Help! My 'frowned' on finger style

[Wally]

I started as a punk player with a pick. Older age has brought a mellowing and now I'm back playing I've taken to playing with fingers for the warmer sound.

However I play with my thumb for the downstroke and first two fingers for the ups like a finger playing guitarist does. I beleive that this is not regarded as good technique for bass but I don't know why and wonder and ask what the downside for this is. Its been a very natural way to swap a pick for fingers.

My thanks in advance.

[daz]

If you can play ok like that then id stay with it. Never really been one for convention myself. I too play with a pick, which is getting rare these days.

[steve]

[quote name='daz' post='998447' date='Oct 23 2010, 08:35 PM']If you can play ok like that then id stay with it.[/quote]

+1 if it works for you, gives you the sound and feel you're happy with, then it's the right technique for you

[keeponehandloose]

Im not frowning

[chris_b]

Does your style work? If you can play what you want then it's ok.

[thisnameistaken]

Bass guitar is still only 60-ish years old, play it however works for you. Plucking with the thumb never hurt Brian Wilson. We also opened for a band last month whose bassist was really bossing it and he picked a lot like you.

[King Tut]

Watch Norman Watt - Roy - often uses his thumb to pluck on the E string - awesome bass player!

[Wally]

Thanks all,

Onward I go then, head held high, thumbin a struming, down with the purists.

[iamthewalrus]

[quote name='Wally' post='998445' date='Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM']I started as a punk player with a pick. Older age has brought a mellowing and now I'm back playing I've taken to playing with fingers for the warmer sound.

However I play with my thumb for the downstroke and first two fingers for the ups like a finger playing guitarist does. I beleive that this is not regarded as good technique for bass but I don't know why and wonder and ask what the downside for this is. Its been a very natural way to swap a pick for fingers.

My thanks in advance.[/quote]

It's never done any harm to Sting - he plays a similar way. If it works for you, who's to say it's wrong?

[ahpook]

bass player from pinback plays just the way you've described...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpMPJWcC1Dk&feature=channel"]check out the video here[/url]



2nd mention of pinback today...must be something in the air

Edited October 24, 2010 by ahpook

[dan670844]

[quote name='Wally' post='998445' date='Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM']I started as a punk player with a pick. Older age has brought a mellowing and now I'm back playing I've taken to playing with fingers for the warmer sound.

However I play with my thumb for the downstroke and first two fingers for the ups like a finger playing guitarist does. I beleive that this is not regarded as good technique for bass but I don't know why and wonder and ask what the downside for this is. Its been a very natural way to swap a pick for fingers.

My thanks in advance.[/quote]


If its good enough for Paul Macartney..... who cares, I think he's a pretty fair bassist!

[Chris2112]

If you can get away with playing like that, then great! If you find you start to struggle then maybe adopting a two finger "classic" plucking style would be better. I doubt you'll be able to knock out 16th note finger funk with that style but it all depends on what you're playing.

[daz]

[quote name='Johnston' post='999163' date='Oct 24 2010, 07:18 PM']I tried playing the way you do a few weeks ago. Thought it might take the pressure of some of my ailing joints. But just couldn't get my hand into into a comfy position.[/quote]

dont know if this will help, but when i play thumbstyle i use the bottom tug bar. After all its what it was put there for.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Chris2112' post='999238' date='Oct 24 2010, 08:03 PM']If you can get away with playing like that, then great! If you find you start to struggle then maybe adopting a two finger "classic" plucking style would be better. I doubt you'll be able to knock out 16th note finger funk with that style but it all depends on what you're playing.[/quote]

All the most interesting funk players had kooky idiosyncratic picking techniques.

[jazzyvee]

[quote name='Wally' post='998445' date='Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM']I started as a punk player with a pick. Older age has brought a mellowing and now I'm back playing I've taken to playing with fingers for the warmer sound.

However I play with my thumb for the downstroke and first two fingers for the ups like a finger playing guitarist does. I beleive that this is not regarded as good technique for bass but I don't know why and wonder and ask what the downside for this is. Its been a very natural way to swap a pick for fingers.

My thanks in advance.[/quote]

I'm a guitarist and have been moonlighting on bass for a while now and although I mainly use the first two fingers, I find that I use a technique very similar to yours when I want to palm mute the strings to get a specific type of sound out of my bass. I agree with the others, if the sound you get works for you then it's ok. I wouldn't know what the downside is though I suspect that like many other ways of plucking the string it's different strokes for different folks.

Jazzyvee

[Spoombung]

[quote name='Wally' post='998445' date='Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM']However I play with my thumb for the downstroke and first two fingers for the ups like a finger playing guitarist does. My thanks in advance.[/quote]

That's more or less how I do it (with a few minor variations on the way)

[daz]

[quote name='Chris2112' post='999238' date='Oct 24 2010, 08:03 PM']If you can get away with playing like that, then great! If you find you start to struggle then maybe adopting a two finger "classic" plucking style would be better. I doubt you'll be able to knock out 16th note finger funk with that style but it all depends on what you're playing.[/quote]

James Jamerson, the famous Motown bassist who played on more hits that any other bass player in the world used only a single finger. He managed to get the sixteenth notes by useing the nail side of his finger as well when things speeded up.