basstorius

Funky Dunky if you're at all partial to bluegrass or country music, you could visit YouTube and play along with selected songs using half-note, two-to-the-bar walking lines, as a bridge towards later four-to-the-bar proficiency and an alternative to the usual oompah approach. There's also Buck Owens; I recall a couple of his early LPs - the only ones I ever heard - had tunes with nifty quarter-note walking lines.

Transcribe [i]this: [/i]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb5AyYTrxbM

Drop D is the ticket. You can play the riff an octave lower.

"Wonderland" - Paul Young.

Starter set list! (Cf. Bilbo, above) Straight No Chaser Giant Steps Donna Lee Spain Impressions Blue Bossa Wave The Chicken

Hi Wishface, I would definitely incorporate the 3[sup]rd [/sup]finger into your rh technique. This is a big deal, considering use of [i]a [/i]is a 33% addition to the rh arsenal, if you like. (I’m assuming no pinky.) My model for rh bass technique was always classical guitar ― thumb, 3 fingers. The absence of tension and a balanced, loose right hand seemed paramount; no picks, no anchored pinky resting (?) on the bass. Not if I wanted to keep gigging into geezerhood. For straight–ahead thumping, two fingers are adequate; but what if you’re playing modern chamber music, and the score calls for 3 different notes, 3 different attacks/volumes? Or if it calls for fast triplets (1 note, 1 string)? Or a fast 4–note tremolo pattern, where you have to accent the first note of the 4? What about triplets up or down 3 strings, or arpeggios? You might try another thing I do ― strike the strings with alternate [i]i [/i]and then [i]m/a [/i]together. The two together will balance the stronger [i]i[/i] finger. It could serve as an interim technique, until the [i]a[/i] finger could work independently. You might be able to gig this way, if gigs present a problem to the changeover. Lastly, use it to damp strings – especially the 1[sup]st[/sup] à la Gary Willis. That’s all!