Plucking Hand Bass Workout – VANQUISH Right-Hand Fumbling
►► FREE: Get the tabs, notation and practice tracks for all the bass lines in this lesson → https://becomeabassist.com/plucking-hand-bass-workout
Ever find yourself fumbling or stumbling over notes because of your plucking hand?
Maybe you KNOW that learning to alternate with your index and middle finger will help you play trickier bass lines, but you just can’t seem to make it work for you…
Maybe it’s that your hands just don’t seem to be very coordinated – like the right hand just refuses to talk to the left – AT ALL…
Maybe you’re transitioning from only using a pick and things just feel ‘wrong’ in your hands…
Whatever it is though, today I want to share a super cool workout, specifically designed to level up your plucking hand. We’re going to dig in deep and isolate the plucking hand as much as possible.
This won’t be a super dry, unmusical exercise though, so for every level of the workout, there’s a real-life bass line (including one from Paul McCartney) that you can use to level up your mother-pluckin’ plucking hand.
You’ll learn:
► The idea you can ethically ‘steal’ from drummers to supercharge your plucking hand’s ‘internal’ coordination
► The three ‘levels’ of this right hand coordination workout and three great bass lines that you can use to apply the exercises to make music immediately
►How to start using your index AND middle finger – if you haven’t already – and if you have you’ll learn how to intentionally supercharge your alternating technique so you’ll be ready for even the trickiest of bass lines
By the way, if you’d like all the tabs, notation and tracks that I’m using in this video (even the slower, friendlier practice tracks), you can get them all for free by going to this page:
https://becomeabassist.com/plucking-hand-bass-workout
Just fill out the form under the video and I’ll send everything straight to you and you can be getting in on this workout and playing these bass lines in less than a minute.
When you work on your ‘internal’ plucking hand and make it coordinated within itself, you’ll have a much easier time getting it to work with your fretting hand. Your fretting hand has to have a similar level of internal coordination, but that’s maybe a subject for another day.
But when they work together, everything becomes easier to play, so I really hope you enjoy the workout and I’m sure it can help.
Good luck with the lesson and happy plucking!
Cheers,
Luke
P.S. Here’s the link to get the tabs and tracks (even the slower practice ones)
[Chapters]
0:00 Intro
1:28 Level 1: Pumping 8ths
2:46 Level 1 Song: AC/DC – Thunderstruck
8:28 Level 2: Adjacent String Skipping
10:52 Level 2 Song: The Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There
13:21 Level 3: ‘True’ String Skipping
15:18 Level 3 Song: Rose Royce – Car Wash
19:25 Get The Tabs And Tracks From This Lesson
#becomeabassist #basslesson #basstechnique
#Plucking #Hand #Bass #Workout #VANQUISH #RightHand #Fumbling
Originally posted by UCxX8-X5XeOTSlXQZERNWrog at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obny_E08-ko
Luke, brilliant lesson.
This is a serious workout for old hands. Glad you didn’t edit out times when you went off track. I appreciate your hard work. This will take me a while to master.
Interesting, Scott's Bass Lessons says to always alternate fingers. I guess no way is wrong, just different.
May I ask,did you have the "Spectre"bass made with that finish, or was it the luck of the draw?I couldn't find one…
Does straightening the plucking hand fingers at the first joint and resting the wrist on the bass body increase speed?
I just discovered that a great song to practice this to is photograph by weezer 🙂
Luke this is what I been looking for. needing a good practice for my plucking hand .Like you said ,got to keep it slow. Thanks so much! keep up the great work!
the paradiddle works for 3 finger pluckin as wall, I just tried 123112312231233.
Why don't you just play 12121212? I mean they are the same note.
No fast technique. Playing two notes on the same string with one finger is slow and weak. But it depends of the tempo of the song.. sometimes it works until medium tempo, but not on fast tempo, for sure.
Drummers say "Par-a-di-dle, Par-a-di-dle…" to help internalize the pattern.
Man I have a hard enough time coordinating singing with bass! To then have to remember a periodicity pattern seems like brain overload. I am going to practice enough to get it to muscle memory.
Funny that I thought I was clever playing paradiddles, cause i'm a drummer. I did it also on the fret board too
What you using?
Why would anyone ever practice plucking twice with the same finger? What is the purpose of this paradiddle excercise? Stop missleading begginer bassists.
