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First thing is to, both hands independently, we got to get the hands kind of, just how they basically operate, right? So it's basically hammer-on, is basically what they are. Right, now, when you hammer on, see how high your fingers are coming up off the fingerboard and all that. When you just did that, you want to keep it just like you're playing normally.
Can you see my left hand? Good. Yep, so I'm starting on the fifth fret of the E string, just doing a one, two, three, fouring. Now, I'm not doing anything with the PDF files yet, I want to come down the tips of the fingers, but you notice I'm not really killing the strings, actually the technique should almost be called pressing. All right, but you do have to, I want you to, like, hit it a little bit, just to get some articulation, you know, some point to the attack, and build some endurance. It's going to be a little unmusical at first, but kind of overdo it, so you kind of want to whack it just a little bit, but eventually it'll turn into more of where you almost just press down the notes. You articulate very clearly, you get good tone.
Right, so what you want to do here is come, don't, never come down with the claw, on the tips of the fingers, don't let the joints collapse as you do this. Also, no excess motion, see, the other fingers are floating over the string just like they would normally. Now you're going to miss it first, you'll find your finger going on either side of the string, so just be patient with it, the muscle memory will develop, but listen to the tone.
Then I go to the A string. Now you have to kind of develop it, you know, how the muting stuff we did with a slap with the left hand, it kind of works in a similar way here. Now, I'm using the scrunchie to kind of keep things under control, but that only does so much. But now, when I come down on the first finger, I have to mute my E and B strings, right, but I can't come down and actually hit them, I can't make any noise. So what I do is, you know, those rides at amusement parks, where they take you up real high and they drop you, and it falls real fast, and right at the bottom it's like it hits a big cushion of air and just slows you down, pretend like that's right there, right before you hit the string, and just let it glide into the string without making any noise.
Now, when I do a second and third finger note, I just let my first finger kind of bar over, I'm not really picking, I'm not picking it up. So you really have to listen to your tone, the kind of sound you're getting, so that the muscle memory you develop is going to be accurate. So that's what you do first with your left hand, and then eventually, the faster you move, the less muting, and the different types of things you'll do with those basic muting moves will come into play. The way they come into play will be different depending on how fast you're moving, because sometimes the strings don't have enough time to ring, so you don't have to be as meticulous about the muting on every single note like I just did when I was playing it slowly.
Mhm. So in other words, if I were going, see, I just put my first finger after that second, cause that first finger, there's not enough time for those lower strings to ring, right? So you'll adjust muting stuff as you go, but you tap each individual one? Yeah, but let them ring, you got to listen to your tone. No, one, two, three, four fingering, first finger, first finger. Oh, what am I playing? I thought it, well, it doesn't really matter what, it's just you're going a one, two, three, four, like a B flat, B, C. Okay, but don't move that fast, so make sure you listen to your tone, just a one, two, three, four. Yeah, but don't move too fast, I want you to, let's stay and listen to the tone, because we really want to focus on the quality of sound here first, before we get any kind of speed going, make sure the tone is really nice, full, and pleasant to listen to. If you miss a little bit and you get a little bit of junk in the sound, hit it again.
Now, when you leave this finger here, yeah, well, just let it drag up comfortably behind the second finger, it doesn't have to be, like, if you're playing a second, a sixth fret note, the first finger doesn't have to be over the fifth fret, it can be comfortably behind the sixth, just let it relax, it should just kind of lightly sit on top of the other strings, it doesn't really move. Mhm. You see, try to keep it from coming up, when you lift a second, hold it down with the other hand if you have to, really, that's what I did, but not so it presses down on the strings, just to keep it from coming up, that's (unintelligible) here. But basically, just a quick thing is that you keep your arm off the bass, the thumb glides along the top of the neck here, mhm, that's the only thing that's touching the instrument, aside from the fingers pushing down the strings, there's no contact of the arm on the bass.
All right, you want to come down on the tips of the fingers in the same way that you do on the left hand, don't let the joints collapse. Oh boy. Now, okay, now, start first finger, twelfth fret, on the E string, can you back up a little bit? Swing first finger, twelfth fret, E string, right, now you make sure that you're, uh, is this a better angle? Oh yeah, that is. Okay, now lay flat these fingers on the left hand over the strings. Okay, all right, now see how I've got my, I just basically have this real relaxed thing, I just kind of put it there, my thumb's right, just gliding on the top of the neck there, just stays there.
All right, now the right hand will morph into kind of two main positions, it'll mirror image the right, left, okay, or it'll also turn into this, it'll do from this to this, depending on what you're playing. If you're playing more linearly, it'll be this way, if you're playing more chordally, you know, it'll do this. Boy, it sounds like you're plucking them, I swear it sounds just like you're plucking. Can you give me an example? Now, that's with your hand kind of at an angle, like, wherever it has, whatever, you know, you kind of like to finger that, let what you're playing dictate what the angle is going to be of the hand.
Mhm, all right, now let's get into just a linear part, right, so it's going to be kind of like this type of thing here, and what I'm going to do is I'm just going to, same type of thing, listen, my tone, and go to two, go to three, go to four. Now again, don't let the joints collapse, come down the tips of the fingers just like you did in the left hand. That sounded so clean. Yeah, you got, I've worked at it a while, you know, it takes some time, and you're going to find yourself miss, and the tone's going to suck at first, it's going to take a minute, it's like slap, you just have to recondition the hands to pull the sound out of the strings this way. Mhm, just remember not to let your arm drag on the bass.
