Where do you put your thumb?

[Bridgehouse]

Just now, Frank Blank said:

 

You've been practicing with the Bill Tongs though.

 

You are a juicy old fruit aren't you.

Now don’t go making a hubba bubba out of it

[Frank Blank]

4 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

Now don’t go making a hubba bubba out of it

Shaddap, you're driving me Mentos.

[Ralf1e]

13 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Shocking technique, thumb coming over the fretboard, using 4 fingers to cover 3 frets rather than 1 finger per fret and look at the angle of his wrist, talk about fatigue central. Ban him, ban him now, he'll never make a career in music 😂😂😂

 

On a serious note, what a gorgeous bass, is it a Yamaha?

From interviews he has done I think it might be his custom Warwick. I might be wrong. He says he only uses about 3 basses including his signed one which goes on most of the records.

[chris_b]

25 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

On a serious note, what a gorgeous bass, is it a Yamaha?

 

Looks like a TRB, don't quote me on that, but certainly a Yamaha.

[Ralf1e]

23 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

I don’t believe you. I challenge you to a chew off.

 

Don’t try and wrigleys out of it either.

Oh no not going back to the days of bubblegum music

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, Ralf1e said:

Oh no not going back to the days of bubblegum music

Unfortunately not, I just discovered a Dentyne in my trumpet.

[Paul S]

Not as bad as finding a bassoon in your Bazooka

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

Not as bad as finding a bassoon in your Bazooka

Or a baboon in your bassoon.

[LiamPodmore]

Having just played for a few minutes to figure this out, the answer is everywhere. Mostly somewhere between the corner of the pickup and the edge of the pickguard on a P bass.

[SteveXFR]

I've been experimenting with techniques suggested here on a familiar song to try to work out what feels right and it seems to be thumb resting on either pickup or E string and just reaching across strings from there. 

Interestingly, elbow position seems to  be important for me. Letting it drop back and bending the wrist doesn't seem to work for me, keeping the wrist straight seems to help my hand move across the strings better. A long strap seems to help.

[dclaassen]

Ok….just came into this thread. I float my right thumb most of the time unless it’s muting. My left thumb starts on the back of the neck, but often wanders.

For fretless, I try to maintain better lh technique so intonation is better.

[Steve Browning]

My thumb has always been rooted to the pick-up cover. Fretting hand thumb is generally on the back of the neck but not exclusively.

[cetera]

14 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

I don’t believe you. I challenge you to a chew off.

 

Don’t try and wrigleys out of it either.

You forgot to add a random 'quote'!

[Beedster]

I'm liking playing with my thumb these days, something I started doing when trying to emulate the feel of a double bass albeit on an electric. I find it slows me down, simplifies what I'm trying to do, makes me more attentive especially to the drummist, and at times produces a tone I can't get using any other method. Of course, this opens a whole new can of worms as to the correct placement of my fingers 👍

[ezbass]

14 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I'm liking playing with my thumb these days, something I started doing when trying to emulate the feel of a double bass albeit on an electric. I find it slows me down, simplifies what I'm trying to do, makes me more attentive especially to the drummist, and at times produces a tone I can't get using any other method. Of course, this opens a whole new can of worms as to the correct placement of my fingers 👍

Works for Pino too.

[pete.young]

16 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

Shocking technique, thumb coming over the fretboard, using 4 fingers to cover 3 frets rather than 1 finger per fret and look at the angle of his wrist, talk about fatigue central. Ban him, ban him now, he'll never make a career in music 😂😂😂

 

On a serious note, what a gorgeous bass, is it a Yamaha?

It is a Yamaha TRB 4P from late '80s / early '90s. I think at the time he was working with the custom shop. There was an auction of some of his gear a couple of years ago, and it included a couple of TRBs, one fretted one fretless, either 4 or 5 strings, can't remember.

[Linus27]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Works for Pino too.

Works for Sting also.

[Ricky 4000]

And Paul Simminon. 👍

[Bridgehouse]

2 hours ago, cetera said:

You forgot to add a random 'quote'!

 

"Thankfully perseverance is a great substitute for talent"

[Frank Blank]

34 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

And Paul Simminon. 👍

 

Peel me a persimmon?

[Frank Blank]

3 hours ago, cetera said:

You forgot to add a random 'quote'!

 

I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was 'the man goes on top and the woman underneath.' For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds.

Joan Rivers

[Ricky 4000]

15 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

 

Peel me a persimmon?

 

*Simonon. 😗

[3below]

Engaging in this thread has had a deleterious effect on my bass playing (some might say I do not actually play the bass, however I will not digress further).  I started to think about my right hand technique and subsequently things that previously had automaticity have become challenging.   Sartre, although in a different epistemological context, provides a transferable existentialist insight on the matter of right (and left) hand technique  "No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point".  A pragmatic simpler approach may be found by paraphrasing Sartre -  "Bass playing is a question of absorbing other people's techniques and adding some of your own experience".  Anyway, I have had a good lunch, it is time to take my medication and lie down.

[MacDaddy]

Floating thumb for me, and sometimes I pluck with the thumb, but also some palm muting depending on what I'm doing.

[cetera]