My Bass teacher tells me I’m quite one fingered on my right hand. He’s given me specific fingering to use in the fiddly 4th bar of ‘good times’ by Chic (i m m i m m). Try as I might I just can’t get it. The tune also requires a lot of muting to get that staccato sound, any suggestions please? I can play the rest of it, just not the 4th and 5th bars (yet). No problem using alternate plucking when chugging, or less fiddly bits. Thanks, everyone.
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Actually one I’m working on
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For another take on learning this tune, you might want to check out Mark Smith’s lesson.
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Go basic. Slow it down and ignore articulation and timing so you bake the motion in first, then do it to a slow beat, then up to speed, then care about muting.
It’s a lot easier to teach the new thing in isolation first then add the complexity.
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@Richard_Crowe as part of my warm up I do a paradiddle type of exercise that I got from Luke (become a bassist).
I pick a single note and play 1211 1222. So 1 being index finger and 2 middle. I find it helps develop finger independence. So play a few bars on one note then change to another note. I find that by removing the fretting hand I can just concentrate on the rhythm.
I normally do some kind of chord progression e.g. C A B G to make it a bit more musical
Start really slow and build up. I pluck harder on the double finger i.e 11 or 22 to emphasize the rhythm. After a while I can just almost drift off and maintain the rhythm. It might work for you.
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Thanks MikeC. I’ll take a close look at that video. I really need to sort this out. It’s limiting my progress.
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This sounds like exactly what I need Barney. I was hoping someone would come up with a good drill. Thank you for helping. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.
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You got this. Just learn each chunk slowly until you can play it smoothly. Then piece them all together at a slow tempo until you’ve got everything under your fingers. Always aim for nailing clean technique, then you can up the tempo gradually.
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Yes John_E, I definitely need to break it down into steps, and take it slower. If it takes 10000 hours to master a skill then I’ve got at least another 9800 to go. So no rush then. Thank you for helping.
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I watched this video. Very helpful, easy to understand. I’ll have to check out more of his vids. Thanks booker_t.
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I’ve been given a lot of good advice, and I’ll be trying it all out. Thanks again Mike. Thanks everyone.
This is a well useful forum, none of the usual noob abuse and flaming you get on others.
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Just to clarify: a paradiddle would be 1211 2122 
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Ok
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A good thing to have in mind for things like this…
If you’re looking at refining a particular technique and are given / decide on a song to practise it with then remember that you’re not trying to perform the song - not yet anyway! - so if your muting or timing is off while doing this that’s absolutely fine! Practising specific things in the context is super helpful.
There’s so many little things our brains and muscles have to bring together when playing an instrument so taking one aspect at a time to get more comfortable with is not a problem at all.
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