After I had been playing the bass for many years, I realized that, while my left
hand was very fast, allowing me to play fast scales utilizing hammer-ons and
pull-offs, I had neglected my right hand and had gotten into sloppy habits which
needed correcting. I could pick very quickly on one string, but I lost a lot of
speed--and pronounced my notes less articulately--when I had to cross strings.
If you play the bass finger style, then you will find it easier to play quickly if you strictly
alternate your fingers and if you can cross strings without difficulty. In order
to correct my right hand and practice strict alternating of the fingers, I've
developed the following series of exercises which have helped me greatly and
which I heartily reccomend.Play these as eight notes or sixteenth notes, with a
metronome if you have one:
-----2-2-----3-3-----4-4-----5-5---- etc. -0-0-----1-1-----2-2-----3-3-------- ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m . . .
This is a simple exercise. It's not particularly musical, but
it really works out the muscles of your right hand. Basically, we are playing
chromatic fifths up the neck. Once you reach the highest fret on your neck,
proceed back down to until you are at the beginning and then
move the exercise to the middle set of strings:
------------------------------------ -----2-2-----3-3-----4-4-----5-5---- etc. -0-0-----1-1-----2-2-----3-3-------- ------------------------------------ i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m . . .
As before, do this all the way up and back down. Start at a
tempo you can handle but try to challenge yourself. Finally, you can repeat the
pattern on the lowest strings:
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ -----2-2-----3-3-----4-4-----5-5---- etc. -0-0-----1-1-----2-2-----3-3-------- i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m . . .
Please not that I've chosen to start with the index finger,
rather than the middle finger. You can start with either as long as you keep the
pattern consistent. You should try starting with each finger and stick with what
feels best to you. This is simply what feels best to me.So far we have only practiced moving from a lower string to a
higher one. Now we need to reverse the process. We could just repeat the
previous exercise but start on the higher note of each root-fifth combination
before moving to the lower note. I've found it more useful to start with a note and
move to the note a fifth below it:
-0-0-----1-1-----2-2-----3-3-----4-4-----5-5------ etc. -----0-0-----1-1-----2-2-----3-3-----4-4-----5-5-- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m . . .
As in the previous exercise, the goal is to carry this pattern
all the way up to the highest fret and bring it back down to the lowest. Then
you can repeat the same pattern on the middle two strings (D & A) and then
on the lowest two (A & E). At first this will be a laborious process, but
eventually you will be able to run these two exercises in less than five
minutes. Doing so daily will--I assure you-- increase your speed and increase
the notes of the neck available to you in a given situation.But to really work out the right hand, we need to add some
exercises in which the middle finger plays the first note on a new string. A
simple way of doing this is with an exercise based on the minor scale and a
triplet rhythmic grouping. This time--again for variety--we'll start with the
lowest string and work our way up:
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------0-2-3-------1-3-4-------2-4-5-------3-5-6-- -0-2-3-------1-3-4-------2-4-5-------3-5-6-------- etc. i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m i m . . .
Continue this pattern up the neck and back down. Then take it
across the strings to the other two groups. I've based this exercise in the
minor scale, but you may want to try others depending on what you're interested
in.
Thank you and keep practice my friends
Ryno.Jacobs
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