Ahh, I think approaches and fingerings are kinda the same as they take you in the same direction. I didn't want the discussion to get into a tangent. Not that I'm responsible for the thread, lol...
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Ahh, I think approaches and fingerings are kinda the same as they take you in the same direction. I didn't want the discussion to get into a tangent. Not that I'm responsible for the thread, lol...
Fair enough. When I hear 'fingerings' in the context of bass guitar it's often stuff like 'always play root with middle and M3 or M6 with index unless it's minor in which case root with index and m3/m6 with pinky', or 'stick to this that or the other box pattern'. Sure these get you going, but...
The problem with the dogmatic methods is that they tend to stifle personal exploration and the confidence to believe in what one discovers...
Absolutely agree.
Making up your own exercises is the fun part IME. I see exercises as a STARTING POINT to fuel our own discovery and creativity. That's when I started enjoying them, could spend hours each week on them, and really seeing progress. YMMV.
Thanks everyone for your contribution, the discussion is bringing out some interesting stuff, so I would let it flow.
Just to add a plus for fingerings: I see fingerings like pointers, you use photographic shortcut to compensate or speed up other mental resources.
If you learn to visualize intervals in different ways, then you can think about visualizing combination of intervals, coming up with fingerings.
The fact that you need to know the meaning of a group of notes it does not mean you recall it each time you play.
That said, I primarily think about intervals when playing, and more about note names when reading. But I guess it is normal...
Just to add a plus for fingerings: I see fingerings like pointers, you use photographic shortcut to compensate or speed up other mental resources.
If you learn to visualize intervals in different ways, then you can think about visualizing combination of intervals, coming up with fingerings.
The fact that you need to know the meaning of a group of notes it does not mean you recall it each time you play.
That said, I primarily think about intervals when playing, and more about note names when reading. But I guess it is normal...
This is, in a way, what I was getting at earlier...
I see fingerings for a whole peice as built on a series of rudiments that can be practiced individually then linked together into progressively larger sequences. The links are also rudiments in and of themselves. What you find is that intervals occur in many guises... A perfect 4th appears as 5 to 8, the b5 is also m3-M6 and M3 to m7, the m3 is also M3-5 and 5-m7, and so on.
Working on all possible fingerings for each frees the mind from the association of scale degree to fingering 'constraint' of the box approach, IMHO.
Anthony's approach is a form of the "3 notes per string" method mentioned by the OP.
confined to 3 notes on a string you really only have 3 options:
- whole step , whole step
- half step , whole step
- whole step, half step
there is only truly one diatonic fingering pattern.
all fingering "boxes" and modes are merely a subset of that single pattern.
when I was starting out I spent a lot of time making my own charts.
it occurred to me that this must be a single pattern
(it's just the same sequence of whole steps and half-steps repeated, after all)
wondering what that pattern was,
I created a 12 x 12 fingering chart for an imaginary "12 string bass"
and saw the whole "map" displayed clearly for the first time.
so now days when I notice I am playing one of those 3 note forms
I try to locate my position on that larger map.
