I’m at Module 11, Lesson 5 and so far it has been a blast! I am a drummer in our church and am now starting to play Bass during small fellowship services, it’s great!
But I am having a very hard time following the alternate finger plucking rule (index & middle finger), so I kind of ignored it and just did what it feels right for me, index as the main weapon and middle as the secondary weapon.
So most of the time, I’m doing index finger plucking and only using my mid-finger when I feel like I need to… (Eg. M11 L5, I can’t do it perfectly with alternate plucking but I can easily finish it ‘perfectly’ with index plucking only)
I don’t know if being a drummer somehow made it hard for me lol. I feel like my index is programmed to do most of the job as it somehow feels connected to the hi-hat and mid-finger to snare drum lol. It’s like, I can’t use my middle finger at will lol but it somehow functions like an emergency plucker esp when doing flams on bass. (I hope that made sense).
So will this affect my progress in the future? Is it a bad practice?
Rigs:
Yamaha TRBX304 and a Tiny Boy Jazz Bass
Focusrite Scarlet Solo Gen 4
Bandlab + Amplitube 5
KZ ZS10 Pro IEM
Edifier RT1700BT
Short answer: yes and no (or, as the saying goes in here: it depends).
There is plenty of music where you can “get away” with playing only with your index finger (James Jamerson apparently did that a lot and look at his legacy )
However, it is much better to do that by choice (i.e., to get a certain tone or feel or plucking consistency etc.) instead of by necessity (i.e., that is all you can do). And for that reason, and if you want to be more versatile and not impeded by “bad” technique later on, it is quite essential to accept the fact that alternate picking should be part of your toolbox.
It is easy to ignore this and continue like you do, and much harder to say “OK, I’ll need to take a step back and start slowly over with getting this technique learned”. You need to, indeed, sit down and pluck one note/string all day long - with a metronome - and start slow and then increase the speed gradually, always paying attention to consistency in the plucks and staying on the rhythmical grid.
I can’t imagine this being much different from when you learned paradiddles and other rudiments on the drums
And… when I say “all day long”, I really mean 10 minutes a day of focused plucking exercises should do the trick. Remember to start slow, even if it feels like the most mind-numbing thing to do!
I agree with Joerg.
I also had trouble with alternate plucking for a couple of weeks but it eventually becomes second nature.
I also liked the exercises in Josh’s video on alt/raking:
By the way, Julia Hofer just posted a warm up video that has an exercise that would be perfect for you (it starts just before the 3 minute mark).
Of course, use smaller increments than she does here (perhaps 5 bpm every time) and don’t go much higher than, say, 170 bpm. Naturally, this can be adjusted as you get more comfortable with higher speeds.
Hopefully, you have a good metronome app that lets you program such exercises!?!
I’m guessing most of the material you’re playing can be played with one finger, so you aren’t really forcing yourself to alternate. Try playing a string of 16th notes with just the index and you’ll quickly realize why alternating is an essential skill. It’s also very easy to practice and you don’t even need a bass to do it. When I first started I would just alternate my fingers on the center console in my truck while driving to work. You can also just chug along on any open string to get a better feel for it. With a little time you’ll just do it without trying or thinking about it!
Okay here’s a short cover of a song I recorded, please let me know if my right hand is doing it wrong , notice that I can’t always do alternate plucks, but at the same time this kinds of feels right. Judge me!
Chose this song coz a part of this song has a bit similar to Module 11
Its not a clean cover, not yet, im still learning
Q: {Insert any question here.}
A̵:̵ ̵I̵t̵ ̵d̵e̵p̵e̵n̵d̵s̵.̵
A: Practice
As far as people saying they do what feel comfortable, I’m convinced that if humans had to wait until adulthood to walk, most of them would still be crawling
Well, first off: good to record and video-tape yourself - when re-watching/re-listening you are assessing your own playing in a more “objective”/detached way and can better see mistakes or shortcomings. So, awesome!!
For most of the chugging parts, I don’t see any bigger issues. What I seem to recognize is something I also struggle with: the tendency to go for what I would call “symmetric” or “mirrored” action, i.e., when you fret with your index finger, you want to pluck with your index finger. When you fret with middle or pinky, you want to pluck with the middle finger.
