We have a few new ideas for our Woodshed section, and several involve y'all. Keep checking the forum for cool opportunities to get your voice heard in BP more often.

What's your best playing tip? That one pearl of wisdom that has wedged itself into your musical subconcious; that juicy little warmup you always want to show somebody; that lydian lick that never fails to get a "damn!" out of your horn player. Maybe it's a record you think everyone one of us has to hear (and try to think outside the usual-suspect box). Whatever it is, we want one incredible insight that changed your playing for the better.

Please reply in this thread, and if there's music involved, try to attach as a PDF or scan the notation and post in the forum.

Thanks.

Jonathan Herrera
Senior Editor
Bass Player Magazine

Hey Jonathan:

The thing that immediately comes to mind for me is 4-finger plucking and some of the other odd-ball techniques that I use. By 4-finger plucking (or 4FP as I like to call it), I mean plucking sequentially using index + middle + ring + pinky. I like music that grooves, and am a firm believer that the bass is a groove instrument (usually along with the drums). Far too often, I think 3 and 4-finger plucking gets associated with "shredding" a la Billy Sheehan. There's nothing wrong with that, but those techniques can also be used for much more than just shred. You can do some quite interesting grooves by combining groups of 1, 2, 3, and 4 notes into unique or unique-sounding rhythms.

In a nutshell, the more fingers you use to pluck, the more staccato the notes auto-magically come out. Without even building up any unusual speed, this characteristic is incredibly useful in and of itself. Want to do a Rocco Prestia type of groove without the left hand muting and resulting left-arm aerobic workout? Use more fingers to pluck with and the notes will already be more staccato, without requiring any additional muting. One difference to note however is that the notes will be bright and staccato with 3FP and 4FP, versus thumpy and staccato with other muting techniques (such as left-hand muting and right-hand pinky muting). I should also mention that if you get 4FP under your belt, then you've essentiall already mastered 3-finger plucking as well. You'll have built the necessary finger dexterity, and it'll be only a little bit of practice to get index + middle + ring quite even and consistent.

One of the most common objections or "I can't do it" excuses is that the fingers are different lengths. Well, that's quite true BUT...if you flatten your hand, making it parallel to the body of the bass and keeping your wrist straight rather than bending it downward sharply, you've pretty much nullified the finger length differences. With your wrist flat and fingers bent, each finger can easily contact the strings without any unusual stretches necessary. Plus, keeping your wrist straight/flat is IMO the best playing position anyway...straight wrist equals maximum finger strength and dexterity, and best wrist health!

Here's the most recent example I have that uses a combination of 2, 3, and 4 finger plucking...this is my interpretation of Beethoven's "Fur Elise"...there are a 3 fretless bass tracks and one drum loop.

http://www.ipass.net/davesisk/music/bass/LudwigVenGroovin_FurElise.mp3

I may have another sample or two on fretted bass if this peaks your interest. I think I may have a few exercises in standard notation as PDF files already...if not, I can whip up a few without much difficulty. In general, if you think that right-hand technique material is a worthy topic, I have a quite a few other oddball playing techniques that I find quite useful as well.

Has adopting this technique changed my playing? No question about it...it's enabled me to execute rhythms and play grooves that I really couldn't play any other way.

Best regards,
Dave Sisk

Think before you play; hear it in your head first. This means working on your ear, your creativity. In other words, play the instrument, don't let the instrument play you!

Work with a drummer or drum machine from the beginning, and with a rhythm guitarist and drummer as soon as possible. The most important thing a bassist can learn is how to be cooperative and contributive part of a rhythm section.

"If it ain't working, play less."

"Sing along with some of your practising and kill two birds with one stone - developing you ear and singing as you play."

"Practise arpeggios more than scales."

"Shifting is a technical difficulty for string players. Practise playing, one finger per fret, four successive semitones (e.g. frets 1-4 on G string, play the notes legato - then shiftso that your first finger is on the fifth fret. Practise the shifts to make them smooth and legato."

"Use a looper to practise. your intonation and timing will improve and you'll hear how comfortable your lines are to solo over (or not!)."

"Relax, you'll play better. Smiling helps you relax."

"There's nothing wrong with simple walking basslines making use of the basic triad and seventh chord notes. Masters like Paul Chambers did this all the time."

