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He's got nerve damage in his right hand, but he's developed an interesting plucking technique to compensate using his index finger and his thumb. The guy can still play his unmentionables off.

Real Gone Kid - Deacon Blue

Thing is … hating that 💩 is entirely rational!

hi fellas first of all, this question is directed at people who can play really fast cleanly (because technique starts to break down past certain BPMs). in short, i always had my own muting technique for decades, never thought much about it but for the last month ive been doing a very specific exercise that uncovered some limitations in my tech. the way i mute is thumb on bridge pup for E, thumb on E for A, thumb on E+ ring finger on A for G. basically thumb always anchored on E and ring finger comes in when i need to mute the A string. i dont think about it, i dont plan it, my ring finger does this automatically (i cant stop it even if i try) and it has served me well. but heres where i noticed the problem. recently ive been doing a variation of spider exercises. im doing 80bpm for the main notes but im playing it in quadrupplets so its roundly 10 notes per second. because this particular exercise forces me to linger on D and G back and forth non stop, the skipping with the thumb always anchored on E and ring muting in and out on A makes my technique very clunky. thumb and ring anchored limit my range of motion and the movement for the skip becomes quite massive. i been doing this daily for weeks and i noticed small improvements but still far from how easily and cleanly i can do it if i were to simply anchor my thumb on the A string. so it got me thinking. is my muting technique limiting me in other areas that i didnt even consider before? to be frank, this is a theoretical isolating exercise, the real world applications are far and few between, and my technique for muting works very well on literally everything else. so im at a crossroads. im considering the "floating anchor thumb" technique. where you basically float your thumb from E to A and anchor it there. but when i tried to experiment with it feels very alien, uncomfortable and clumsy to me. altho works great if you happen to be lingering on D and G for a while. but kinda feels like cheating. i never liked the idea of hybrid techniques. i want one that fits all. cause if i have to hybridize that introduces actual thinking instead on muscle memory. i would literally have to consciously tell myself "forget about everything you know about muting and anchor your thumb on A for this one little segment and then revert back to the familiar" my question is : should i push through and get my current style of muting to the same standard (even tho it will always be more labor intensive due to the massive skip the hand has to do) or should i change my whole technique to floating thumb anchor? (ive been paying attention recently and i noticed most people use this) . i know this is a hard question to give an answer to. i dont know why i even asked lol. i been debating it with myself for a few months now and i cant come to a solution. i figured maybe i will get some fresh perspective that will sway me one way or the other. thanks in advance

Band photoshoot pic. Rob

He's Gone — Doris Duke

I've got a busy weekend. 3 gigs with a Belgian black doom band, Svarthart, starting at The Victoria in Swindon tonight, The Victory in Hereford Saturday and Fuel in Cardiff on Sunday.

My customer bass order has just been completed and here’s a little teaser while I wait for it to arrive next week. 😁

I’ve had a large tin of tuff cab ( black satin) open for about 5 years and have used it on 2 speaker cabs, several rack cases and 2 large stage risers and it’s still going. I just give it a stir to even out the consistency before use. It’s the best durable professional finish I’ve ever achieved on my projects. It does seem hard to get at the moment though.

What BigRedX said ∆

Is Mick There? - Department S

"This industry secret destroys all other pelvic movements: click here for our 4-step phallic thrust accelerator program"

😁 Stupidly, I momentarily assumed Belgium is only about 15 miles across... Which is a bit daft as I've driven from Dunkirk to Saarbrucken via Mons and Luxembourg many times!