I started practicing the three-finger technique for contrabass in January of this year, and it is now generally taking shape. Since I could not find much information on how to practice on the Internet, I have been trying to figure out how I should practice. When I searched for “double bass three fingers,” most of the sources, at least in Japanese/English, refer to the three fingers of the left hand of the Simandl, but there is no information on the right-hand technique. There were a few threads on Talkbass.com, but I felt exercising part of the information was missing.
So, here is what worked best for me in learning the technique, and what I wish to tell myself if I could travel back in time to January of this year.
First of all, the term “three fingers” gives the image of the right-hand technique only, but in reality, the key is the coordination of the right and left hands. Therefore, it is better to train both right and left hands at the same time from the beginning. Speed improves with time, so there is no need to rush.
For example, if you are not used to it, your brain will instruct you to use your right index finger to pluck the strings when you press the strings with your left index finger. The order of the three fingers is the ring finger, middle finger, index finger, and ring finger, so if the strings are plucked with the left index finger, the strings must be plucked with the ring finger of the right hand for the first note.
Regarding the order of the three fingers, I have seen the order of R, M, I, M, R, M demonstrated by virtuoso Yuri Goloubev or players inTalkbass thread, but here I will use the order of Billysian and NHOP: R, M, I, R, M, I. I could not get used to R, M, I, M, R, M because the middle finger works more than other fingers.
The practice of going back and forth between the 1st and 5th degrees in 4 beats using two strings was effective because the brain has to adapt to splitting in 4 beats instead of splitting in triplets for the 3 fingers. An example would be: FFFF(E string) CCCC(A string) → F# F# F# F#(E string) C# C# C# C#(A string) → GGGG(E string) DDDD(A string), going as high as possible, and when you are done, repeat the same thing on the A and D string pairs, and on the D and G string pairs. Also, the point to always keep in mind is that you must remember the first and last finger you played. For example, if you plucked the strings from the ring finger in the above exercise, FFFF CCCC, the last C would be the middle finger. If the last finger you plucked is not correct, you must always find where it is wrong. (This is true no matter which practice you do). One difficulty is that sometimes, after playing a fast phrase, you realize that the last finger is out of order, but you don’t know when the fingers are in the wrong order. In such cases, it is important to take a video of the incorrect performance and correct it after figuring out what/why is wrong. For example, when I played a phrase in which I had to go back and forth from the E string to the D string, instead of returning to the index finger to the ring finger, I would return to the index finger to the middle finger as in the two-finger technique. Also, since the middle finger is the longest compared to the other fingers when I played fast phrases without being aware of it, I often found myself playing only with the ring and index fingers alternately as in the two-finger technique.
In addition to the above actions of practicing the right and left hands simultaneously, a supplementary practice of playing open strings with the right hand alone was also effective. If the left hand is included in the equation from the beginning, the brain CPU may not be able to process it fully.
Also, at the beginning of practice, if you play as is, the rhythm will be like a triplet with a tata-tata-tata accent instead of a tata-tata four-beat, but this is because the muscles and nerves of the ring finger are not accustomed to the movement of plucking the strings. Therefore, it was important to use the method of just alternating between the ring and middle fingers instead of playing with three fingers. Practicing with a metronome to gradually increase the Bmp each day helped me feel the speed increase. Alternating between the index and ring fingers should also be practiced to some extent, although it is not as important as the combination of the ring and middle fingers.
As mentioned above, it is difficult to find the most effective practice methods unless you identify your weak points, but in my case, the following two methods were the most effective.
The first is to play the F major scale as follows.
FF(E string) GG(E string) AA(A string) BbBb(A string) CC(A string) DD(D string) EE(D string) FF(D string) When you are done, go a semitone higher F# to F#F#(E string) AbAb(E string) BbBb(A string) BB(A string) C#C#(A string) EbEb(D string) FF(D string) F#F#(D string) This was very effective in connecting the left and right-hand movements in my brain.
The second method is to play arpeggios in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th. For example, play E on the G string, C on the D string, A, F on the A string, E, F on the A string, A, C on the D string, and E on the G string in that order (F△7). If you play with the ring finger first, the last finger to play is also the index finger, and when you play the starting note of F, it will be back to the ring finger again, so it is easy to understand. Also, it is important to change the finger to be played first in each exercise. If you start with the ring finger, then the middle finger, then the index finger, and so on. Three fingers do not take that long to learn if you play only one string in a row in a four-beat sequence. The most difficult part was to be aware of the movements of the right and left hands so that the order of the fingers of the right hand would not be out of order when playing a string-shifting phrase.
Exercises that used all four strings were also effective. For example, an exercise that went up to Ab(E string) B(A string) Eb(D string) F#(D string) Bb(G string) and back down to F#(D string) Eb(D string) B(A string) Ab(E string) (going back and forth to the 9th degree of Ab minor). This exercise, plus playing twice for each note, was also very effective.
As a supplement to this exercise, I also found it effective to put stress on either 1&3 or 2&4 when playing the open strings in a 4-beat pattern. This is because it is difficult to put rhythmic stress on the strings with the index finger when the right-hand pizzicato style is parallel to the strings, rather than perpendicular to the strings as on the electric bass. This is due to the way the arm and wrist move. The ring and middle fingers make it easier to make a rhythmic accent because the weight of the arm can be incorporated when the arm is swung down, but with the index finger, the ring finger must be momentarily prepared to come up next, so deliberate practice is required to play the 4 beat pattern even.
The three fingers do not seem to be much different from the two fingers in terms of speed. Both can be used at a fast speed if mastered. I don’t think I’ve mastered the three-finger completely, so I can’t draw any generalized conclusions, but the good thing about 3 is that I have more time to rest my fingers than with the two-finger. With two fingers, my fingers are busy, whereas, with three fingers, I feel that I am more relaxed for fast phrasing.
The strings you use and the string height are also important in learning to practice three fingers. For example, the strings I used in the past had strong tension, and it was painful to pluck the strings with my ring finger at first. Even after I got used to practicing, sometimes my ring finger still hurt. If it is really difficult, it is better to replace the strings with light tension strings.
Also, depending on the position of the right thumb, the fingers may or may not get tangled and out of order when crossing strings with the right hand. If you are conscious about putting your thumb on the side of the fingerboard, or floating your thumb on the E or A string while plucking string, you can move the strings without losing the order of your fingers, although I don’t know the biomechanical reason for this. This is especially important for electric basses, where the thumb must have a fixed position(either on pickup or string) because the string spacing is so short that it is easy for the fingers to go out of alignment when playing phrases that require crossing strings. I had to be conscious of always placing my thumb on the pickup or string,
It takes time to practice the finger technique me because I sometimes want to pluck double bass strings like an electric one. So I had to practice the three fingers for the electric bass plucking way in addition to the three fingers of the double bass pizz way(to keep the fingers parallel to the strings to some extent), which simply doubled the practice time. However, if I practice three three-finger electric bass technique on the double bass, I can apply it to the electric bass to some extent. If I practice 3 from the electric bass and try to transfer it to the double bass, it seems to be difficult to apply it due to the difference in tension and string spacing of the double bass.
Note (11/18): Compared to the two-finger technique, the three-finger technique makes it challenging to develop the feel of using the weight of the right arm to pluck the strings. It’s especially difficult to engage the ring finger with the same sense of arm weight as the index and middle fingers. Practicing at a slow tempo of 40 bpm with a metronome, it’s important to anchor each finger (index, middle, and ring) to specific strings (E, A, D, and G) and focus on feeling the connection from shoulder to fingertip. This helps build an awareness of how force travels from the arm to each finger, enhancing control and consistency.