Right hand speed and stamina

[dave74200]

Hi all, I always default to a pick when faced with anything fast paced as my fingers tire really easily. Any tips to improve this? I'd love to play stuff like Metallica and Iron Malden with my fingers but rarely last a verse!!

[itu]

Bass playing is sports just like running. You need to warm up, keep your finger and hand muscles in shape, and train some more. Faster equals only more training.

[Grimalkin]

Play lighter and turn the amp up, that's how you retain energy over distance. One thing you need to tighten up with that is muting, otherwise the extraneous noises will be more pronounced with the extra headroom. Ligaments and tendons work better in straight lines, straighten out the wrist and fingers a little more.

[Tim2291]

On 14/10/2022 at 16:27, dave74200 said:

Hi all, I always default to a pick when faced with anything fast paced as my fingers tire really easily. Any tips to improve this? I'd love to play stuff like Metallica and Iron Malden with my fingers but rarely last a verse!!

Warm up before anything, but an idea I had from an old tutor that helps build stamina in both hands, run a simple single octave major scale up and down with a metronome for a few minutes and then increase the time each time. Use a major scale shape that uses all 4 fingers, of course substitute any scale that does similar!

 

There's also a book called Bass Technique Finger Gym by Simon Pratt that has a lot of useful exercises for improving stamina. 

[TKenrick]

Personally I'm not a fan of exercise/technique books as they generally result in you getting very good at playing the exercises in the book but still not able to perform the music that you might be aiming for.

 

If there's music that you want to play that's above your current technical ceiling then that's what you should be practising, but slow it down, break it into manageable chunks and build up to playing longer/faster sections as the weeks (or months) go by.

 

One thing that often gets overlooked is staying relaxed; if you're tense when you're playing then you'll tire more quickly. Practising slower than you think you need to can help you to focus on releasing unwanted tension from your neck/shoulders/arms/hands, which will in turn help you to learn the habit of staying relaxed at faster tempos. I have a tendency to hold my breath when playing something challenging, which never goes well...

[itu]

If you lean on the corner of the body of your bass, your hand may not like it. Circulation has to work well while playing. It is meaningful to play in front of a mirror and find possible issues with hands. Sometimes a little adjustment of a bass height may help.

[chris_b]

Could you run a marathon without months of training?

 

How does anyone play fast? They start gently and slowly, then build up speed and duration. You'll get there if you give yourself enough time and focus.

[bassbloke]

It's a combination of musle memory and economy of movement.

 

Players like Billy Sheehan and John Myung have spent years making their right hand technique second nature.

 

Steve Harris has an incredibly light touch and makes his amp do the hard work.

[Grimalkin]

If you don't have good alternation together, it will always be a struggle. Alternating while crossing strings is difficult, but that's the kind of ability you should want. Many unsurprisingly, find Rocco's lines hard to play, he was a proponent of strict alternation, if you are raking them, that's going to be hard work if you can do it authentically at all. Raking comes naturally, strict alternation does not.

 

Nothing comes for nothing...

[Reggaebass]

I know you’re playing a different genre but this video might be of use to you, I needed to build up my speed when I thought I would dabble in some funk basslines ,as a lot of what I play isn’t particularly fast, I found it really helpful 

 

[Japhet]

Try to cut movement down to the bare minimum to get the job done. There's some good Rocco Prestia stuff on Youtube.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Japhet