You could force yourself to practice this to some degree by continuously playing (fretting) alternately C and D (on the A string) with index and middle (or pinky) and plucking first also with index-middle, but then switching to middle-index. As always start slowly and increase the speed gradually. My brain has a hard time fretting with index while plucking with middle and vice versa.
I also seem to see that your middle finger is more dominant/stronger as you use it to accentuate those fifths!?! Nothing wrong with that (if true) - just don’t forget to train your index in a similar way to allow for overall more consistent plucking.
Overall, not too many issues, but I guess you could notice yourself that your index finger struggled a bit when tasked with doing that fill up on the 12th fret and beyond all by itself (around the 1:20 mark)
You could force yourself to practice this to some degree by continuously playing (fretting) alternately C and D (on the A string) with index and middle (or pinky) and plucking first also with index-middle, but then switching to middle-index.
Noted, I’ll try to be intentional with the mirror thing.
I also seem to see that your middle finger is more dominant/stronger as you use it to accentuate those fifths!?! Nothing wrong with that (if true) - just don’t forget to train your index in a similar way to allow for overall more consistent plucking.
I’m using middle instead of index coz I kind of feel that its more possible for me to do the triangle shape riff that I like a lot lol (Eg. D-F#-A or A-C#-E). But after rewatching this video kind of made me think too haha! I don’t know if it’s my dominant finger and my index is being left out, I’ll monitor it consciously
But yeah I still have a long way to go and I’m gonna rely a lot on this forum I can’t even finish Billie Jeans Thanks a lot joergkutter
That’s a great playing @FrankTriesBass your sense of timing is good, and your neck awareness is really good. You know the song well as we can see that when the break toward the end a measure before the fill start you tensed up a bit almost like brace for impact, this is good, much better than deer in the headlight.
Your right hand is doing the job well. It’s your left hand in this case that needs to relax just a bit. The easiest way to achieve that is to practice the song at slower speed. I’d start at 75% then increase 5% increments until you reach 110%. Personally, on a new song and more technical I’d start even lower and at 1% increment.
The benefit is to give you the sense of extra time and you are not rushing so you can complete the note value playing slow also gives your right and left hand to learn to sync and divy up the task and any flaws on notes that played too short will show up and your brain will automatically fill in the rest.
Why practicing pass the original tempo, sure you’d struggle a bit and even miss a few notes but when you come back down at original tempo, you are much more relax. This will have almost a bullet time effect on some songs.
The slow and fast practice would also help your left hand teter tot issue that rob you of the timing as well. While it’s a great technique for energetic and expressive notes you just need to increase your reflex and action to achieve the good timing.
This is one of my video. It address similar issue that you have with alternate plugging and left hand playing. My right hand is on autopilot and I have no idea what I’m using while playing and they are not alternating all the time for sure,
Hope this help.
I’d love to say that I listen to this song while having some coffee in the morning and just tart recording but sadly no,
It’s your left hand in this case that needs to relax just a bit. The easiest way to achieve that is to practice the song at slower speed. I’d start at 75% then increase 5% increments until you reach 110%. Personally, on a new song and more technical I’d start even lower and at 1% increment.
Right! Relax! I’m trying ! Yeah I do like to practice the song as slower tempo, its my stubbornness and excitement that drives me to practice at regular tempo ! I do need to step back tho, I used to drop down the tempo back in the days when I was starting on drums so yeah, I guess it makes sense to do it too on bass Great reminder Al1885 big thanks!
This is one of my video. It address similar issue that you have with alternate plugging and left hand playing. My right hand is on autopilot and I have no idea what I’m using while playing and they are not alternating all the time for sure,
Smooth! by any chance, do you have the tab for this?
Though - what I tell every student that comes to me -
Practice until you can alternate your fingers without thinking about it, as alternating fingers will give you much more flexibility and ability for string crossing and fast passages. Then if you choose to use just one finger, great.
Choice and control is the goal of all good technique.
It won’t stop you from enjoying bass or playing what you want to play, but I still recommend it if you have the desire/focus to practice it.
…So… pretty much a +1 to everything everyone already said.
esp when doing flams on bass. (I hope that made sense).
)
, notice that I can’t always do alternate plucks, but at the same time this kinds of feels right. Judge me! 
