Which Technique(s) Are You Practicing At The Moment?

[Baloney Balderdash]

As the headline says I am curious to know if you are focused on practicing any specific techniques in particularly at the moment, and in which case which?

 

Personally, though while of course practicing many other things as well, I in particularly at the moment focus my practice on getting better at and incorporating my ring finger in my string plucking, that is whenever I otherwise use traditional two finger plucking technique or classical guitar finger picking technique, instead of just alternating in between respectively index/middle finger or thumb/index/middle finger. 

 

It still doesn't really come naturally, but am surprised at how quickly I am actually getting a hang of it, and already am able to do so fairly consistently, even if it does still require of me to really focus and concentrate to be able to do so, and I do still mess up frequently.

 

Also where I am now it doesn't really allow me to play any faster than when just using my index and middle finger, that is except for when galloping, which definitely is a whole lot easier using three over just two fingers, and it does give a bit of a different feel/tone than just using two fingers as well, not least because the plucking done with the ring finger naturally will be closer to the bridge than the other two fingers.

 

I also, though far less systematically, have started to practice on getting better at and incorporating tapping into my play. 

 

The hardest part here I feel is getting a hang of incorporating it naturally into my play, but I definitely can see a huge potential for doing some rather amazing stuff with it once really getting a proper hang of it. 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Fishfacefour]

I'm tentatively dipping my toe in to some slap. Mainly because there are a couple of phrases in a song I'm learning that flow better with thumb/pop alternation rather than normal finger style. 

Trying little bits daily to get the basics under my fingers but main practice is revisiting some tricky songs for a new potential band. 

[Waddycall]

Having given up on bands for a bit I’ve decided to focus on fretless playing and now only have an unlined fretless. 

Im actually enjoying practicing scales and chords up and down the neck against drones to get my intonation in. So far pretty good up to 10th fret. Surprising what a différence headphones make. With headphones on my intonation seems much better than playing through a cab! I probably need to turn the headphones down a bit.

[Waddo Soqable]

Don't be like me kids... but I pretty much never practice as such, unless you call sussing something out "practice".. I find I can just do what I need to do after years of doing it.

I had a big chunk of time away from playing a long time back and found I could just jump back into it, much to my own surprise I have to say. 

Maybe I should get a cheapo fretless or something different and have a go at that, although I'm no great fan of fretless in any sense it might be "fun" 😁

[Fishfacefour]

Getting my cheapo fretless has pushed my fretted skills. I'm much more conscious of my (lack of) precision with notes and rhythm placement. It also has the benefit of making my fretted bass feel easier to play. 

[Simon C]

My main goal for 2023 is to improve my muscle memory and to trust it, so I don’t have to look down at the fingerboard all the time.  It’s going ok.  I video my self approximately once a month and post it to YouTube or Vimeo, and I can see improvement.  However for this month’s effort it was a more complex bass line that moved all over the neck, so I went easy on myself and allowed myself to look down - I’d have never got the line down if I’d been looking up most of the time.

 

I play fretted and fretless.  I do think that having good technique and fretting just behind the fret (on a fretted bass) translates to better intonation on the fretless, so I try to be accurate when playing the fretted bass.  In turn this allows me to trust my muscle memory when playing fretless.

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 27/05/2023 at 10:16, Waddo Soqable said:

Don't be like me kids... but I pretty much never practice as such, unless you call sussing something out "practice".. I find I can just do what I need to do after years of doing it.

I had a big chunk of time away from playing a long time back and found I could just jump back into it, much to my own surprise I have to say. 

Maybe I should get a cheapo fretless or something different and have a go at that, although I'm no great fan of fretless in any sense it might be "fun" 😁

While I occasionally will practice scales, chords and techniques more systematically, mostly neither do I really, not in a traditional sense of the word, as in strict repetitious practicing for the sake of the exercise itself, at least.

