Licking your fingers

[beerdragon]

I saw a bass player in a band doing it the other week, every thirty seconds or during every number he would lick his plucking fingers, it got so i couldn't my eyes off him, pluck, lick pluck. don't know what it did to the strings. then i read in Mag today John Deacon did it to.

[bassicinstinct]

[quote name='beerdragon' post='423536' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:02 PM']I saw a bass player in a band doing it the other week, every thirty seconds or during every number he would lick his plucking fingers, it got so i couldn't my eyes off him, pluck, lick pluck. don't know what it did to the strings. then i read in Mag today John Deacon did it to.[/quote]

I've seen Freddie Washington do it live with Steely Dan too, so it [b]MUST[/b] be a good thing eh?

[jakenewmanbass]

I used to watch my mother lick her fingers to turn pages and wondered why... I do it now

I once saw a bass player with Chick Corea do it, I guess it provides a little temporary grip hence repeating the process.

[wotnwhy]

i don't care how much it helps, i wont be doing that on stage..

[Buzz]

Why would you want more grip on strings though?

Surely you'd want them to be slippier so you can play easier and faster?

[phil_the_bassist]

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='423542' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:09 PM']i don't care how much it helps, i wont be doing that on stage.. [/quote]


plus to the 1!!

[mrcrow]

[quote name='Buzz' post='423547' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:17 PM']Why would you want more grip on strings though?

Surely you'd want them to be slippier so you can play easier and faster?[/quote]

yes the fretting hand
i used to rub the fingers of my fretting hand down the side of my nose where it was oily.. yuk!!
its an old clarinettist trick to wipe the pinkies down the side of the nose so you can slide over on the pinkie notes so you dont have to think too far ahead which side to take the series of pinkie notes on...clarinettist will know what i mean
if your plucking fingers are dry or rough...or have an elastoplast on them you get better attack when plucking

[bassicinstinct]

Just to clarify, I'm talking about the fingers on Freddie's right/plucking (non-fretting) hand.

[Delberthot]

if i don't have my fan pointed at my fingers, I have to lick them every so often but immediately wipe them on my trousers to dry them.

I do it when my fingers feel sticky.



Jaco used chicken grease etc etc etc

[mrcrow]

[quote name='bassicinstinct' post='423585' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:50 PM']Just to clarify, I'm talking about the fingers on Freddie's right/plucking (non-fretting) hand.[/quote]

yes...friction on that hand is good...the string cant break away too easily....have you tried an elastoplast...non waterproof type..acts like a pick

[SteveK]

I don't get the "Friction/grip is good" thing. Why would you want to make it harder for your finger to get from one side of the string to the other, ie: Pluck?

Liking a fairly bright and sustained sound, I would change strings every 3 or 4 shows, it tends to be 4 or 5, or sometimes 6 shows these days.

The downside is that the new strings (I use Elites) tend to be a little rough for the first 1/2 hour or so of use.

My remedy: Raise my fingers to my head and use a little "brow grease"...more effective than gob

[EBS_freak]

Good old Hamish Stuart

[Jase]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='423595' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:57 PM']Jaco used chicken grease etc etc etc[/quote]

That's a myth.

[The Funk]

Do the songs have massive breaks in there so that these folks can get their hands to their mouths? Sounds daft to me.

[mr_russ]

[quote name='SteveK' post='423768' date='Mar 2 2009, 10:48 PM']I don't get the "Friction/grip is good" thing. Why would you want to make it harder for your finger to get from one side of the string to the other, ie: Pluck?

Liking a fairly bright and sustained sound, I would change strings every 3 or 4 shows, it tends to be 4 or 5, or sometimes 6 shows these days.

The downside is that the new strings (I use Elites) tend to be a little rough for the first 1/2 hour or so of use.

My remedy: Raise my fingers to my head and use a little "brow grease"...more effective than gob [/quote]

+ 1

+ I find the same thing with elites - after that initial breaking in they're great

[xgsjx]

Maybe he gets sweaty fingers & it's quicker than wiping them on his jeans/shirt?

[BigBeefChief]

Maybe he got lucky before the show?

[farmer61]

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='423918' date='Mar 3 2009, 10:02 AM']Maybe he got lucky before the show?[/quote]

[chris_b]

As has been said, it's about reducing friction when plucking the strings. I've seen an article saying that Tommy Cogbill used Vaseline when recording. I do the side of the nose trick, about once a set is enough!

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='423791' date='Mar 2 2009, 11:38 PM']Good old Hamish Stuart [/quote]
Eh?

[bumfrog]

sounds more like ocd to me then anything else.

[51m0n]

I've found that rubbing the side of your nose trick to get some greaseyness on the plucking fingers can really work before a particularly fast track....

[Guest subaudio]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='423540' date='Mar 2 2009, 07:07 PM']I used to watch my mother lick her fingers to turn pages and wondered why... I do it now

I once saw a bass player with Chick Corea do it, I guess it provides a little temporary grip hence repeating the process.[/quote]

I saw that guy with Chick Corea too, playing the heck out of a 6 string Smith, I figured it was for cooling and to stop blisters ?

[xilddx]

Me too, I put a little vaseline by my nose. A little wipe of the picking fingers really helps reduce friction from sticky, sweaty strings, especially if you dance around a lot on stage. I used to think my strings were the problem. Had the occasional nightmare trying to play bouncy fast passages on really stickt strings live.

[Marky L]

I get into an annoying routine of rubbing my fretting hand on the side of my trousers after every song. It started so I could wipe a bit of sweat off but is now a bit of a habit.