Learning two-fingered right hand technique is a good idea, although some choose not to use this technique at all in favor of a uniformity of fundamental sound. For faster passages, some use the tips of both the first and second fingers, alternating, and may pluck higher on the fingerboard closer to the left hand to get a darker sound. Some alternate between the first and middle fingers, primarily at faster tempos. Some strike mainly with the middle finger. Some strike with the tips of the index and middle fingers at the same time. Some lay the middle finger over the index finger and strike with the index in order to get more arm weight into the string. Many of the most respected upright bassists strike primarily with the side of the index finger. If more of the string’s length is addressed by the strike of the finger, then some of the upper harmonics are muted and the fundamental is emphasized. When the string is struck with a small contact area, the higher harmonics of the overtone series are “selected.” There are harmonic “nodes” all over the string, and if a string is struck by only the tip of a finger, the balance of harmonics shifts to the upper end of the overtone series. In the bass, the more fundamental, the better we want to emphasize the vibration of the entire string. When the string is vibrating, it is vibrating not only as a whole, but in its rationic fractions so, one pitch of a vibrating string is really a stack of pitches known as “the overtone series.” “Tone” is a function of the balance between the tones in the overtone series. The string is long relative to the fingers.

The right hand has a substantial role in sound: where we pluck the string how fast we get our finger(s) “through” the string as we strike it and-most importantly-how much flesh we use to address the string are crucial to how much fundamental tone we get, and what its character might be. Playing hard with the right hand can be counterproductive, causing injury and choking the sound. The main idea we need to communicate is that the left hand does most of the work in sound generation. There are a few principles to bear in mind that are helpful no matter what technique we use.

Pizzicato technique