3 finger plucking technique

[shoulderpet]

Hi 

Am after some tips for developing 3 finger plucking technique, for years I have played with 2 fingers, am trying to learn 3 finger plucking for faster bass parts but struggling, it's like my 3rd finger is half as fast and strong as my index and middle finger, I am thinking maybe I'm trying to obtain the unattainable but I want to give this a fair try, I want to avoid introducing bad habits so am after some tips, thanks

[Reggaebass]

Ive tried this a few times after seeing a friend play with all 4 fingers, and I found it really difficult, I used  this video for a few exercises, apologies if you’re more advanced than this 🙂

 

[Geek99]

Thanks for this, it’s something I’ve tried and failed at. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I watched Adam Clayton do it once, playing “with or without you”. If he can do it, so can I 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Geek99

[Geek99]

I note that his little finger is twitching along. ‘Mine doesn’t 

[Reggaebass]

I remember when  I was looking at Yamaha attitude basses , this video came up, I don’t know much about him , but he’s well fast with 3 and 4 fingers 

 

[shoulderpet]

38 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Ive tried this a few times after seeing a friend play with all 4 fingers, and I found it really difficult, I used  this video for a few exercises, apologies if you’re more advanced than this 🙂

 

Thanks, I will give that a watch, I'm a complete beginner with 3 fingers so I'm sure anything will help 

[Geek99]

Usual “take it slow, make it even then speed it up slowly” routine 

[shoulderpet]

Thanks guys, am working on finding a rhythm that works 12321232 (index, middle, ring, middle, index, middle, ring) seems to work well

[shoulderpet]

8 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

I remember when  I was looking at Yamaha attitude basses , this video came up, I don’t know much about him , but he’s well fast with 3 and 4 fingers 

 

Ahh yes Billy Sheehan, monster player, im one of the few people that loves his tone, seems like a cool guy too, thanks for the vid 

[BreadBin]

Nathan Navarro is a master of multi finger plucking.

Me? I suck at it - dee dee DUM dee dee DUM! 😂

 

[chris_b]

I like Billy Sheehan. His advice to do whatever you want but that everything you do must serve the music is the takeaway for me.

[Happy Jack]

I use the 3-finger plucking technique extensively with my longbow. Does that count?

 

[shoulderpet]

Ok so I have been practicing and it seems my issue is the alternating pattern between the 3 fingers,I have always played with fingers 1 and 2 and if i play for example with fingers 1 and 3 I can play reasonably ok but when I use all 3 fingersI cant seem to keep the alternating pattern consistent 

[Paulhauser]

On 05/06/2020 at 21:00, shoulderpet said:

Hi 

Am after some tips for developing 3 finger plucking technique, for years I have played with 2 fingers, am trying to learn 3 finger plucking for faster bass parts but struggling, it's like my 3rd finger is half as fast and strong as my index and middle finger, I am thinking maybe I'm trying to obtain the unattainable but I want to give this a fair try, I want to avoid introducing bad habits so am after some tips, thanks

The way I use three fingers for plucking is like this for exaple a 16th note pattern (3 ring, 2 middle, 1 index)

321321321321  (bold is where one is)

The two things to work on when practicing is avoiding galopping and make sure you accent every 'one'  

Start on one string without string skipping. 

3212 is basicall the same as 2121 in that the middle finger still makes the same work (playing every second note) The patter above divides the work equally between the fingers but requires some time for the fingers and the brain to adjust.