Hi,
I’ve restarted learning the bass guitar after a bit more than a year of classical guitar studies. I’m currently thinking how I should approach the raking technique. Classical guitarists and flamenco guitarists seem to exclusively use strict alternation while on the bass raking seems to be the more common choice. Should I use raking on the bass? I’m afraid mixing between the two might mess up my technique on both instruments. Does anyone have experiences with such a situation?
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Are you doing the Beginner to Badass course @denismaier?
Josh covers these questions. Bottom line is it’s all to do with what’s most efficient.
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Did it. If I remember correctly, Josh is trying to have us learn strict alternation first, except for a few special exceptions.
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Say you are chugging on the A string using strict alternation and end up on your middle finger.
The next note is on the E string. If you’re using strict alternation you’d then move your Index finger to the E string.
Or seeing as your middle finder is closer as it’s resting on the A string you could simply rake that one.
Neither are wrong. It’s just what’s more efficient. In this case it’s easier to break the alternating pattern as the finger is closer.
If I’m playing a bass line live with a simple repeating note (e.g. Lonely Boy - The Black Keys) I’ll often choose to use just the same finger to maintain exactly the same sound. IMHO there’s no right or wrong way.
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I’m not the expert on this, by a long stretch. But, what I’ve been taught is raking should be intentionally used and that you should be able to use strict alternate plucking or raking, depending on the line. An example use case would be where you want to always start a line with the second finger, there’s an odd number of plucks, and you’re ending with a string crossing going down in pitch: you might rake that last two plucks with your first finger to set yourself up for the next set of bars to then start on the 2nd finger. Basically it’s efficient and useful, but can change the sound so use it with intention.
Note: I have a habit of using it UN-intentionally and have to force myself to alternate pluck and use raking on purpose.
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Check out this thread and vid from Josh if you haven’t seen, might help
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all i see lately on the types of videos i watch is the whole jazz style playing with the index and the thumb while palm muting. so it’s whatever works for you and gets the job done. i think all of the online teachers, josh included, want to just hammer home the point that you should learn control over what your right hand is doing and not just letting it fall into doing whatever it wants. as long as you can (mostly) do that then i think you’re good.
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Thanks for all the answers. I guess my question is not so much about raking per SE, but more about how one should go about playing instruments that are similar enough yet with striking differences in some areas and playing conventions.
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My take @denismaier is do what you want, as long it sounds good and doesn’t cause you discomfort etc.
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“I think all of the online teachers, josh included, want to just hammer home the point that you should learn control over what your right hand is doing and not just letting it fall into doing whatever it wants. as long as you can (mostly) do that then i think you’re good”
^^^^^^^
This
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Well this aligns pretty well to classical guitar pedagogy.
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You should do whichever you like but once you pick alternating or economy/raking, stick to it and always play a bassline the same way, with intent.
PS, yes you should rake 
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Must admit I haven’t tried it as I haven’t done any classical guitar style picking for a long time. But I suspect the hand position for classical guitar wouldn’t work with raking so well. When doing classical picking I’m pretty sure your finger doesn’t land on the next lower toned string whereas with typical bass plucking style it does exactly that and so is sitting there ready to pluck if that’s the next string to pluck.
If you’ve pulled through with your index, would it be resting on the A string? Why would raking be easier? I mean I have no problem playing either way, but I’m trying to understand the scenario.
One of the advantages of strict alternation is that you think a bit about which finger to use and make an explicit choice even when raking might be more efficient. I’ve practiced using strict alternation without fretting to learn a pattern.
E.g., Billie Jean is Middle on D, Index on A, M-I-M on D, and M-I-M on A, and repeat. Second part, same pattern but start on G.
Can’t remember the details but just try it.
If you end up with a finger (index or middle) thats resting on the string above then it’s a shorter distance to rake to the lower string than follow strict alternating.
After you’ve been playing for a while you don’t even think about this stuff.
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