Right Hand Technique

By: James Duclos

For a bass player, right hand techniques are just as important as having strings on your bass. You cannot play without them. This article discusses a few popular right hand techniques and a few methods that are less common among your everyday groove master.

Pick

A lot of bassists use a pick to pluck the strings rather than their finger. Whether or not you use a pick is really a matter of preference – if you feel you have more control playing with a pick, then you should use a pick. You can also get a more responsive high end tone out of your bass with a pick. Bassist who use picks include: Mike Gordon (Phish), Mark Hoppus (Blink 182, +44), and Jason Newsted (Metallica). Insert:

Two fingers

Undoubtedly the most common style of playing is using two fingers to “walk” on the string. For this style, you use your fingers to pluck the string much like you would pluck a rubber band stretched between your fingers. Bassists who use this style include: Meshell Ndegeocello (solo), Jaco Pastorious (Weather Report), and Jesse Murphy (The Brazilian Girls). Insert:

Three Fingers!

The three finger style is much less commonly used; basically, instead of using two fingers, you use three. This style is great for jamming out with those fast triplets or adding in a few quick notes. Bassists who use this style include: John Myung (Dream Theater) and John Entwistle (The Who). Insert:

Tapping

Essentially, tapping is a lot like tapping on the electric guitar, except you are tapping on a bass guitar. This method is a great technique to use during solos and also, oddly enough, during ballad–style songs. Tapping is used by bassists like: Victor Wooten (Bela Flek and the Flektones) and Jean Baudin (Nuclear Rabbit). Insert:

Slap and Pop

A very popular bass style for funk bassists is the slap and pop technique where you hit the string with your thumb and pluck it with your fingers. This is used by a wide variety of bassists, including: Flea (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone), and also Feildy (Korn). Insert:

Other rare styles include the Double thumb technique used by Victor Wooten. Wooten uses his thumb more like a guitar pick using upstrokes and down strokes to play. He also incorporates this with popping the string with his pointer and middle finger. With this technique, Wooten can play very quickly and cleanly.

Bill “The Buddha” Dickens has a technique where he taps, slaps, and pops all at the same time. For example, Bill will tap the E string at the 5th fret, then slap the same string, tap the octave up, and then pluck it. Completing all of these steps in succession, Dickens is able to play with lightning quickness. Insert: