Rest Strokes

[simonchupon]

Hi all.

I've just started using rest strokes in my technique. Previously I played free stroke (coz thats how I thought it was done...)

Anyways I've got the the technique down pretty well but the one thing I cannot overcome is that thudding sound you get when resting a finger on an adjacent string. Say I'm plucking the D and rest on the E a faint (but audible) thud comes out. Its a lot more noticible when playing closer to the bridge (as I do). I thought I was plucking too hard but even the lightest of strokes causes this thudding sound.

Watching someone like Rocco Prestia/Jaco plucking fairly hard using rest strokes and not having any extra unwanted noise from the string's they rest their fingers on leads me to believe I'm doing something wrong.

Any help is much appreciated

[bremen]

[quote name='simonchupon' post='445893' date='Mar 26 2009, 12:35 PM']Hi all.

I've just started using rest strokes in my technique. Previously I played free stroke (coz thats how I thought it was done...)

Anyways I've got the the technique down pretty well but the one thing I cannot overcome is that thudding sound you get when resting a finger on an adjacent string. Say I'm plucking the D and rest on the E a faint (but audible) thud comes out. Its a lot more noticible when playing closer to the bridge (as I do). I thought I was plucking too hard but even the lightest of strokes causes this thudding sound.

Watching someone like Rocco Prestia/Jaco plucking fairly hard using rest strokes and not having any extra unwanted noise from the string's they rest their fingers on leads me to believe I'm doing something wrong.

Any help is much appreciated[/quote]

First time I heard the terms 'rest stroke' and 'free stroke'. I always used to use what apparently is called rest strokes but like you say, it goes 'thud'. So I now play free strokes (if that's what it means by 'just not playing on that beat'). Seems to work OK.

So am I now doing it wrong?

[simonchupon]

[quote name='bremen' post='445902' date='Mar 26 2009, 12:40 PM']First time I heard the terms 'rest stroke' and 'free stroke'. I always used to use what apparently is called rest strokes but like you say, it goes 'thud'. So I now play free strokes (if that's what it means by 'just not playing on that beat'). Seems to work OK.

So am I now doing it wrong?[/quote]

My understanding of rest/free strokes; rest - plucking finger follows through and rests on the adjacent string
free - as above without the rest. Finger pulls toward the palm.

Personally I use both technique's. Its less of a 'thud' when playing away from the bridge so I use it there more. Also the thud is drowned out when playing along with music/a band. It just baffles me when watching a tutorial vid when they play rest stroke and it sounds so clean...........

[RobEvansBass]

I have to say this is the first time i've heard those two terms, rest stroke and free stroke...and it turns out i've played rest stroke ever since i started and i've never noticed that thud so here's a couple of things to think about. They may or may not be of any use...

1. That 'thud' sound is only audible when the instrument is not amplified. I noticed it when playing a note and my fingers hit the pick-up on the way to the string. If this is the case it won't be an issue when playing with a band because the tapping on the outer casing of a pick-up won't be amplified.

2. The notes played on a tutorial video are so much louder than the thud and happen at close enough the same time so that the thud becomes irrelavent and un-heard. Check out Johnny Rabb's explination of the free-hand drumming technique (somewhere on youtube) where he connects with the rim but it's not heard because the sound of the skin overwhealms it.

3. The sound of the string you're landing on only actually makes a sound if you allow that string to contact another part of the bass. I've been playing about with trying to make a thud sound and if you just hit the string with your plucking finger perpedicular to the string it doesn't thud. The only way i can make it thud is by making the rest string either touch a pick-up or the fret-board.

Not sure if that helps but the more confidence you play with the less you'll notice anything but the notes you're playing.

Peace,
Rob

Edited March 26, 2009 by RobEvansBass

[mcgraham]

Obviously I'm not seeing or hearing you play so I am only speculating, but I think this is more or less normal for rest strokes where your plucking finger 'follows through' the string being plucked to 'rest' on the string below. The string below stops the motion of the finger this way. Through doing so you are effectively 'hitting' the string below, albeit muted. Gary Willis actually discusses this in one of his videos as a reason to use the rest stroke. He says (paraphrasing) that by following through you get this audible 'thump', which adds to the fullness of each note you pluck, this being a desirable trait on bass.

From personal experience, it happens. Just the nature of following through with your finger. However, there are ways around it such as using free strokes, having your finger stopped by the pickup/ramp etc. If you are too heavy handed then perhaps lighten up to reduce the thud, and work on controlling the range of motion of your fingers so you're not absolutely smacking the lower strings.

In short, if it doesn't sound right to you, don't do it! Make sure to try different things, and to try them in context (i.e. in a band/playing along to a song etc).

Mark

[Sibob]

Regarding the 'Thud', Is it actually that whilst resting your thumb on a string, you're pushing it down so it makes contact on the pole-pieces of the pickup. Obviously one being a magnet and one being metal gives you a fairly noticeable thud through your amp!

Si

[The Funk]

[quote name='RobEvansBass' post='445971' date='Mar 26 2009, 01:39 PM']3. The sound of the string you're landing on only actually makes a sound if you allow that string to contact another part of the bass.[/quote]

I watched some of that Gary Willis tutorial on youtube and he kept accidentally pinching harmonics slightly with each rest stroke.

[mcgraham]

[quote]I watched some of that Gary Willis tutorial on youtube and he kept accidentally pinching harmonics slightly with each rest stroke[/quote]

I don't think that was the rest stroke. If you pluck a note then quickly move your next plucking finger onto the plucked string (ready to do another pluck, as Gary Willis advocates) it can set up an artifical harmonic, i.e. starting oscillation of the string but stopping certain harmonic frequencies from ringing = artifical harmonic. It is of course still possible with a rest stroke, as you are similarly introducing energy into a string but preventing it from freely oscillating by said follow through.

Mark

[alexclaber]

This left me puzzling. Have investigated my technique and it appears that when I'm doing what looks like a rest stroke my plucking fingers are coming to rest against my thumb, not against the string below. Anyone else like this?

Alex