Shifting question

#21
If your technique causes discomfort, it's wrong.

Never anchor your thumb and stretch to reach the notes. Always shift, every note if needs be. Your fretting hand should be 100% mobile.
 
#23
You have to able to do both...
Your little pinky should be strong enough to hold any note in 1 per fret situation and it will do the hard work in a three.
None of the fretting fingers should be weak.
This is what you build up to.....
 
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#24
Play Lazy, but with good technique. So get those positions down, and then use the one that take the least amount of work for what it is you're playing. If you have to play a passage that covers 4 frets for a short period, switch to OFPF, then go back to 1,2,4. I default to this and, in concert with keeping everything relaxed, I can play for long periods without getting tired.
 
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#25
pepj said:
You have to able to do both...
Your little pinky should be strong enough to hold any note in 1 per fret situation and it will do the hard work in a three.
None of the fretting fingers should be weak.
This is what you build up to.....
Click to expand...
Never neglect your pinky, your pinky is your friend. I had to make a conscious choice to start using mine, and now I use it way more than my 3rd finger. I see so many videos of people contorting their hand to only play with 3 fingers and it hurts my soul. You'll be surprised how quickly you can get used to using it and it'll save you a ton of effort. The other trick is to consciously practice only using the least amount of pressure you need to make notes sound cleanly. I have to regularly work on that and it's made huge dividends on every aspect of my playing.
 
#26
I started out as a guitarist so when I switched to bass guitar the OFPF made a lot of sense. However, once I started upright, Simandl 124 became an absolute necessity for my hand.

I now employ a hybrid technique where most things below the 7th fret get the Simandl and above gets the OFPF.

This is not a hard rule, it’s quite flexible when soloing and messing around.

As others have mentioned, I’m glad I put significant time into both and can generally employ either as the music dictates.

And now when I play a super shorty like my UBass I feel like Steve Vai doing these crazy interval stretches! I’m like dang - maybe I need a 30” 24 fret six string! Then look for my next thread on how to get fired from any corporate gig lol
 
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#27
Sean Duncan said:
Hello, I've been learning to read music from a hal leonard book. They teach to use index on first fret, middle finger on second fret and pinky on the third fret.

For the first shift, they have it as index on third, middle on fourth and pinky on the fifth.

Conversely, I had a bass teacher that taught one finger per fret. He didn't give me a definite rule on shifting. Kind of depending on where you are and where the music is going. If there was a definite rule, I'd think it would be finger-per-fret on 1-4 and then 5-9 and so on, maybe adjust it depending on the key you're in (finger per fret on 2-5 and then 6-10).

Typing this out I kind of got my answer, I think I should disregard the Hal Leonard books suggestion. It was probably written with kids playing in mind that likely can't do a finger per fret.

Open to suggestions and comments!
Click to expand...
If you're playing in F minor or F# minor, you want your index on the root.

That book is not making sense.
 
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