Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

*notes to self.. That's the first pic of Wints I've ever seen*

Thanks guys, nice to know what is working now is not all wrong. I watched my bass mentor who said he plays on the tips and he was fully on the flats most of the time.

I mostly use my fingertips, but I also use the flats (and in between!)

I've heard both as "proper" technique over the years.

You just gotta do what feels right.

As R.C. said, my left hand holds my pick, but thanks for asking.

Yea! More picksters!

Oh yeah, use a combination myself mostly depending on neck position and the following note.

It usually depends on pattern for me, sometimes tips, sometimes pads. I think too your finger length and hand size determines things as well.

When I teach kids guitar, I usually say tips, because otherwise you dampen strings that you need for the chords, though even then there are exceptions. Of course on bass there is more room.

Ultimately it's about getting good sound right?

sometimes when I am bored or want to show off I bring my hand in from the top of the neck instead of the bottom ... or I use my left thumb to fret ... or if a song is really simple then I only use one finger on my left hand to play ...

UGHH! YUCK!

I always hate seeing guys bring their hand over from the top! Just a pet peeve of mine, for no good reason really. I just hate the way it looks!

Tips, and flatten when necessary, I also use my LH pinky to mute a lot.

-a

John, I was thinking the same thing. YUCK!!

Jimi Hendrix did that a lot.

Root with the thumb, 1-3-5 with ring, middle and index fingers.

There was this one kid in jazz band at my high school who played a J-bass. He was really tall and had really, really big hands (he was also not such a good player, but that's beside the point). Whenever he played on that thin neck, his hand enveloped it in such a way that it looked like he was holding a pistol or something, like he was gripping it and trying to break it in half. It was REALLY distracting for some reason. It's weird, too, because it doesn't look odd to me on guitar, but it looks really weird on bass.

And Jimi's fingers were very long, so they lended themselves to that style. That is some cool stuff.

Sometimes I use my thumb to fret, but not without thinking about it.