Three finger plucking!

Just playing around on my Ray and discovered that I am hella fast plucking with three fingers. Fast, articulate and noise free. And my string crossings are so clean. My ring finger is as long as my index, so it naturally just rolls with the other two. Anybody play with three fingers and find it isn’t hard? My speed needs to be trained a little more. I can two finger pluck on same string at 280 bpm. With three, it is about 220 bpm right now only because my hand has become accustomed to two finger plucking.

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That’s great. I haven’t tried three-finger plucking yet, but I play fingerstyle guitar, so I’ll give it a shot.

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I’ve considered it, but my use is limited to making the galloping tempos like you hear in metal. The things I play don’t really necessitate the speed so it’s really on my back burner of things to do.

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The master of 3 finger technique…

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I’ve tried but don’t seem to have the dexterity to alternate with them

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I went through a phase of trying to be John Entwhistle but the best I could do was the occasional fast fill or a gallop riff. It’s definitely a badass technique though if you can crack it.

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I wonder what % of Blues and Country songs are up in that bpm range :thinking:

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Uh…none?

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I’m faster with two fingers than three. Idk why. Unless I just fan/flap them over a string for a rapid percussive, I definitely cannot play alternating between the three of them nearly as fast as I can two finger it.

Alex Webster goes over this technique in his book Extreme Metal Bass.

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Not many I would think. I just do it for practice at the moment to get my fingers accustomed to moving fast. I can’t cross strings that fast nor does my fretting hand move that fast right now. It is a work in progress.

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As if on cue, Mark Smith has just posted a video on this:

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Not surprising at all. Mark is very prolific with his videos and always illuminating.

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He must be a lurker here on BassBuzz!

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Ha! Maybe but not likely. He’s got over 500 free lessons on YouTube. The guy is a machine.

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Three fingers? One pick :slight_smile:

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Does it count if you have been using three fingers for some time without realising (because I’m concentrating on fretting hand and have no idea what my right hand is doing). Mark’s video is excellent though.

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As with so many things in music, use whatever works best for you :+1:

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I use three fingers in addition to my thumb anchored on or plucking the E string, or sometimes also anchored on or plucking the A string. I feel like I have most control, comfort, speed and accuracy by anchoring my thumb because of using all three. Three is most comfortable for me rather than two.

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I too have found three finger plucking rather easy and almost natural to me. Not as fast as two finger yet but getting there.

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I.m still a beginner at bass, and three finger picking sounds very interesting to me. If someone wanted to go down that route do you think it would be better to start as soon as you can, or would it be better to develop a solid two finger technique first?

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