One thing I’ve noticed about my playing is how much better my dexterity has gotten. Over my years playing bass, I’ve primarily used a pick. This skill translates somewhat to the guitar with one painful exception: the strings are way, waaaaay closer together. Since I need to look at my fret hand, I can’t actually see where I’m picking. This is fine for bass for two reasons: the strings are far apart and I’ve been playing bass for 15 years: I know where those strings are).
When I first started playing guitar, I couldn’t accurately locate each string with my pick so my playing didn’t sound great. Not to mention how frustrating it is to have something in your head that you aren’t skilled enough to play. But with much practice, the locations of the strings have become ingrained in my brain and in my hands. Finally, I can play the riffs that spring into my head with enough accuracy that I’m not annoyed every time I try to pluck a particular string.
Fingerpicking
Another technique I’ve developed to combat the difficulty of locating these darned strings is fingerpicking. Since I’m able to have my fingers on the strings, I find it much easier to pluck the correct string. A nice side effect of this is a rather warm and rounded tone in my playing. I look forward to developing this technique further, perhaps to tapping.
