Hi all. First post and a new guy to playing bass. I’m going through the lessons and I’m really enjoying them. Glad I found this site!
But yeah, I’m working on my two finger plucking technique and I notice the sound when using my middle finger is a bit twangier…twangish…twangatory…sigh…has more twang sound to it than my index finger. I’m not changing my left hand at all between plucks. Is this normal? If not, is there a way to correct this?
Thanks, bad assess!
It’s normal and it will go away with time/practice. In my head I sped it up by only tuning with my middle finger 
Though in my case it was the index finger that was brighter, and not the middle. I think.
I actually don’t remember anymore.
I think it happens to all of us? I know i had it, and it seemed like with more time in and more practice the attack becomes more stable.
I know for myself, i needed to change the playing position a little bit. The plucking hand wrist was bent. the straighter it got over time, the more consistent i was.
And Welcome to the forum! You’ve chosen really well. B2B will have you shredding before you know it!
Twangatory…i like this. It’s expressive and fun. Rolls off the tongue nice. Im adding this to my list of words to confuse authority figures.
Thanks @autumnsdad1990 and @Koldunya. Glad to hear this is just a part of being new. I’ll let it twangsition out naturally.
My first diagnosis would be that you just need more time and experience to even things out. My bass professor at college always said (and I’ve since happily stolen it):
Awareness Cures
If you can hear the difference, you can fix it.
If you want any more specific feedback, you could post a little video of your plucking hand with the audio and then we could all hear and see and chime in a bit more directly.
But yes, I agree with the other goodly folk here.
I think it’s all learning curve stuff.
Awesome. Good to know. I was staring at my middle finger thinking “what’s wrong with you” and then I realized I was flipping myself off so…
Twangsition😂
Twangception
Twanga-bunga, you just need more strength and control on the middle finger. While we may have overuse the flipping motion several times a day it does us no good plugging the bass.
2 practices that help me are
start your note with your middle finger, this will ensure that you will alternate your finger and you would generally put more power on the first note than the second
Second, when you are comfortable with the first exercise and/or comfortable with your index finger, stop using it, start the exercise with middle and ring finger. It will strength your ring finger and promote your middle finger to the lead role.
Good practice
Thanks for the tip! I’ll give that a go.
“My middle finger has twang” omg this is a song crying out to be written
I notice that when my fingernails are getting too long it is middle finger’s nail that will start hitting the string first causing a similar issue.
When I first started, I noticed this, too. Even though my middle fingernail didn’t look like it was long, as soon as I trimmed it, the problem went away. I’m glad you suggested this as a potential solution.
Cliff (literally, living in actual Twang Town)
I have/had the same problem. Besides technique, at least for me is physical. My pointer finger is just meatier than my middle finger. Also, the nail on my middle finger is closer to the tip of my finger. Both cause a twangier sound. I fix it by keeping my middle finger nail as short as I can. And keep practicing alternating fingers. It will come.
I think mostly everyone had issue with this at some point. Its normal for one finger to be stronger than the other, call it the chosen one. With time you will bring the balance to the universe.
And the boom that shakes the room!