A (Somewhat) Definitive Guide To The Matthew Garrison Technique And Playing Ramps

#46
hi im a new member so,first thing :hi to everyone!!!im glad to be here.
i ve been a student of Matthew and Dominique di Piazza too and for a lot of years i ve asked my self :what s the right combination in four fingers for this or that phrase or groove...
But now i can really tell that start to play with the ramp is the best thing i could do .After the first period of time practicing on the ramp my four fingers started to work in different,naturally combinations without any specific lick or pattern,so maybe the best thing to do is to give ourself the right period of practice and create a personal approach,different for any kind of phrase or groove.Matthew use the same combination just for "jungle"grooves or amazing fast runs in 64 notes ,what im trying to say is that there are several right-hand fingering combinations that can be used in order to suit a specific phrase's articulation you should find the best for you....Another really cool things is that with this technique i resolved a lot of problems..i remember that fast grooves full of ghost notes and some kind of phrasing with big intervals where really difficult for me in two fingers ,without the ramp on five string bass.Now everything seems more easy and relaxed..good luck to everyone wanna tried the ramp for the first time !!
 
#47
I read he ramp part and i have seen the four finger techique but i still dont see a good reason to have a ramp.
Just learn how to stop you fingers from diging in to much?

Other then that its a perfect guide/leasson.
 
#48
Consistency is the hardest part with using four fingers- controlling all of those digits to pluck at the same time is difficult since each is a different length and requires a lot of coordination. A ramp helps each finger stop at a certain place so you can trigger the next one to pluck. Tight string spacing can also work for this- classical guitarists who use four fingers have the advantage of the tight string spacing stopping their fingers at a defined depth if they need to. Most practice so long and hard at it their plucking is so good that they don't require aids, but this takes years of work. Ramps are obviously not necessary for getting a consistent attack, but they really do help a lot.

The best thing you can do is to just try a radiused ramp and see what it can do for you. Explanation can only go so far before you need to try something to see how it works.
 
#50
After reading this thread a week ago I put a ramp on my bass. I love it! I usually play over the bridge PU anyway, so the ramp between the PUs gives me a much larger and consistent are to play over. Even in standard picking technique. It didn't get in the way as I thought it might; although I don't have it as close to the strings as some people and it has a slightly flatter radius (30") than the neck (20").

I had a local luthier build mine. He had never done one before so it was an experiment for both of us. We worked on a prototype, which I played on for a week. Now he is working on a more permanent model.
 
#51
Hey guys - sorry for posting this elsewhere - it should have just gone here.

I have FINALLY made a very clear, slow and varied instructional clip of the old MG technique - I'll be doing some more on this soon as I'm expanding my rhythmic vocabulary with this now and it's getting pretty interesting - anyway hope you dig this - I made it as clear as I could any thoughts or questions please ask:

 
#53
This question goes to Mike and anyone else out there that is accomplished with this technique. In what circumstance do you find this way of playing necessary? I have a lot of respect for you ability to play this way with such ease, and in no way intend to offend or make light of the technique. I was just curious how you use it...

Thanks.
 
#54
I think it goes very naturally with chordal playing. I had always used my thumb when plucking chords, and often my ring finger as well, so transitioning between chords and linear parts is much easier for me when maintaining the same type of fingering, rather than switching back and forth between two differnt sorts of fingerstyle. I also find playing quick 4 and 5-note patterns to be much easier when using four fingers- I couldn't play some of them using just two. That's not to say it can't be played with two- it's just much more comfortable for me to do it with four.

When it comes down to it, we could get almost anything we need accomplished using just one finger. But just as using two opens up more possibilites with less exertion, so can using four.
 
#55
I am a noob at this kind of playing, but I find that it opens up a lot of new ideas when improvising.

When I'm jamming on a simple finger-funk root-octave-flat seven kind of thing, if I switch from two-fingered to thumb-fingers, my phrasing changes, new rhythmic ideas come up, it's almost like jamming with a new drummer!
 
#56
dulouz said:
This question goes to Mike and anyone else out there that is accomplished with this technique. In what circumstance do you find this way of playing necessary? I have a lot of respect for you ability to play this way with such ease, and in no way intend to offend or make light of the technique. I was just curious how you use it...

