Being a bass player.. my left hand is my fretting hand.. i am very good at that part.. but i have a question for other stickiest out there...on your melody/ solo hand.. I am curious if you are a 2/3/4/5 finger tapper

There are different approaches...the best players, including those who teach and/or have published teaching material, have differences in technique.

What do you mean by "2/3/4/5 finger tapper"?

I you tap with 2, 3 , 4, or all fingers on your melody solo side

I use 4 fingers on each hand. I know some players prefer 3. It's a question of feeling I guess. I forget his name but a russian player use 5 fingers on each side.

I use 4 fingers. I play guitar and piano. The guitar side of me likes the idea of a finger for a fret. Because I also play piano, my right hand is used to playing melody.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f183F907LU[/youtube]

on my left i use all 5.. and on my right i mainly use 3... but i am trying to work on 4

The most well known teachers have varying opinions on this , I've reached the conclusion there is no " correct" way , anymore than there is for guitarists and technique, but its worth exploring all to find what fits You, or use both ! I use all 4 fingers on my right melody hand and can vibrato with the pinky or whatever else. Its completely normal for me now. Others do it differently . I dont get hung up on it now. Django played with 2 fingers I think on Guitar and seemed to make an impact, some great players cant read a note....Philosophy over.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCVqyPfGsiU[/youtube]

There is logic in 4 and in 3, it's just a different kind of logic.

I used to play piano as well, and I really like 3 melody fingers. As one correspondent wrote to me recently, "there's no deficit in it," especially since it encourages hand movement, which, to me, is the holy grail for getting a good sound, with consistent volume and tone.

Listen to your music. If your notes sound different depending on which finger is playing them, and you'd like to be more consistent, give three a try.

If you want to learn how to use three fingers, check out my books and DVD, and of course, lessons via skype. I've developed a systematic approach to teaching this that, unless you've tried it, you may not have given three enough of a shot, in my opinion.

As an aside: It's misleading to say that "Django used two fingers" Django wasn't tapping, he didn't have a choice to use more fingers, and he had his other hand to articulate the notes.

For me a more interesting analogy for what we're talking about is Wes Montgomery. I've watched a lot of videos of him play, and when he's playing an octave shape in his left hand he will use 4 fingers, but when he's soling and not using octaves, no pinky.

What advantage does this give him? Why would he do it?

Check it out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVgONy8kMY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0ybQnhsvc[/youtube]