A few weeks back, there was a thread about thumb rests, to which I made the comment that I use the floating thumb technique. This led to other comments, one of which came from another B2Ber who stated that if he looks at his plucking hand while playing, everything goes haywire. I concurred, stating that I have the same problem.
This got me to thinking… how do I even know if I’m plucking properly if I never look at my plucking hand? So, I just got myself a handy cell phone holder for my camera tripod, set it up, and recorded myself plucking. I played the C Major scale across 3 Octaves, starting with the 1st fret of the B string (Low C) and ending on the 17th fret of the G string (high C).
I made this video for my own learning and improving purposes, but thought I’d share it on here and welcome any feedback or critique. It’s not perfect playing, but it’s better than I was able to do 6 months ago when I first picked up a bass.
In the spirit of our flourishing “Playing with a Glove” thread, I wore a musicians glove on my fretting hand.
P.S. This is the first time I’ve made a recording using my cell phone and my Zoom audio interface, so please pardon the poor quality.
Giving people shit is almost as fun as playing bass
Honestly, I can play with or without the glove. The tape wound strings are so smooth that it’s very easy to go from one spot to another without making a bunch of racket.
I’ve been using Half Rounds for several months now and love them. Great tone, great sustain, and no excessive crud buildup like on round wounds - not to mention that they’re easier on the fingers and finger slides are nice and smooth!!
