This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he shares a simple practice trick for playing fast phrases more cleanly.
“My fingers tangle up once a phrase gets fast” or “I hit a wall past a certain tempo” — a lot of players run into this. Here’s a practice method that can help.
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Step 1: Pluck With Just the Fingertip, More Than Usual
The priority here is feeling the string “catch” on your fingertip. Plucking from the very tip of your finger means your volume drops, but a big part of why players can’t keep up with fast phrases is actually that they haven’t found this catching sensation yet.
Step 2: Once You’re Comfortable, Dig In Deeper
Once you’re comfortable controlling the note with just your fingertip, gradually bring your finger in deeper against the string, the way you normally would. As you get a feel for it, keep deepening the contact bit by bit until you can produce a strong, stable tone.
This method works equally well for both upright and electric bass. If you only ever practice by cranking the tempo up, you’ll eventually hit a wall at some point no matter what. If you’re working on a fast phrase right now, give this a try.
Fixing a finger-tangling habit like this is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to self-diagnose — a teacher watching your hand can usually spot the root cause immediately.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.