Down Up Fingering Style

jalapejoe

jalapejoe

Oct 14, 2015
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Columbia Heights, MN
www.sanardoband.com
#1
Hello All,

My guitarist asked me if I can play a style I am unfamiliar with he was quite surprised I was unfamiliar with it. He asked me if I could play fingering style 2 or 3 fingers much like the Marcus Miller thumb technique down up down up like a pick but with my fingers for speed. Anyone know of this style or some good videos so I can see it? So finger one down up then finger 2 down up back to finger 1 down up for blazing speed.

Joe
 
#2
I'm assuming your guitarist is talking Wes style of playing the geetar




Tony Grey uses his thumb occasionally, from some of the videos i've seen.

I play piano, I treat my right hand like playing the piano. Hopefully this helps.
 
#3
jalapejoe said:
My guitarist asked me if I can play a style I am unfamiliar with he was quite surprised I was unfamiliar with it. He asked me if I could play fingering style 2 or 3 fingers much like the Marcus Miller thumb technique down up down up like a pick but with my fingers for speed. Anyone know of this style or some good videos so I can see it? So finger one down up then finger 2 down up back to finger 1 down up for blazing speed.
Click to expand...

99% of finger playing on bass is upstrokes only. Occasionally players might do a flamenco-style downstroke with their fingers, but what you're describing isn't a thing that I've ever heard of in 30+ years of playing.
Maybe as a flourish kind of thing at the end of a song. But not as a normal way of playing.
When people talk about using 3 fingers on bass it's all upstrokes. With practice you can get all the speed you'll ever need with all upstrokes.

Thumb double picking is relatively common. Marcus, as you mentioned, and Victor Wooten are great examples. As well as a ton of guitar players.
 
#5
I will occasionally use this style as a special effect, but I don't recommend it. The sound between strokes is just too disparate. With flesh on one side, and a nail on the other, there is no way to make it sound consistent. It comes out sounding like "thump, thump, scrape, scrape".

The way to do it is middle up, index up, middle down, index down.
(Up is toward the ceiling--flesh side of the finger; down is toward the floor--nail side of finger)
 
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#6
I play this way but with four fingers. I play metal specifically technical death metal and this is almost necessary with how fast things get now a days and trying to keep up with the double kicks. I start with the pinky the ring middle index and flick outward with the pinky then ring, middle index. The end result is a continuous picking that with enough practice of your outward flick the attack and sound will match and sound like a normal finger style attack. Word to the wise it took me some serious rudimentary practice, finger independence, and strength training on he outward flick. I will post what I posted in the demystifying metal thread. Granted it is also about getting the tone for the genre and speed but you'll get the point here it is:

get a fretless, crank the mids, and give plenty of highs tastefully, balance the lows adequately not overwhelming or floor shaking (may vary on preference) think forest la pointe of beyond creation, archspire, or obscure. Even a more aggressive jaco sound will cut very well with the right amount of highs and mids. use roundwounds on the fretless will mwah more and push the mids more the lower action helps as well along with getting the right attack. i have been playing technical death metal for about (bass player for about 12 years now) 4 years now and this has worked extremely well to poke through the mix and get an aggressive sound. i have gotten many compliments on my tone at gigs. just my 2 cents. depending on the bass you may want to only use the bridge pickup and dial in the tone described to taste (i was able to achieve the sound i described by defretting an ibanez six string putting rounds on it and installing a bartolini ntmb 3 band eq).

as far as speed and technique i usually play near the bridge pickup with a four finger plucking technique plucking on the upstroke and flamenco right near the edge of the nail and finger mass on the way out this gives me quite a bit of speed and with practice and time it becomes quite easy and sounds good (may take a few years of rudiment and string skipping practice). this essentially is like a heel toe technique that drummers use for double kick but for finger picking. Your outward flamenco stroke will need to be strong though to balance out. For warm ups i practice a quadruplet string skipping only using the flamenco and alternate patterns once the muscles feel warmed up i bring in the finger picking (think upward fingerpicking stroke pinky first down to index then pinky flamenco out to the index creates a fluid consistent movement of all four fingers, and with practice can be fast enough and consistent to stay with the kicks). switching between picking near the neck and bridge will help during certain passages you need more balls in or more of that rolling off the finger sound strings bouncing off fretboard. be fore warned you will not see good results for atleast a year of consistent practicing as you need to build up the muscles neccessary. practice slow build up speed and before you know it you will be shredding away at awesome speeds. you will also need to practice left hand muting to ensure clean notes.

to recap 4321 4f3f2f1f f=flamenco you can also practice the finger picking for a while before incorporating the flamenco 4321234 and any variation there of will help you want complete control of the right hand which is especially important in this genre of music. create a table and make all the possible configurations starting with each number 4321 4231 4132 4213 etc then move onto 3214 3124 3421 3142 etc then create another table with all the variations for string skipping and create fret pattern on the left hand and right hand to practice finger independence with left hand as well especially helpful with erb basses. These are techniques that i have practiced for years took a lot of work but has paid off in a big way. my band mates always say i am a fast mother shager. lol
 
#7
It is becoming more of a common technique in metal as speeds are being pushed consistently. Also getting a consistent sound near the nail and flesh is dependent upon trimming your nails to the proper length and hitting the same spot everytime key is between the flesh and nail not only the nail with enough force it will even out.
 
#8
Sounds like he's talking about a "roll" or Scruggs style of playing like you would a banjo or a bluegrass style guitar. Is that what he means?

Or is he talking about a straight 3-finger right hand technique?
 
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