wishface Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 does anyone know any good exercises for dealing with string skipping and alternate picking - ie helping with the weaker finger playing octaves and the like. If you take a line such as Friday by Sly and Robbie, which is quite a simple line, because the octave lick falls on my weaker finger I struggle to keep it in time. How to correct this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Bajo Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Best way in my opinion is to take that lick, dig out the metronome and just play it slowly as possible increasing the speed in small increments until your comfortable with it. Or you could put the lick through a slowdowner program so you have something to play too. How do you currently play? 2 or 3 fingers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishface Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 i play 2 fingers. Not really interested in three finger playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Bajo Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Problem with exercises is that they are boring and not very musical. They served a purpose when I began but never have I encountered a musical piece that is similar them. Use the lick as the exercise and practice up moving up a fret as the feel lower down the fretboard is different to past the 12th fret. Also forget what the left hand is doing and metaly concentrate on the right hand watching it very move until your happy with the sound it produces. Bare in mind that you may revert back to the smae problem. After 16 years of playing I sometime snotice how my right techniques gone sloppy so I retrun to basics and slow down licks to correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishface Posted August 10, 2012 Author Share Posted August 10, 2012 sorry, what lick are you referring to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XB26354 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Take the line, start it with your index and play through at a speed where you can control it. Do the same starting with your middle finger instead. Do this with every line you learn and the inconsistency will go away. Gary Willis once said that bass players often learn through their left up hand so the right (picking) hand just makes do, which is fine until it has do something complex, then it all falls apart. I had the same problem the first time I was asked to play What Is Hip? took quite a while do get the "weaker" finger startup be as even as the "strong" finger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dSix Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 The way I learned string skipping (and I suppose it helped with alternate picking as well) back when I started out was by learning Plug in Baby by Muse. It's relatively simple note-wise but it should help you to build up some finger strength as the verses consist of octave walks. Give it a shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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