 

Usually my practice consist of several shorter jam session, lasting everything from 10 minutes to an hour, during a day, where I will play original stuff written by myself, improvise, and write/compose new riffs and parts, however that obviously implies practicing on improvising and writing/composing riffs, and beside that I will incorporate more traditional practicing as an integrated part of these jam sessions, like for instance using new techniques, as well as I frequently write/compose stuff that I actually have difficulties playing, thus turning into a challenging practicing session as well improving my playing skills, but while working on something actually meaningful and purposeful in itself.

 

I never really got the point of strict repetitious practicing for the mere sake of practicing itself, this way it actually have a practical purpose and gets introduced/incorporated naturally into my playing, all the while I am really just having fun playing.

 

Also it motivates me to actually play and practice more than I otherwise would if I was to do strict practicing of repetitious exercises for any given amount of time just for the sake of the exercise itself, but while still challenging myself and improving my skills at playing bass.

 

It might not seem as effective, but the actual end result is that it turns out more progress and constructive development of my playing than would otherwise had been the case.

 

Why absolutely force yourself to turn playing into, in itself pointless, tiresome hard work and a mind-numbingly boring chore, when you can achieve more by just actually having fun playing.

 

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Waddo Soqable]

6 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

While I occasionally will practice scales, chords and techniques more systematically, mostly neither do I really, not in a traditional sense of the word, as in strict repetitious practicing for the sake of practicing, at least.

 

Usually my practice consist of several shorter jam session, lasting everything from 10 minutes to an hour, during a day, where I will play original stuff written by me, improvise and write new riffs, however that obviously implies practicing on improvising and writing riffs, and beside that I will incorporate more traditional practicing as an integrated part of these jam sessions, like for instance using new techniques, as well as I frequently write/compose stuff I actually have difficulties playing, thus turning into a practicing session as well, improving my playing skills.

 

I never really got the point of strict practicing for the mere sake of practicing, this way it actually have a practical purpose and gets introduced/incorporated naturally into my playing, all the while I am really just having fun playing.

 

Also it motivates me to actually play and practice more than I otherwise would if I was to do strict repetitious exercises for any given amount of time just for the sake of the exercise it self, but while still improving my skills at playing bass.

 

It might not seems as effective, but the actual end result is that it turns out more progress and constructive development of my playing than would otherwise had been the case.

 

Why absolutely force yourself to turn playing into hard work and a boring chore, when you can achieve more by just actually having fun playing.

 

 

That's kind of pretty much what I do too, with emphasis on stuff I've made up.. I'm not involved in anything that requires me to do covers these days so I'd only suss out an existing song thats "out in the world" if I fancied it for a bit of fun or whatever. 

Of course with original stuff the tricky part is creating a cohesive whole piece from the bits, it's very easy to knock out loads of cool riffs all day, but making them into something is more like work ! 

[Baloney Balderdash]

39 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

That's kind of pretty much what I do too, with emphasis on stuff I've made up.. I'm not involved in anything that requires me to do covers these days so I'd only suss out an existing song thats "out in the world" if I fancied it for a bit of fun or whatever. 

Of course with original stuff the tricky part is creating a cohesive whole piece from the bits, it's very easy to knock out loads of cool riffs all day, but making them into something is more like work ! 

Oh, I do that too.

 

But when composing on bass it almost always starts out with just a single riff, and then evolves from there, sometimes even over a longer period of time.

 

In fact these days I really see myself as more of a song writer/composer/producer kind of musician than really an instrumentalist, that just happens to have bass as my preferred instrument of choice (even if I have done plenty of work not evolving around bass as well). 

 

I don't really see composing as work though, the actual work part for me doesn't come until the post-production phase, that is the editing and mixing finishing part of the creation of a finished track/product, which predominantly is just work for me, even if I do kind of enjoy that part of the process as well.

 

Also I do enjoy playing and improvising over the melody parts of non original songs every once in a while as well.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Richard R]

Various exercises, arpeggios and broken scales. I have a problem (which is almost resolved) in that I tend to leave my thumb still and stretch for notes. No problem for my little finger, but when I go back towards the headstock I mis-fret with the index. So I am practicing a lot of arpeggios etc and trying to move my hand more while being fluid. And I am not consistent on quick fills either, the timing is out.