Wow, looks like my sight reading is improving. I had the vid paused at 12:59 and looking at the first eight notes, can see it's broken chord tones of the E chord and one passing note on the 4. Then it's easy to guess the 2nd bar follows the same pattern in B, which it does, and you've kind of read all 4 bars at a glance, now. Feels good. The cool part is that going up one space from a space or one line from a line is always a third, so the pattern kinda sticks out that way.
It's funny. As I've started recording myself more, I've switched back to one-finger plucking. It doesn't work for every part. Some are too fast for one finger. But if I'm playing a steady 8th note groove, I find that using only one finger gets a much more even tone. You don't have the subtle differences between fingers. It's kind of like the difference between using all downstrokes versus alternate picking on guitar.
This is so cool! Thank you!!!
Thanks to genetic variation, I struggle with alternating fingers, my middle finger is so much longer than my first, it's almost impossible to play the same string with both. In the end, I use the side of my index finger for all strokes.
Thank you Luke.
flucking pingers
thank you about plucking.I want to know about popping.
11:21 which fingers you use dont matter… true… to most sane people. but they might be a college professor at one of the juries before your senior recital. or so i hear lol. I do not have nightmares about that at all
Hi Luke,
Thanks a lot for your teaching.
On question: wouldn’t it be possible tu use the Thumb for the first string and middle for the other.
Is it a mistake ? Is it impossible to play fast this way ?
Thank’s again
Know any spoonerisms for 'plucking fingers'?
Thank you sir
I think this one will help
Great lessons dude, earned a sub from me!!
This is the kind of workout that I didn't realise I needed until I followed it through, this is all going straight to into regular practise! I was caught off guard with the string skipping as I didn't realise how much I naturally rake to lower strings, which is fine in some circumstances but so restrictive for playing lines that rock back and forth like that!! Looking forward to breaking that habit.
As always a nice, straight forward video with effective exercises. I'm also currently working through your BLOTF course at the moment, it's great so far 🙂
This is interesting.I'm giving these exercises a workout but it isn't as easy as one might think if alternate fingering has been drilled into you from day one.I'm always willing to give something that'll improve technique a try .
Great lesson as always. A quick question about the final octave bass line. When you are playing 16th notes on both strings I can see you have to use alternate picking, but I came to bass via guitar and when you are playing an 8th note then 16ths an octave higher i find it really natural to use my thumb for the 8th then alternate picking for the 16ths. I'm sure not using the thumb in these instances is better for overall technique etc. and every bass player plays a line like this using alternate fingers, but is there a specific reason to avoid playing an octave bass line like this one using thumb for 8ths and fingers for 16ths an octave higher even when not using a slap technique for the lower note? Thanks
I spotted Arnie at 10:55! Luke, wow, what a great lesson. My right hand technique is something I need to continue to work on. I started playing bass with a pick, so that comes easy for me. Steady finger plucking is a continual challenge. The slowed down tracks are great to work with. Thanks for making all this free, and keep at it. And I love how you keep your mistakes in the videos. It shows how humble you are. Cheers!
Great lesson Luke, very intense but enjoyable. Loved hearing I Saw Her Standing There as part of the lesson!
Must say that even if it seemed simple, when i tried, was a great exercise and required some focusing, helped a ton with those double notes on the octaves
Thanks, Luke! There is a unison riff in Dave Grusin's Mountain Dance landing on C that goes across three strings in a blistering pace, and being conscious about my plucking fingers is so helpful (and essential) there!
A wolf in sheep's clothing. Spent a LONG time trying to accent the 1-2-3-4 beat. Still trying….. amazing drill
Not sure why, but when I tried to download it says my Gmail address isn't valid.
Thanks Luke, love it.
Thanks Luke a new way to relieve tiresome fingers .
Really good drill Luke. Thanks!
Excellent Luke, this old man thanks you.
???? Good boy! He is so focused on your bass playing. Thank you for another great lesson, this is exactly what I needed right now. String crossing is my nemesis but this exercise really helps. Thanks!
Thank you Luke! I need this! Cool
Great training lesson Luke! And more interesting as it uses easy but real bass lines from songs! Thanks for free tab too!
So good thank so muck luke
I had no idea I would find that difficult. I will have found something that has been hampering my playing of real world patterns. Awkward though I feel, I must say thanks Luke.
Awsome lesson man thanks again,I never really thought about the count or my plucking I just jammed,for me it's a fresh new perspective,love it! I appreciate your time to give such cool as you say no BS bass lessons so cool ????
This messed my brain ????, good exercise
Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing this.
Спасибо Люк, отличные уроки! Вижу, у тебя есть поклонник и помошник! ???? ???? ????????
Good work out. Thanks!