Yes, I don’t think we disagree! You need to be very conscious about the voicings when playing chords on bass. And three notes is almost always more than enough on bass!
It’s not really meant to compete with guitar/keys for providing an extended chordal foundation, but it can offer a nice change of timbre and also (rhythmic) pace.
Haha, yes, I usually get a lot of flak for using these. I am not emulating Scott Devine and I (luckily) don’t suffer from focal dystonia, but I have issues with my pinky and onset of arthritis, and these seem to help.
You should be able to find them on Amazon as “musician’s gloves”
Middle… same reason.
I had bought arthritis gloves for my left hand many years back in a pharmacy in Portugal. They were amazing… but forgot brand and can’t find them online.
I played online games semi-professionally and still play to this day… so my middle finger on the left hand is triggering… mostly when it is in the same position for long periods.
I was speaking to an orthopedist and he mentioned some injections… I might try it when I got to Portugal(it’s free and quick in public sector, while in Ireland it is horrible and paid)
If you feel the thumb is sliding too much on the back of the neck, you could cut off the thumb part (as @Al1885 suggested). I don’t have a problem with that though.
The first time I tried some elegant way to just cut off the oval of the thumb pad to prevent messy threads fraying but just make a clean cut works better.
Hey, I hope you don’t mind me saying but I think you could save a bit of cash by buying ‘mechanics gloves’ rather than ‘musicians gloves’. Having worn the mechanic variety I can assure you that you still have the touch sensitivity, but for a better price.
Its all in the name, rather like a posh restaurant menu!
Thanks! Might be worth a try… the one thing that the Musician’s gloves provide (which is important for me) is a kind of support, a bit like compression stockings.
All the other “benefits” (less string noise, faster movement, …) are secondary for me.
I don’t have a handy resource to point you to, alas.
But my advice would be - start with simple 2 note chords.
Everything about chord technique is different than our normal bass playing, so don’t try and jump right to the 3 and 4 note chords, especially if you don’t have a 6 string.
2-note chords would be enough to get introduced to the idea on a 4 string.
Try only using the D and G strings to begin.
The lower the pitch, the harder it will be to get the chords to sound right.
