Special Galloping

Special Galloping

Two fingers for Steve Harris gallop difficulty?

Steve Harris uses two fingers for doing that famous galloping bass lines in Iron Maiden, but I am having great difficulty doing it. I can not get my fingers to go as fast as his and can only do it when I go as SLOW as possible.

Maybe Steve "chalks up his fingers" and maybe he does use "flatwound" strings instead of regular ones. But that probably has more to do with the "placebo effect," and possibly insurance for consistency, during live shows. When you are doing galloping riffs for 2 hours straight, any lucky charm is welcome.
Yes , Steve has been playing for over 30 years. But, "Phantom of the Opera" or "Transylvania" are both on the FIRST album, from 1980. And those songs were made with only 3 years of experience playing, since they were already 2 years old before they made it to the album.
I think the difficulty in writing/playing the Maiden lines is more the melody and fills and such, than the actual galloping.
The galloping is all practice. I've done it with 3, 2 or even 1-1/2 fingers (don't ask) before. Two is the way to go, unless you are used to 3.
The point is, you have to get those gallops out, whatever it takes. So use how ever many fingers you feel comfortable using.
You don't need to have your bass to practice galloping. Just use your fingers anywhere, whenever you have time. I did this for a while before I even got a bass.
You have to do it as much as possible. You will get fast, soon enough.