Tone City Blues Man seems lost. No updates on where it is, last seen in customs a week ago, and multiple messages to the vendor, no response. May be a lost cause
Well after several delays - there was a weather delay posted over the weekend as I looked out and it was sunny - it is on the truck for delivery today. So yay.
No idea when it will be here. It shows a delivery date of today but it’s not on the peninsula yet so I don’t see how, unless FedEx doesn’t update their site real time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the times of Covid, for UPS and FedEx there’s two tracking systems, what they see, and what you see.
So I started playing 2 weeks ago and I’m struggling with adjacent strings ringing when I fret with my pinkie. The biggest culprit I’ve experienced is the A string ringing whenever I play the 5th fret on the E string. Any advice?
Very much could be just keep fretting and practicing and eventually it’ll go away type of issue.
Yeah. Over time, you’ll find that both hands just learn to mute kind of automatically - like as soon as you notice the sympathetic vibration, one of your fingers is on it. It takes a while though. Just keep with it.
So is it good technique to leave the other fingers not fretting (in this case index, middle, and ring) on the other higher strings? I can’t remember if this is covered in Josh’s fretting technique video or not.
I don’t struggle (and this has been a big success for me ) with muting the lower strings. I have a 5 string bass and use floating thumb technique which has been the most effective and ergonomic for me.
Thank you for the reply @MikeC and @howard. Instruments are tough but I keep a practice journal where I track all the incremental successes to keep me going.
Over this past weeked I realized I am struggling with plucking finger fatigue and for some reason, fretting properly.
Finger fatigue is an easy solve, just keep playing. They will strengthen up. I was playing a lot of chugging bass lines in a row, and realized by the end of a 5 minute song it was getting harder and harder to keep the pace.
More concerning is fretting mistakes. I don’t usually have an issue with this, but I suspect part of it is still getting used to new bass. The neck has a glossy and smooth finish, as opposed to both of my other basses which have a more natural wood finish. I also suspect the frets might be different sizes, but havent measured them. For this issue I am just slowing down and working on precision until I get used to the new feel.
Make sure you wipe the glossy neck down all the time.
You can also try Finger Ease sprayed on the back of the neck, it’s magic and makes those glossy necks a lot more forgiving once your own oils build up on them.
The bass to bass changes will take less and less transfer time as you go.
I’d also say that if you are chugging a bunch it might throw you off a bit, be sure to do some work on both each time. Additional, sometimes your fingers just don’t behave right, it’s a thing.
Hey all! New here - started late March and am roughly 50% of the way through the course now (so was going at Hardcore pace-ish). I’ve been feeling pretty good about things so far, only really struggling on “Billie Jean” and “Higher and Higher”.
However, I’ve been having a lot of issues with fretting in the major/minor scale lessons! I think I have a bit of a “death grip” going on when things get tough since I can feel myself tense up during these, and additionally the pinky/ring stretch is a bit rough for me especially when running the scales in the lower frets. I’m getting a lot of fret buzz and an occasional uncomfortable spasm (!) that feels like a little shock in my hand when I reach, making me think something must be off with my technique that I should correct ASAP before continuing.
I took a look at Adam Neely’s “natural position” video linked elsewhere and attempted to do that when running the scales but that makes me need to shift a ton to reach everything which doesn’t feel good. And if I stick with my thumb on the neck aligned with my pointer I still have issues
Just wondering if anyone has advice for someone in this rough patch? I’m feeling a little lost when folks say “there’s no right way, do what’s comfortable” and none of it feels comfortable!
First thing I would do is check your bass setup. You should be able to easily fret notes without your thumb even touching the back of the neck, maybe with a little counterpressure on the bass body with your other arm. If you can’t, you might want to look at your action height and neck relief.
Next, and this is tough advice, resist the urge to squeeze. You’d be surprised how little pressure it takes to fret properly. One thing I did that helped was at the start of each session I would spend about five minutes doing two things - first, practicing some scales without using my thumb on the neck at all, and then also playing a game to see how lightly I could press and still get a good tone.
But in the end what helped the most was abandoning the idea of One Finger Per Fret, accepting some shifting, and following Neely’s advice about the neutral position. Made a world of difference and I am convinced it saved me from an RSI.
Still struggling with some flying fingers and sometimes muting, depending of the song/exercise I’m doing. There’s a funny exercise (didn’t tried it yet) from Luke (becomeabassist) to check your flying fingers : playing with your left hand near the corner of a table to see when your fingers reach too wide.
Apart from that, I have a hard time finding the energy and the motivation to play bass on a daily basis when I’m doing night shifts. I’m doing fine with some simple exercices if it’s 5 to 10 min in the morning but I wonder if it’s any help at all, considering how tired I am - -’
If you have any insight about this, I would gladly learn it !
I put this in a hand exercises thread the other day but is relevant here so:
this video is old so a bit comical but the exercises are great for warming up and for increasing finger independence (which will reduce flying fingers).
If you can’t always get to the bass you can atleast be improving your finger dexterity if you have 5 mins free here or there (anytime you are watching a screen is good). I wish I knew about doing ‘off-bass’ finger exercises earlier as it has improved my fingers, which makes learning things easier, which makes playing more fun
On my 3rd week of playing bass and the progress has been steady and addicting. One issue that is apparent is inconsistent volume when alternate plucking. My index finger plucks about 15% louder than my middle finger. Any advice for getting them equal?
I spend 10 mins before doing a module from Josh just plucking and trying to get a consistent volume. Thank you in advanced.
Understood and thank you. I figured it might be one of those things that just come from proper plucking technique over months and months of playing. Even now after a few weeks it has gotten much more consistent.
its a great trick because he puts in the disclaimer at about 3.45
“none of the positions you see in video are meant to have any social meaning whatsoever”
and then 20secs or so later - bam- he blatantly gets you, and theres nothing you can do
One more thing! You can vary the angle of your plucking hand to the strings, or the bend in the fingers to make the fingertips “parallel” to each other. This way, you can try to hit the string at the same time and with the same bite. Bending the fingers can be slow, which you can fix if you pay attention to move the finger around its top knuckle (which is the start of your palm).
I use one finger except for specific instances like a triplet. My middle finger just isn’t reliable, and won’t be without surgery. Which is one reason I started guitar, to get better with a pick
) with muting the lower strings. I have a 5 string bass and use floating thumb technique which has been the most effective and ergonomic for me.
Have some fun with this! 