Always stretch and warm up properly before playing. And try to use proper hand positions.

You'll play better and reduce the risk of injury.

Sorry, not very exciting, but very important.

Another right-hand technique that I use quite frequently is what I call "Pinky muting". This one is actually fairly simple and doesn't require a huge practice investment to master. The idea is really simple...use the pinky of your playing hand to mute the strings you are plucking. You can get a quite "thumpy" sound that is very similar to what you get by placing a piece of foam under the strings near the bridge. The benefit here though is that by doing it with your hands only, you can selectively mute some notes and not others. It would be quite hard to rip out a piece of foam then put it back later WHILE you're playing. You can easily do the sonic equivalent with this technique by simply lifting your pinky off the string, or laying it back on the string. Now, just to be clear here...I AM actually talking about playing muted strings and muting strings that you are plucking, NOT muting unplayed strings.

There are two keys to doing this pinky muting effectively. One is to (guess what?) keep your wrist straight and mostly parallel to the body of the bass, rather than bent downward at a sharp angle. The second is to LIGHTLY lay your pinky on the string you are plucking. It's not necessary to press your pinky into the string to get the muting. To use a visual analogy, lay your hand flat on a tabletop with your fingers comfortably spread. Now, using your thumb and your pinky, lift your palm plus index, middle, and ring fingers off the tabletop. Your hand is "standing" on your thumb and pinky, with the pinky reaching a little further than the thumb. Now, curl your index, middle, and ring fingers, and your hand is now in the right position to pluck with index and middle fingers (and ring finger, if you choose to do so). Take this exact same process and apply it to your bass.

If you start working on this technique, but get cramps in your plucking hand, you are likely pressing your pinky into the string, and you don't need to do this. Simply lay your pinky on the string ligthly...that's all it takes. If you place your pinky right next to the bridge, you get a little bit of muting and dampen a little bit of overtones. If you want more muting and dampening, DON'T press your pinky into the string...simply slide your hand toward the neck! The further you move your hand toward the neck, the more muting you get, up to and including competely dead ghost notes. This is a pretty important concept...use WHERE you place your hand (and thus your pinky) to control the amount of muting and dampening rather than the amount of FORCE that you apply with the pinky.

I don't think I have any samples of this, but I can whip up something fairly easily if this sounds like a good topic. Comparing this to 4-finger picking, the notes are thumpy and staccato, rather than bright and staccato. This is useful for emulating an upright sound on electric bass, executing a bass line that just doesn't *sound right* with the notes more legato, and for emulating some Rocco Prestia style bass lines without using left-hand muting (ie. eliminating the constant position shifting necessary with left hand muting). This is a great technique, and I find that I use it quite a bit. It's quite easy to get the hang of if you just concentrate on not pressing your pinky into the string and practice with it for a few days.

Dave

Best tip: make sure you go to the can before you get on stage.

Breath. Many of my student stop breathing as they play. After about 10 minutes of practice/lesson their playing starts to deteriorate and/or they become frustrated. Here are some things to help give different perspectives on songs and keep yourself breathing. because this is so simple most people at first think this is silly, but once they surpass their ego I have seen many people with happy results. If nothing else, just try and be conscious that you are breathing when you play.

The simplest example is to start with breathing in for 4 and out for 4. In for a measure and out for a measure. If your getting hot on stage breath in ever beat and out ever beat, if its too fast breath ever other beat. This is taking advantage of your bodies natural cooling system just like you dog pants. The longer you take to inhale and exhale the warmer the body gets. Also, if you can control your breath inhale and exhale you can create euphoric experiences(I know this wont get printed) This is similar to the use of group singing that leaves the singer short on oxygen but not so deprived that they get negative effects.

I'm thinking rehearsal/gig/music store etiquette.

Stop twisting knobs, stop buying new gear, start listening to the sound from your bass via your amp and start learning to control your tone entirely with your hands.

Think of the bass as an acoustic instrument and the pickups as microphones. Then think how a 'cellist or a classical guitarist controls their sound - by asking the sound engineer to EQ the output from the mic? No, by letting their hands control how the strings vibrate to get the sound they want to hear.

Some basses/amps will let you get almost any sound you want, whilst other combinations will have a much narrower range of tone. But all of them have a good tone for some purpose and by listening and reacting you will be able to find it.

