Finger or Pick?

This really reminds me of when I first started guitar. Here we go again.

Originally posted by aiwass
You can do amazing shredding on bass using the three-finger technique, but even if you do manage do execute it on electric guitar, i doubt it will sound good...

Some people would argue it doesnt sound good anyway...

While attempting to teach a friend some of rudiments of bass playing, I started to play my own bass a lot more, and enjoyed it quite much. Since I've once again focused on guitar, I still wanted to do things like slap/pop and rapi fire runs with three fingers (and contrary to most people, I use my thumb, index, and middle, instead of ring, index, and middle). It took a bit of work, but I can pull off double and triple slaps on guitar just like on bass (I'm still working on quintuple slaps for guitar... just doesn't have high enough action). I've also transferred my speed fingerpicking to guitar. On bass, I was using as a rhythmic technique to play steady 16ths on the root of the chord, but this three note burst can be transferred to guitar as a three note per string run, allowing me to shred fingerstyle. Now, I can't get as fast as picking, but it's still pretty fast. The trick to the technique is using your thumb as a guide. If you've played any fingerstyle before, it shouldn't be difficult for your thumb to "find" strings. Once you've anchored your thumb, play the string with your THUMB, then with your MIDDLE finger, then with your INDEX. Repeat the process on the next string. Thumb, middle, index has quite a natural feel (for me at least) and allows a pretty good speed. The key to this technique, as with all others, is practice. I mean, think of how long it took you to play really fast, clean, and accurate with a pick...