Another argument in favor of taming flying fingers, you’ll often need to use the fingers that aren’t fretting notes to mute strings not being played. Maybe this got mentioned already and I glossed over it.
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Yeah, sorry I missed that sentence in 40 posts. 
Again, take it from someone who HAS learned bad habits (flying fingers) and is now trying to unlearn them, it would have been MUCH easier to learn proper technique to begin with.
I have been practicing bad technique for years. Flying fingers is baked into my muscle memory. Yes, it might have been slightly harder to learn proper fretting in the beginning, after I’d been playing for a month or so. But that increase in difficulty would’ve been negligible, and would’ve only lasted a few days to a week or so of practicing.
On the other hand, having practiced bad form for years, unlearning that bad habit and learning better technique is something I’ve been working on for months, and I’m still at it. Because the bad form is ingrained in my muscle memory, as soon as I’m not focusing on it, the bad habits resurface. It’s much, much easier (and quicker) to learn a new skill properly (build new neural pathways), than it is to learn it incorrectly, then have to unlearn and relearn it (build new neural pathways while training your brain not to use the well worn pathways it’s already used to). This is true for anything involving muscle memory, not just playing a musical instrument.
Now for someone just learning bass for shits and giggles, who honestly doesn’t care how good they get (or don’t) or how far they go (or don’t), sure just get the song out you want to play. Don’t worry about flying fingers, form, or technique. You do you, as they say. But I doubt someone like that would bother spending time on a forum like this one.
If, however, you do care about improving and reaching your full potential, you’ll be much better off focusing on these things sooner rather than later.
I think the biggest problem with learning bass from YouTube videos, or even a course like Josh’s, is you don’t have an experienced player in the room with you who can look at what you’re doing and point out mistakes, and force you to do things correctly before you build a bad habit. That’s why I would encourage anyone to at least take a few in-person lessons ASAP to at least make sure their form is correct.
Or if that isn’t possible, at least take a video of yourself playing and critique your form, but that can be difficult for a beginner (blind leading the blind).
More than one of my music teachers in the past have pointed out the following to me: The idea that “practice makes perfect” is wrong. PERFECT practice makes perfect.
Also, unlearning these bad habits is terribly unfun. It’s a PITA. I could learn a song from the 50 songs list fairly quickly and be able to play it well enough a non-musician wouldn’t know the difference. But that’s playing with bad technique the way I’m used to. I doubt I could play any of them right now without flying fingers.
That’s why I’m going through BtBA, even though everything BUT the technique is very basic for me. Because those beginner exercises are about all I can handle right now with proper technique, and as soon as I start to play something more challenging, fingers start flying all over the place. It’s super frustrating, and as I said, not fun. I wouldn’t recommend it. It takes discipline to practice when it’s not fun.
So sorry if I sound a bit anal, or it’s my way or the highway, but I’m just trying to help other people avoid the mistakes I’ve made, so they don’t end up where I’m at now. I’d hate to see someone get discouraged and give up over something that’s easily avoided.
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I get what you’re saying here, and I agree, but it seems you may be implying I don’t like “note salad” solos because of a lack of understanding. That definitely isn’t the case. I played in a number of different types of jazz bands in college, and I’ve heard many sax and other players try to compete over how many notes they can fit in a measure. I just don’t like it. I don’t enjoy it. It doesn’t seem very musical to me, more just showing off. And yeah, there are definitely guitar players who do that too. Don’t get me wrong, there are some greats who can/could pull it off and make it musical and awesome, but to me at least, those are few and far between. I’m not saying it’s bad, or that those cats suck. Obviously a lot of people do like that, and I can appreciate the technical ability it takes. It’s just not my cup of tea. 
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That’s a good point. I didn’t get that one in my list.
Oh, it’s not just flying fingers either. I’m also having to work on the alternate plucking. I’m one of those guys whose fingers just seemed to have a mind of their own and do whatever, and as long as I could get the part out I wanted to play, I didn’t care. But my speed was/is severely limited. For example, I couldn’t keep up with the pedal tone in Thunderstruck. Couldn’t play that fast consistently for the whole song.
