With no Stick, I've been surfing and observing players to get a handle on what's going on with playing the instrument.

Watching some Kevin Keith videos (the Presonus NAMM one, as it happens) I had the 40-watt light bulb go on over my head.

When I play bass, generally I'm "leading" (e.g. hitting the root) with my forefinger or middle finger because the 4th tuning makes the IV, V and octave notes accessible with the remaining fingers of my left hand. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, of course, but the idea that things sprout from the forefinger (or middle finger) is there nevertheless. That's embedded in my brain.

e.g... I-IV-V-octave is forefinger, forefinger, ring finger, ring finger.

But watching Keith closely, I see that it's reversed. It can be (and perhaps often is) the ring finger or the pinky that leads. The bass groove he's playing in the NAMM video is build on arpeggios that start with the pinky hitting the root and end with the forefinger.

Simplistic and obvious, perhaps, but these little realizations are a big deal when you know NOTHING.

It's best to mentally imagine the 5ths tuned side not as a bass but as a left-handed single course mandocello flipped over and tapped upside down with the left hand. As soon as you have a real Stick in your hands you will be able to analyze and grasp its geometry, where scales and chords lay out and to map how various fingers are most effectively used to get at things in a musical manner.

I know you're being sincere and helpful but...

That's just plain hilarious.

"Hey, it's easy...."

I'm not even sure I know what a left-handed single-course mandocello is, never being able to imagine playing one upside down and tapped with the left hand.

I often use my 2nd and 3rd fingers to lead on the left hand, and will even sometimes avoid using my 1st finger so i can use it to help mute the rest of the strings depending on what i'm playing.

The Stick is a little bit of so many instruments while also being totally unique that as Stickists we have to take what wisdom we can from other sources while always asking ourselves if that's the best method, or if there's a better way.

I've taken from hand drums, drum set, guitar, bass, cello, piano and more in various ways, and there's so much that is also uniquely Stick based.

PS: I recognize that my observation here reflects positional thinking as opposed to hand movement... and that ultimately, the latter is the better direction.

But you have to start somewhere in the understanding journey. As a bassist my thinking is naturally grounded in the scales I use and those start with a root and stay more or less in one position most of the time.

A mandocello is a guitar-scale mandolin tuned in 5ths just like - you guessed it - a cello. One octave lower than a viola. CGDA (lo>hi) 8 strings, 4 unison pairs (courses). Take off every other string, flip it over to left handed and you have the bass strings of a Stick - reverse ascending 5ths. Obvious as balls on a tall dog. Check it out.

Thread with benefits....

Great thread. You should be able to lead any bass run with any finger, just like you should be able to switch between any Chord smoothly, and run arpeggios that lead to chords, with any combination of fingers anywhere on the board, and run broken scales and chords with both hands. I will soon start learning about bass lines. Awesome stuff,. Lifetime of learning.

Hello and thanks so much for watching the Presonus video, that was a fun day! Here's some insight to that song -

Basslines are very emotional and primal to the listening audience so my priority is to keep those lines strong and aggressive. People need to feel it.

In the Presonus performance I am leading with the pinky but only because its the easiest way to play that bassline while simultaneously keeping a strong sense of "groove pocket".

On other videos like "Keep On Keepin On" I lead with my index finger, but again, it's really dictated by the melody of the bassline and using the most natural fingering that will keep the "pocket" strong.

Thanks again for watching and for this post.

KK