Plucking hand-only practice

hello, fellow bassists!

I’m here to ask you for suggestions about what I should practice without using my fretting hand (as it’s injured right now from work). I’m a few days into bass playing and only managed to get to module 2 of the b2b course. I’m sitting here sad, longingly looking at my ibanez sr300e, without a clue of how I could make practice fun for the next week. looking forward to get your input. spiral out! :cyclone:

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Sorry to hear about the injury! Maybe you could set yourself a speed challenge with a metronome for the next few weeks?

Use this video as a starting point and measure how fast you can go today with really clean playing. Practice 2x20 mins a day, and then in two weeks do another measurement.

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I agree with @Johnnyb . You can still work on timing, speed, strength and toughening skin on plucking hand. Have a look through the forthcoming modules in preparation. There will be some theory based things you can look at like mod 5 reading music or bonus modules like gear. It would also be a good opportunity to learn your fretboard notes. It’s frustrating but a week or 2 isn’t a big deal.

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I would love to have this much time to devote to practicing one technique. hell I would love to have this much time to devote to anything these days😂

seriously, this is great advice but as i get older i can physically put in less and less time on playing, any amount of practice is worlds better than no amount.

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Some ideas off of the top of my head - you could work on chugging timing or endurance, plucking hand slap/pop technique, string crossing/skipping/raking, plucking hand muting (floating/moving thumb)…. depends on what you want to accomplish…. Work on adding a pick into the mix (although the fretting hand does a lot of that muting, so it would be more about getting comfortable holding/using the plectrum).

Good on ya for wanting to utilize the time…..

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If you can manage pressing down on one note only for a not very long period of time, there is a great song for working on plucking speed, I used it to perfect the two-finger roll but can also be used for single finger plucking speed, “Legs” by ZZ Top. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCpu4_pKk0