20250119113818-Single-Finger_Composite_Chordophone_Plucking

Single-Finger Composite Chordophone Plucking

From “Tutorial¨ in The Bass Handbook

Early basses placed a finger rest at the bottom of the bass body to support the fingers while the thumb was used to play downstrokes.

One can of course use a single finger to pluck the strings on a composite chordophone, or a strumming/plucking string instrument. However, there are several ways to do that. Above is the first way (Ashton 2005, 134):

• Using the thumb to do downstrokes on strings

Another way of playing with a single finger is to use the index finger in particular to do downstrokes (Ibid).

Whether using the index finger or the thumb, one technique is to actually use strokes of alternating direction–that is, to alternate between downstrokes and upstrokes on the given single finger (Ashton 2005, 135):

From “Tutorial¨ in The Bass Handbook

An alternative was […] one-finger back-and-forth technique, whereby one finger strikes the string on a downstroke and then returns on an upstroke to play the next note […]. The alternating sound between nails and soft flesh creates an interesting and alternative sound.

finger_rest composite_chordophone strummed_string_instrument plucked_string_instrument bass_guitar guitar index_finger music musicology single-finger_plucking plucking chordophone_strings

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bibliography

• Morrish, John, ed. “Tutorial.” In The Bass Handbook: A Complete Guide for Mastering the Bass Guitar, 1st ed., 121–238. San Francisco, CA: BackBeat, 2005.