Well more like rule of fingering. Is there a general rule or process in determining how fretting fingering is made? Josh will recommend a certain fingering on various work outs but what is the recommended way to go about it on my own? I had trouble with a certain start to a song but after a million tries and various fingering I got it down. But it was a ton of trial and error and I was hoping for a more efficient way of going about it.
Many thanks
Show me 10 bassists, and I’ll show you 12 processes.
There are too many variables. It would be easier to provide a specific song or riff, and then people can respond with how they’d decide.
Yep, request specificity is always the best way to get focused feedback.
it’s really about two things, economy of motion and comfort. some fingerings make sense if it puts the notes closer to certain fingers. however, those fingerings may seem strange or uncomfortable to you so you might want to come up with your own. it does help a lot to try to stay consistent with fingerings however, come up with what works for you for a song and stick to it. otherwise muscle memory doesn’t really kick in very well. also try to avoid saying “this isn’t comfortable to me” because it involves using fingers that aren’t as strong for you like the pinky (in other words don’t use it as a crutch). as far as HOW to come up with fingerings, i personally do this absolutely first when learning a song. start with the first note, than just decide the best course to get to the second for you. if this seems difficult or confusing rest assured that it is merely experience and it will become second nature after a short while.
The other thing to take into account is the tone of the note played. For example, an open A sounds different compared to fretting the 5 fret on the E string.
So in addition to economy of movement, there’s what does it like…?
In the band, we play Dakota. The song is in E, but to make it comfortable for our female vocalist, we play in G. If I play the song in the normal key, I’ll start on the E on the A string (7the fret) - that’s my “anchor” point. Playing in G, I could start on, say the 5th fret of the D string, but I don’t because it sounds too thin. I start on the 10th fret of the A string … sounds better.
It doesn’t help that you can play the same note in different places on the fretboard. Or on an open string.
Too many variables and personal choice. Sometimes you just gotta experiment.
I’m just learning Left Over Crack - Gang Control, and tabs had various placement and a certainly had a moment of “where is this feeling right for me and my small hand?”, and it ended up being the bigger stretch - the playing pattern just felt more natural even though the stretch is killer with the speed.
There’s only one rule of fretting and plugging bass strings.
.
We all know that rule.
That’s basically the process as far as I’m concerned…
I always take forever to figure it out if the “standard” one doesn’t sit well with me.
But it is really a great learning process too, so trial and error and taking long is a feature, not a bug
Post a cover once you get it down, I’d love to see it!
Yeah, trial and error is generally the way it goes. Every player has their own tendencies, but that is influenced by playing style, physical limitations, etc. The only thing that is probably pretty universal is index finger being used on first fret. (Now someone will of course chime in that they normally use some other finger on that).
The other thing I’ve found is that sometimes you work on a song and get to what you feel is the “correct” fingering for you, but then as you keep practicing the song you find you are using a different fingering than what you had figured out. That subconscious change in fingering is probably leading you to what is really the correct fingering for you.
I am really hoping I can get it up to speed one day!
I’m the same, I realized Josh was trying to set our fingers up in way to easily fret the next notes. I try to do the same as well, like you sometimes it takes me a minute to figure the best fingering pattern.