How to stop “Flying Fingers”… Left hand technique exercise // with Scott’s Bass Lessons
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Omg my pinky is the worst on my right hand! Such a shame lol! 😀
Wow. I didn’t even realize I did this. I’ve played bass for almost 10 years
and had never noticed this or even recognized it as a problem. Worse is
realizing that my pinky is double jointed so it will kind of “snap” off of
the fretboard when my wrist is in certain positions :(
DARN YOU PINKY FINGER
Great technique, however my pinky starts hurting when i concentrate on
playing with it on the fret board. It may be because I flex it or
something, but does somebody else have the same problem?
Nothing new here, I thought that up ten years ago.
I hate it. I just hate it. It is so frustrating. How long does that need? I
mean, my little finger is out of control. I really try to bring him down,
but he just won’t do it. My entire hand is shaking, because i concentrate
so much to put down the little finger. And when i finally put him down, my
index finger pops out. I mean…come on .”.
What’s that glove he’s wearing?
This is a very important lesson that will increase speed & quality in
playing bass.
Always something Great from your lessons!
Thanks for posting!!
This is really helping. Saw an improvement in a few days. What i found also
helps is to practice the above lesson, but only use the left hand, and very
lightly touch the strings with a small movement of each finger, while
keeping the other fingers just above the strings. When you can do this,
start pressing a little bit harder, but not all the way to the fret board.
Finally do the same as the vid above. Hope this helps.
Great, helpful lesson. Right where I am at right now. I thought of cutting
off my pinky and ring fingers but found your video and will be trying these
exercises instead 😉 Thanks Scott.
PHENOMENAL lesson, good sir! It really helped with playing things like
Steve’s Boogie by Eric Johnson. I notice it’s not nearly as “exhausting”
to play when I keep my fingers from flying. CHEERS!
Flying fingers is actually a good thing if you look at the way Hadrien
plays…..
no proble with my ring finger but my pinkey still goes out, i just have to
practise. but its working, Thanks!
Hi Scott. Its good to see that the flying fingers has become a point of
attention for many great youtube bass/guitar teachers. Great lesson. Let me
tell you my experience.
I had this problem (well… still when I’m not paying attention). The two
best excercises I still do is to play the finger secuence 1-2-3-4, just as
you shown, BUT changing only one finger at the time, leaving the other 3
fingers in the corresponding strings.
The other one is an small sequence I made that exacerbates the flying
fingers problem. Starting on the 3rd string, E, F, (2nd string) G#, B (1st
string) D, D#.
The notes are irrelevant, you can do it anywhere while respecting the shape
AND lifting your fingers no more that a couple of milimeters. Slowly,
painfully and “slugginshly” slow, up and down for hours and hours… If you
try this, without training, you can see how the pinky finger struggles to
keep still when pressing the E – F sequence.
And for everyone… remember: every musician, rock hero and legend were
right where you are at some point of their lives. Keep it up!
So frustrating. Pinky keeps going rogue. Improving…thank you for the
technique.
I’ve been practising this exercise for a few days now and I can get my
pinky down so it’s the same distance as my other fingers when they are
floating above the fretboard, should I concentrate on the distance my
fingers are from the fretboard or have I got rid of the dreaded flying
fingers. Also is it ok if my middle and ring finger rest when they aren’t
in use, I see your fingers do that when you play but I don’t think it is a
problem because I have no problem reaching notes when I need to.
Lastly thanks for this lesson I didn’t think I could have this flaw but I
do and also thanks for all the lessons you do because they help me out a
bunch.
I was like “I don’t have flying fingers” then I picked up my bass and went
mental.
I think this is more often a problem of the left arm rather than the
fingers – namely that the left forearm is too relaxed. Relaxation of the
left forearm will lead to rotation that pulls the 3rd/4th fingers away from
the fretboard; I suspect this is why “flying fingers” is such a common
problem. You could of course also solve the problem by just bending the
fingers, but I find this to be a bad solution as it puts the fingers in a
weak position.
So the key is to ensure that the left arm is always set such as 1. to bring
the fingers over the strings and 2. to put the fingers in the optimum
position for strength. This involves a compromise, as the optimal solution
for one finger probably won’t be optimal for another. You have to
experiment a bit to find the most comfortable position for you.
I really appreciate the fact that you concentrate on helping beginners.
Bass players have the hardest time finding dependable instructional lessons
online.
Other instruments usually have so many more resources. Thanks Scott.
Thanku sir…..
This is very easy teaching method
Hey Scott! I was wondering is it normal for me to feel strain around the
wrist area? I’m trying to correct my technique by bringing down these
flying fingers, but It’s starting to become uncomfortable. Any info would
be appreciated, thanks!
awesome video! This is helpful to any guitarists or bassists. I have been
Subbed
wondering for ages how to make my pinky stop being so retarded.
and liked!!
This lesson was made for me. Thank you!
Hey, Scott, is it sufficient to do this with just the 3 different patterns
you demonstrated, or should we make up others? And if we make up others,
should we always start them with “1”, as you did, or start some of them
with other fingers?
Very interesting video. Not the most melodic and fun exercice but one that
is nonetheless so essential. And once you’re comfortable with this, you can
take it to the next level by playing these kind of combinations on several
strings at a time, i.e. for example “1, 4, 2, 3” with 1, 2 on the E string,
and 4,3 on the A string. You can even train string skipping by playing 4, 3
on the G string.
So yeah, very basic exercice that you can endlessly adapt. Personnally it’s
become a “warming up” routine before any playing session.