Exercise #1: Motor Finger Bass

Motor finger bass playing is the technique of playing a note multiple times in a measure, i.e. a string of sixteenth notes, by plucking the desired string in successive rapid motion using the pointer finger and the middle finger of the non-fretting hand. This technique allows the bassist to play a string of notes with a consistency of tone and rhythm.

Bass playing typically involves one hand striking a string and the other hand fretting the said string on the desired note. As touch guitarist, we do all of this with one hand. You can tap a string of notes with one finger, though the continuity of the sound diminishes compared to using a motor finger approach.

In touch style technique this is done by playing with two fingers per fret.

“What do you mean two fingers per fret?”

Instead of repetitive tapping with one finger on one fret [which can get tiresome], you tap with two alternating fingers on one fret. This technique allows for continuity in your bass lines; a smooth “dum-dum dum-dum” sound compared to a stark “tap-a-tap-a” tone and your fingers won’t get tired because they’re sharing the work.



In Exercise #1 Motor Finger Bass (click on picture to enlarge) the left hand starts on C (You do know where C is on your instrument? Good.) and moves up the C major scale in quarter notes through the first section (play twice), then moves by descending 5th’s (viib7b5-iii7-vimin7-iimin7-V7-IMaj7, hey it‘s the jazz phone number 736-2514), ending with alternating 4th and 5th movements, all in eighth notes. The fingering alternates between the 1st and 2nd fingers, but watch the end of the exercise - it switches to the 2nd and 3rd fingers (see Figure 1). Learning to alternate your fingers is a great technique for moving around the fret board with fluid motion.



For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the chord/scale fingerings, never fear. I’ve made 2 charts to help you work through this exercise. The first chart is fingerings for a C Major chord scale. The chords are all 7th chords without roots, and the scale degrees are color annotated. The second chart is fingerings for a C Major scale, both left hand (bass) and right hand (melody). They are also color annotated. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.



A note about the right hand chord voicing in the exercise. You might have noticed there are no root notes in the voicing. This is because the left hand is playing the roots already. The right hand is playing a third inversion for all of the chords (an inversion of a 7th chord where the 7 is the lowest note in the chord, but here I’ve omitted the root - so from the bottom up 7,3,5) Not playing the root in right hand voicing can allow for more color tones to be emphasized and better leading tones in chord melodies

Practice this exercise till you can play it in all 12 keys (yes, it’s important to learn everything in all twelve keys). Start slow, this isn’t a about speed, it’s accuracy and tone that matter the most. It should sound fluid in its movement and each note should sound proper (without buzzing). Try variations of the exercise; play the right hand chords with a half note pulse, try sixteenth notes for the left hand. Point is, once you’ve mastered the technique you’ll be using it every time you play.

Remember, when you’re not practicing - someone else is with the intent of taking your gig! Till next time.