Since I started playing again, I have almost exclusively played with my fingers, and I feel I’ve become quite okay and can manage a lot. But, it takes ages to get up to the same speed that I can manage with a pick (plectrum).
My maximum speed is just below what’s needed for a song we play, “Just Got Paid” by Joe Bonamassa (ZZ Top), and it’s terribly irritating. I can manage 16th notes on the higher strings at 96 BPM, but the open E doesn’t work; I stumble, and it sounds sloppy.
I know it’s a matter of practice, and believe me, I practice, but something else must be needed here. I know we shouldn’t compare ourselves, but here I need some facts, normal progression, etc.
Can I increase by X-X BPM per year? Is it possible to say anything about this? And I need a drill to take me there, maybe @JoshFossgreen already made that video? Also wonder if I practice too much, maybe that is why I don’t get any faster? Hmmm…
Speed comes with relaxation (no tension in the plucking hand, and ideally everywhere in the body), economy of motion, and dedicated practice.
As has been said countless times: slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
So, what might seem counterintuitive is the key: practice slower than full tempo. This will allow your brain and hands to completely produce clean, fluid motions and bass lines.
Once you’ve achieved that, it’s time to “boil the frog,” i.e., increase your bass line practice tempo incrementally, gradually, while still being mindful to play the line cleanly. Don’t speed up too soon or your technique will become sloppy and will fall apart.
This process takes time and concentrated discipline, but it does work. You got this. Just take it easy. Take it as slow as you need to play cleanly as you train your hands and brain to eventually operate on autopilot. Good luck.
You will be able to increase your bpm as you become more used to playing fast, but nobody can give you a prediction on the rate (i.e., how many bpm/year).
It is in fact possible that you practice (one thing) too much. Forcing it is not the solution. Try to NOT practice this for a few days (perhaps a week) and see how it feels as you come back to it.
By the way, a nice exercise for building up speed and stamina is the exercise Julia is doing here from around 2:50 in the video:
I think this may be because of the lack of a “lower” string as the backstop for your fingers. Try and see if you can’t play this much better on the E-string of a 5-string bass
I have always thought that starting slowly is the way when I am going to learn riffs, etc.
For picking speed, I have thought more like a workout where one constantly has to push the limits. Hmm, here I have simply been wrong.
I also think I need to have more rest, working on a computer all day and then 4-5 hours on the bass is probably too much.
I will try to make a better practice routine for myself, it’s been too much the last months with focus on songs for two bands…
This is different for everyone. When it comes to technical or fast piece of music you can only push yourself physically to a certain point the rest needs the next level of synaptic connectivity.
I usually do the final push by listening and miming along. I do that at 100% to 125% speed. Safe to say that this is not something I read the music along with playing at this point, it’s all memorization and visualization a this point.
As I mentioned on another thread, I also practice with the bass not plugged in a playing along with music track. It’s all about visualization and brain power
We added The Donna’s cover of Dancing With Myself to the set list. It’s 8th notes at 176bpm so effectively 16th’s at 88bpm.
I’m playing it in drop D so it’s tricky to keep it clean.
I basically would play 5 - 15 minutes a day and then stop to try and avoid injury. But repeat it every day until I could play 5 minutes clean. It took me quite a while. One thing that helped for me was to turn up the volume and play lighter on the strings making the amp do the work and not digging in as much as I normally do. This enabled me to play faster and be more relaxed. YMMV.
Yo Al1885
I’m going to give it a concerted effort with this go slow to go fast business.
A part of my Why I play bass is the Rush song YYZ, it is a must I play this song excellently and so far It’s not excellent. It’s mostly the main riff that I’ll fatigue on and then slop out, and there are also other parts.
I went on a YYZ binge and played it 103 times in a five week period and I’m not there yet, I really hoped to have it in the bag by 100 attempts but now I’m not sure when I’ll be there but hopefully before 200.
I haven’t played it in a couple days as taking a break may help, it has helped with every other song I’ve been stuck on.
Its around a 5 minute song so I’ll knock it back to 75% speed and see how that works out. 5 minutes x 103 practice runs, yikes…
Dropping the speed will also be a torture but if that’s what’s needed then that’s what I’ll do, period. = bass is cool.
I will try to get some more brain power then, hehe:-) Tnx, for the tips.
Takes me another year I think, and I am going to play this live 19.04. But will for sure work on that.
Thank you @Barney for sharing the pain, nice to hear that it is not just me.
The song seems simple enough, and I thought the transitions would be the big problem, but it’s actually an open E string that’s stopping me. Hehe:-) I can just play it with a pick, but it doesn’t really help except for right then and there. Anyway, it’s really nice to get confirmation that this isn’t as easy for everyone. For those who want to try, here are the notes. (1) JUST GOT PAID OFFICIAL by Joe Bonamassa @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com
Hey Johnny, long time no Zoom
For me, fast 16ths are still a challenge.
Have you tried playing closer to the bridge on the E-string? I find it easier to play more precisely there, maybe because of the string tension there.
My second tip would be to do interval training. Slow down after going too fast. This helps you check your current limit for clean technique.
I purposely pick a wildly unreasonable tempo first. For me that might be 16ths at 120 bpm - I am reliable up to 90 bpm, given practice and knowing the song. So, when you cut down from 120 to 110 or 100 bpm you might be able to do it.
Sure, you still have to practice slowly afterwards, but this test motivates me and it turns the incremental practice into preparation instead of a marathon slog.
Hi Antonio, hope to see you on Zoom soon:-)
It actually helps to hear that it is also a problem for others, so it’s just to keep on working. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks Ant, I will practice slower, joining the “crowd”.
I still really struggle cleanly playing the fast extra notes sprinkled around Metallica songs, but I do notice an improvement when I manage to stay more relaxed. Easier said than done though!
I can manage 16th notes on the higher strings at 96 BPM, but the open E doesn’t work; I stumble, and it sounds sloppy.
= bass is cool.