Alex

P.S. I'm not saying the use of EQ and FX is bad - I'm just saying there are other options which cost less and can often be more musical.

Nice one, sir!

A CD I think every bass player should listen to, regardless of background or expose, is Coheed and Cambria's "In keeping secrets of silent earth: 3". The lines of Michael Todd are both impressively unique, technical, and driving in a style known for picked 8th notes, while nodding to the rock bass god that is Geddy Lee. Very few players can get away with being so busy in three chord prog-emo without losing the groove and drive of the song.

If you want to play walking bass on jazz tunes, learn these six patterns. You will be able to use one of them whenever the next chord is a fifth down or a fourth up.

pdf file

Practice them around the circle of fourths. Alternate using an upward pattern and a downward pattern.

Use various types of chords such as:
||:Cm7|F7|BbMaj7|EbMaj7|Abm7|Dbm7|Gb7|BMaj7|EMa7|Am7b5|D7|Gm7:||

When you use the proper pattern, the listener can hear the next chord coming up.

Dave Sisk - that Beethoven thing you recorded was very cool... enjoyed that.

Cheers
STu

it's not where you put the notes that makes the rhythm, it's their sustain (or lack of) and the spaces in between that makes you tap your foot.

right, i'll learn some english now. sorry for that.

Try and stay fit and eat healthily, try not to indulge in things that would be detrimental to your playing.

A bit preachy I know and not so much a tip or a technique, but I think a healthy body is a factor in your ability to apply yourself to your instrument, especially when bloodflow is so important.

Thanks for the kind words, man. (My intonation is far less than perfect, but I keep trying to convince myself it's only "colorful" and not just plain wrong! LOL). I quite admire your playing as well, Stu!

Dave

I hate people.

Make learning music - becoming a "musician" - your number one priority. Chops and licks are far less important than knowing your music and knowing your instrument.

As I like to say,

"There's no substitue for knowing what you are doing"

or

"Teach the brain and the fingers will follow".

I also hate people. Professionally.

I have a t shirt that says that!

Stu

We know.

As do I. It's my favorite shirt.

I don't need a shirt. I smell like I hate people.
Or is it my smell that makes them hate me?

Learn one scale all over the neck, when you have mastered one scale, you will have mastered them all. Because the first mode is the major scale starting on the second note, the second mode is the major scale starting on the third note etc. The relative minor is the same as the major... only a few scales are not variations of the major scale.

PS: Good post Alex.

Mine too. I wear it everytime I have to go to the Post Office.

Oh yeah, bass tips... be your own worst critic. If it doesn't sound good, admit it, and pull it apart and reconstruct it slowly. Then leave it alone for a week. When you come back to it, it will be easier. Works for me...!

Stu

When you are stuck, as we all sometimes are, the best advice is to put the bass down and walk away for a while.
Look for influences in other places, listen with different ears if you will, and new ideas will often find you.

Also, take the time to warm up. It's not that hard to take a couple of extra minutes to stretch properly, do some breathing excercises, and drink some water, and it'll do you a world of good. On non-gig nights, you can warm up your hands by doing the dishes and earn points with your significant other, if one is present. Telling them about it later usually doesn't carry the same weight.

Peace,

wraub

Thanks for this oportunity Jonathan.

Don't be afraid to let your passion show...be the bassline + give your passion 200% on stage everytime. When your skill level matches your passion...then you shine.

Examine your strengths + weaknesses + be honest with yourself. If you have a tendency to play behind the beat, when you have to play on top let it happen naturally.

Don't concentrate on pocket so much that you sound strained...just let it happen. I always dance when I play...(no, not like Verdine)..just so my body is visable + the drummer sees + feels you.

Only play with the best drummer you can find. If you play with bad drummers, you will get lazy + it will effect your playing eventually.

Don't play loud on stage. Loud bass sonically kills the stage + room. You can actually hear the bass better when it is not loud.

Practise everyday with a drum machine or click. Be rested + have fun. If you are not having fun, maybe it's time to move on.

Best,


Kenny

That is not your smell, Erik. You are smelling the fear of those around you.

[on topic]
In a performance situation learn to hear everything going on around you.

AND PAD THE TIP JAR!!!