So sticking with Josh on the strict alternate fingering has been a challenge, and as soon as I lose focus, I lose the pattern. But I’ve been keeping at it, and now I can play the pedal in Thunderstruck at tempo (though still can’t keep it going through the whole song).
Oh, and also, I find it pretty much impossible to focus on the flying fingers and alternate plucking at the same time, so at any given time I can really only focus on one, and who knows what the other hand is doing. If I try to focus on both at the same time, I get all tied up and grind to a halt. But I’ll keep at it and get there eventually.
But yeah, if I could get in a time machine and go back to the beginning and give old Lex a kick in the pants about his terrible form, I totally would.
thank you for your considered reply
the difference perhaps is that for me flying fingers is about finger independence…it is a motor skill, flying fingers is not a bad habit learned its just the pretty natural state of poor finger independence of most people when starting
flying fingers (as part of finger independence) is an intermediate skill I will tackle when and if I feel I need to…since there is no ‘bad habit’ to break it is just a matter of picking the right time to improve this skill for your own bass journey
i work on it but do we really need to care, umm no (IMO, blah blah blah). why? what’s FF’s supposed to do now, slow you down?
btw, i could post a million more examples.
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@GingerBug I’m doing Talking Bass Technique Builder specifically to fix my alternate plucking. Mark really drives home the idea that you want to alternate and use techniques like raking in a very intentional way. I was raking a whole bunch just randomly until Technique Builder and now that’s (mostly) fixed. I actually notate M (middle) and I (index) on my sheet music or tab for which finger is supposed to be plucking when and will sometimes stop part way through just to ‘audit’ my alternate plucking.
My point about how a foreign language (read musical expression) could sound like “note salad” to a non-speaker of that language is that there is often structure, invention, intention and expression in solos that go beyond a show of sheer speed and showing off.
Put another way, even if one does speak and understand the given language, that doesn’t mean he/she will necessarily enjoy a poem recited in that language.
We all like different teas. 
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Ummm his fingers aren’t flying. Most of the video, they’re right over the strings. The few instances they’re not, judging by this guy’s skill level, it’s a deliberate choice. My guess is to get more power for hammer-ons. Or maybe it feels good to him. The point is he’s in control of the movements and doing them deliberately. They’re not just happening because he isn’t paying attention or repeating a bad habit.
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Yeah, raking is a whole other level I’m not quite ready for. Once I get the alternating solid, that will be next. Raking is awesome.
This is quite the long thread at this point!!
Flying fingers hold you back starting out, it’s something to be “aware of,” when you struggle to play a scale in time for example.
It’s something to think about when your struggling to learn a new pattern, etc.
If you are experienced enough to be comfortable with a tempo your fingers are probably just “floating in time, chilling” and it’s not really necessary to keep them tight.
true. it’s almost certainly a stylistic choice. but it’s also certainly not slowing him down any either. I’ve seen a ton of people play like him and a ton of people that you can barely see them move their fingers and both groups can be amazing players. which is why I think it’s really not the biggest concern.
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John Entwhistle has entered the chat
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Yeah, it’s also a thing of degree. How far are they flying? Unfortunately, not only are my flying fingers flipping off anyone nearby, they’re flying so high they’re practically picking my nose. 
EDIT: Just reminded me, I saw a video recently (don’t remember which one) about stage etiquette, and he recommended not picking your nose on stage. I about lost it. But I guess there are people you have to tell these things to. 
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That’s funny because i was thinking that someone must have said that it’s easier to fix problems at the start 
I will also add as i probably have somewhere before: don’t practice your mistakes
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The idea is more like “practice makes permanent” so whatever you practice is what you’re going to reinforce.
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One should also consider that finger independence is influenced by physiology. We aren’t all put together exactly the same way, some people have more control of their ring fingers because of their tendon structure.
Yes exactly. Muscle memory is a double-edged sword.
@MikeC 's avatar just made me realize the bass clef looks like a sideways sad frog. 
Sideways Sad Frog is going to be the name of my 80s cover band, so no one else take it please.
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