 

It is repetitive, but not boring as I can see the (slow) improvement.  The goal is to be able to smoothly play and improvise whatever comes into my head given a chord chart, and for me at this stage- that is all down to having good enough technique.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I admit to not really having followed up further on tapping much.

 

But I just decided to start it up again.

 

This time also practicing on using both my index, middle and ring finger for tapping, instead of just my index finger.

 

We'll see fi I forget to follow up on this, this time as well, but for now it is my intend to practice this.

 

Luckily my main basses does respond very well to tapping, so not too hard.

 

Again the most challenging part really I find is to practice it to a point where it becomes an integrated part of my playing and composing, and not just disjointed focused technique practice.   

 

I did get the part of integrating my third, ring, finger, that I mentioned in the OP, into my playing down though, even if I do not actually use it very often, but at least now I am able to if needed. 

 

For galloping, though I do not exactly do much of that, unless feeling like channeling my inner Stave Harris, I do find using both index, middle and ring finger crucial, no idea how other people, and Steve, manage to do that with just two fingers.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Baloney Balderdash

[Bilbo]

Reading. Always reading. It takes me to places I not would otherwise go. Other techniques are developed in order to meet the challenges presented by the dots e.g. time, scales, arpeggios, position playing etc.

[nekomatic]

I always think we talk a lot about what bass to play and what to plug it in to but not enough about how we actually play it, so I'm not sure why I didn't spot this thread originally. Let's keep it going!

 

I always start with a plucking hand evenness/consistency exercise, which is good for getting into the practicing zone: repeated notes on one string at a time, probably 4 notes per slow metronome beat, cycling through quiet/medium/loud, trying to make it as smooth and even as possible. Then probably a fretting hand exercise which would be choosing a pattern e.g. 1/4/3/2, 2/3/4/1 etc etc and playing that in the same position on each string, again keeping time to the slow metronome. And something with string crossing like a scale in thirds. These are all from the SBL Technique Accelerator course which I started something like four years ago and still haven't finished. Recently though I've also dug out a Carole Kaye book I found in a bargain bin once (Electric Bass Lines vol. 3, I think) which has half a page or so of 'walking bass' patterns for each scale and am working through them as reading exercises, as my reading is shocking especially in bass clef. What I want to try and include is some shifting exercises, because I think that needs improvement (and is what comes next in the SBL course), and probably some more of the scales-in-xths stuff as that feels like it ought to help with jazz lines. 

 

[Reggaebass]

To further improve my playing I’m working on a couple of Sean Hurley basslines, so I’m paying extra attention to the ghost notes and working on them separately, really enjoying it 

[Richard R]

On 31/05/2023 at 12:21, Richard R said:

Various exercises, arpeggios and broken scales. I have a problem (which is almost resolved) in that I tend to leave my thumb still and stretch for notes. No problem for my little finger, but when I go back towards the headstock I mis-fret with the index. So I am practicing a lot of arpeggios etc and trying to move my hand more while being fluid. And I am not consistent on quick fills either, the timing is out.

 

It is repetitive, but not boring as I can see the (slow) improvement.  The goal is to be able to smoothly play and improvise whatever comes into my head given a chord chart, and for me at this stage- that is all down to having good enough technique.

 

Update:

Still have this problem. Probably because I barely played let alone practiced last year.

 

[Sean]

Reading. 

Pick technique. 

Latin Rhythms. 

 

[Bagman]

using a plectrum and using different plectrum gauges 

[Sean]

6 hours ago, Bagman said:

using a plectrum and using different plectrum gauges 

I love swapping out plectrums and using different gauges for different approaches. 

I received some Dunlop Gator .96mm yesterday, they feel lovely with the Spectors. 

I've been using Tortex "The Wedge" 0.88mm recently, they're just a bit pointier. 

Iron Gear delrin 1.25mm picks are fab too. 25p each plus P&P of course. 

 

 

[Sean]

Today's practise session is going to be walking bass over Jazz Blues progressions. I'm really rusty but optimistic that it'll come back to me. 

[itu]

Do it with four beat first. Walking is much easier after that.