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's a totally valid and fair point - but my starting point in even thinking how, why and when to use this technique is to listen to others and see how they use it and how killing I (as in me personally) think it sounds.

So the two guys who do this the most out of any body is obviously Matt Garrison but also young Hadrien "Scary Monster" Feraud. The answer to your question then is go and listen to what they do with it - and the short answer beyond all the issues of aesthetics and personal taste - is that they both use it as part of a whole range of other picking techniques. This is the point - before I could do this I just had 2 finger picking and slapping (and a little tapping) as my main ways of playing - with all the variations this technique offers it's now down to me to explore all of those and create textures and dynamics with them.

I took my first solo at a jazz jam session using this style a few weeks ago and I just let it happen - it was really exciting - everyone else had taken very heavy 'note' solos and I thought OK - I'm not going to better that, I'll do a rhythm solo instead. It was great to have this as an option beyond some cliched slap fest or what not - and becuase it's so different to regular 2 finger picking it really sounded different and the audience loved it.

So overall it's something that is part of a complete approach that I am debveloping and exploring in my own way - it's not for everyone and I don't expect everyone to like it - but I love it so I'm going to keep developing it. I'm now really working on accents with different fingers - then whatever comes after that...

Cheers

Mike
 
#57
Mike Flynn said:
It's a totally valid and fair point - but my starting point in even thinking how, why and when to use this technique is to listen to others and see how they use it and how killing I (as in me personally) think it sounds.

So the two guys who do this the most out of any body is obviously Matt Garrison but also young Hadrien "Scary Monster" Feraud.
Click to expand...


So true. Would you recommend any particular tracks to listen to?

I play in a bar band, we do classic rock and country. But I don't want to limit myself to only those styles. That is why I was so intrigued by what I have read on this forum regarding the MG technique. I think it would be a great trick to have packed away to surpise people with, but at present time I have no idea how I would use it in my current gig.

Thanks for your insights...
 
#58
Bass45 said:
tZer said:
:meh:

I think Gary Willis might have invented the Ramp. Personally I can't see much use in it as the space below the strings doesn't bother me. Why do you think it would be useful? I've been playing 34 years without one. Glad to see another Spector user. I have a fretless 5 string with a peizio pick up along with a soap bar.
Click to expand...

For a list as to why it would be useful, you can read the paragraphs on it at the beginning of the thread. You've been playing for 34 years without one, but have you spent those 34 years playing with four fingers and a very light touch? I played without them for ten years using regular fingerstyle- when attempting to switch over to multi-fingered picking, I had a hard time for a while. I popped a ramp on my bass and I saw instant results and benefits.

If you're just plucking with two fingers and a normal attack, the space below may not bother you at all. Using three or four fingers, which require a lot more consistency in attack if you don't want it to sound like crap, combined with using a very light touch makes that space much more noticable.

Again, they're not for everyone, but for some, they are a huge benefit.
Click to expand...
 
#59
I'm strongly in favor of the ramp and playing light. I think the above techniques can be very musical. There is tremendous potential in using these techniques. Any technique that makes it easier to get the ideas out is positive. Unfortunately most of what I'm hearing lacks musicality. I'm not talking about any one person. I'm making a general statement. Many players that are utilizing these techniques don't have the rhythmic or harmonic knowledge to properly use them. They spend most of their practice time on technique and not on basic stuff.Their chops get in the way of the music. They kill the groove because they're not leaving enough space or they put in every note that works instead of the best one. It's great when playing by yourself at home but within a group context, it can be a curse. It is equally important that you have good ears so you can hear what chord is being played or when to play or not. You really need to be listening to everybody else and reacting to them.
Technique has to be balanced with Musicianship!
Peace:bassist:
 
#60
i have recently switched over to this technique, i haven't been using it long enough that i have death defying agility, nor can i acheive that wall of sound vibe, and i don't really care to (i play a lot of funk and melodic stuff, as well as show tunes), the best part of this technique for my playing is on funky songs, where instead of octave 8th notes you can hit the root as an 8th note and hit the octave as staccato 16ths, i also find myself using mute notes more often, at least in funk i find this technique helps me keep the movement of the song while playing fast(ish), something i lose sometimes in my 2 finger playing. my next bass will definitely have a ramp, but i did not find it impossible to learn the technique without one.
 
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