Right hand wants to follow left hand

Technique
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Anyone who works with firearms knows the problem if sympathetic grip - the right hand wants to do what the left hand is doing, which with guns is bad if your right hand finger is on the trigger and you attempt to grab something(or someone) with your left hand (obviously don’t do this).

With fingerpicking the bass I find that when I am alternate plucking, if there is a faster section that is rising in pitch on the fretting hand then I may skip an alternate pluck - like if I am going 1st to third fret (left index to pinky) then even if I’m supposed to pluck right hand middle then index, I switch and double pluck with my index on the note leading up and then pluck index middle.

I do the opposite if fretting is going down in pitch

So my right and left fingers are “moving in the same direction.” Does that make sense?

It is totally unconscious. I can stop it by concentrating and going really really slow and practicing the riff over and over, but if I come back to it after a few days and go righ to full speed I do it again.

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Yup. I struggle with the same thing.

What I’ve had the best luck doing is adjusting something in the pattern to make it fit what my fingers want to do. Like - starting a plucking pattern with ring instead of index, or changing my fretting pattern to move up the neck one more note instead of up a string (or move up a string one note sooner) to match my natural plucking pattern.

Or add a ghost note.

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hand independence can certainly be a bee hatch to get used to. but hey it could be worse, we could all be drummers.

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Here’s the solution.

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It’s like driving a stick. That’s the task all by itself. Pressing clutch, shift the gear, time the release of the clutch and depress gas pedal without stalling. Then do it again and again and again. Such a complex task yet once you get it in to your system, you can shift gear, and steer at the same time, even manage to scan the road too, :joy:

You are consciously thinking about it while doing but soon it’s just done subconsciously on both hands and fingers and you’ll be thinking about something else and that’s where you want to be.

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worst advice ever, nobody can drive a stick :rofl:

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For me it shows up with plucking strength.
The faster I need to fret and pluck, the harder I tend to pluck…
I can usually keep my fretting hand relaxed enough when increasing speed (with concentration) but it is really difficult not to pluck louder…

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When I was thirteen, my dad gave me a driving lesson in a manual, three-speed, on-the-column “H” pattern transmission car of his.

Each corner of the H pattern corresponded to a gear: first gear was at the lower left of the H, second gear at the top right, and third gear at the bottom right. Reverse was at the top left.

I had a hell of a time trying to remember and coordinate the sequence of brake, clutch, gas and gear shifting, simultaneously. I’d either pop the clutch and cause the car to buck like a bronco until the engine died, or I’d miss the speed/timing of gear shifting. And all while my dad bellowed at me that it was so easy. It was all a bad joke.

I made a lot of mistakes, but my coup de grace happened after I actually started getting my gear shift timing down. I was driving, dammit, albeit slowly.

Somewhat satisfied with my progress, my dad instructed me to pull over so I could practice taking off from a dead stop, such as at a stop sign.

No problem. I’ve got this.

Clutch in. Check.

Foot on the brake. Check.

Transmission in first gear. Check.

Foot gently pressing the gas pedal. Check.

Clutch out smoothly. Check.

Getting up to speed to shift to second. Check.

Then I grabbed the gear shift…and rammed it straight into reverse.

The proceedings came to an immediate and gear-grinding halt.

End of stick-shift driving lesson.

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i’ve been trying to teach my wife for years. actually she’s not bad, but we never practice it. i have finally admitted defeat and will get my first automatic jeep ever in november.

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I’ve had lots of manual cars and trucks over the years, and I enjoyed them. That said, nothing beats the ease of driving an automatic. Easy, smooth, mindless.

Mmmm…mindless.

image

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I, too, learned on a “three-on-the-tree”, a 1962 Ford F-100 that I wish I still had. Same gear pattern, and I made the same mistake…once.

Fun Fact: That truck had a manual choke too. Nothing automatic about a 1962 model.

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My mom drove stick until her late 50s/early 60s when her arthritis made it too difficult, so I learned to drive a stick as a youth. After I moved out of the house I never drove a stick again until the night I had to drive her car (and her) to the hospital when they took my dad from the local er to a better one. (I drove her in her car while the wife followed in our car in case mom ended up staying the night) First time driving stick in probably 15 years. Let’s just say it came back to me, but not super quick and not super well.

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I preferred a stick for years, until Audi perfected the Tiptronic and then other manufacturers started doing it too.

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Rode minibikes and motorcycles for years before getting my license at 16. Then I drove a F-250 also with a H pattern 3 speed manual. It was pretty easy to adjust too. I ended up teaching my eldest son for his license on a manual that was a different ordeal!

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Yeah bikes will teach you to shift for sure.

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I grew up driving manual. Automatic was for old people or the super rich.

Move to Canada. Everything is automatic. I start driving with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.

Did that for about a week and thought automatic transmission really sucks until my buddy got in my truck and cracked up laughing. Yeah no we don’t drive like that. One foot for both. Oh right that’s way better. :man_shrugging:

Oh and it’s way easier to text and drive in an automatic

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@dr_stratcat I’m not sure if I completely understood your problem, but I feel that it might help you to train finger independence. I made up some (bassless) exercises for that.
I start by touching each finger with the thumb on both hands simultanously up and down:

L: index - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - index
R: index - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - index
repeat as many times as you want, but stay relaxed

Then change it up by starting on index with the left hand and pinky on the right hand

L: index - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - index
R: pinky - ring - middle - index - index - middle - ring - pinky

It takes a whole lot of concentration on the first few tries, but it gets better quickly. It helped me to hold up my hands in front of my face with both palms towards my face and just thinking left to right to left to right.

Next level would be taking three steps:

L: index - middle - ring - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - ring - middle - index
R: index - middle - ring - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - ring - middle - index

Then change it up again by starting on index with the left hand and pinky on the right hand

L: index - middle - ring - middle - ring - pinky - pinky - ring - middle - ring - middle - index
R: pinky - ring - middle - ring - middle - index - index - middle - ring - middle - ring - pinky -

Third level would be skipping one finger, just like this:
L: index - ring - middle - pinky - pinky - middle - ring - index
R: index - ring - middle - pinky - pinky - middle - ring - index

Flip it over to:
L: index - ring - middle - pinky - pinky - middle - ring - index
R: pinky - middle - ring - index - index - ring - middle - pinky

Hope this helps

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I’m sorry for the analogy I didn’t know it’s going to start a shift on the thread, or did I, pun intended btw.

My point is that you want to learn it till it’s second nature. That’s why even brain surgeons talk about anything other than exactly what they are doing. The fastest way to make a mistake is to think about how to do while doing a task.

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“No no don’t worry, I always miss that note”

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