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Smart Right Hand Fingering

Technique Intermediate 1 min read

Updated

The quality of your bass playing on fast, complex material comes down to how efficiently your right (plucking) hand works. The goal is to move and deliver notes in the most relaxed, efficient way possible. Smart right-hand fingering is about finding that relaxed path — and knowing when to break the rules for a specific piece of music.

Originally published September 14, 2014, lightly edited for clarity.

As with my last blog on Left Hand Positioning, the quality of your bass guitar playing in executing fast complex material will ultimately come down to efficiency of the way your right (plucking) hand works on the instrument. For all you lefties out there, just mirror-image this information. I think it just really comes down to common sense in the choices that you make for yourself. The goal should be to get the right hand to move and deliver the sounds that you want in the most efficient and relaxed way as is possible. It’s also important to know that there will be situations that will leave you no choice but to break every rule in your book to play a certain piece of music. Just make part of your practice time focused on fingering choices, try different ways of playing something. The following video shows exercises that prepare your right hand for this way of practicing. Right-hand technique is one of the fundamentals I teach. For personalized guidance on right-hand fingering, online bass lessons via Zoom are available.

  1. Right-Hand Form for 5-String Bass

    Technique Intermediate 5 min read

    The extra string on a 5-string bass makes string noise your biggest enemy, and clean playing depends almost entirely on your right hand. Here's how to set up your thumb, finger mechanics, and left-hand damping so the strings you aren't playing stay quiet — plus three exercises to drill the form on open strings.

  2. Left Hand Form

    Technique Beginner 2 min read

    I look at technique as simply the process of getting the music you hear in your head out through your hands onto the instrument. You only need enough technique to play what you hear. This post walks through the left-hand default position — the most relaxed place your hand can sit — and how to practice from there.

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