technique needed to be tweaked, but I just wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Over a 2-3 month period I focused "only" on my technique. I know that sounds crazy, but I really needed to get to the bottom of this, and I would not rest until I did!

I'd break up my time working on different exercises - all with a metronome so I could measure my progress and keep track of what was working, and what wasn't. By the way, if you're not doing this already - start now! It's one of the BIG things I talk about constantly with the members of The Academy. Keeping track of what you're focusing on is an absolute must!

Anyway, back to my story...

Over the first few weeks I started to notice that if I used a free stroke instead of the traditional rest stroke (don't worry all is explained in the lesson below) I could get a faster response from the note being played, and I also felt like I was gaining more overall control of my plucking hand too. As the practice continued on, I felt more and more comfortable with this technique for playing faster lines, and by the end of the 3 month period I had pretty much completely changed my plucking hand technique.

And, I'm happy to report - I finally began being able to play faster lines!

Now, there are a couple caveats to this story...

1. The free stroke technique is NOT for everyone. There are MANY bass players that can play at break neck speed using the rest stroke - you might be one of those guys, and in that case - awesome! The free stroke is not a "silver bullet"... I'd practiced for month upon month using the rest stroke before I switched to using the free stroke. I changed my technique because my original technique wasn't working for me - not because I hadn't put in the hours of practice. Whichever technique you choose - you need to give it a chance before trying something else.

2.Technique changes will absolutely not happen over night. You are re-training your brain, and altering brain patterns when doing so. To find out more about how technique changes take place, go here.

As always, see you in the shed...

Scott :)