Can anybody recommend a book of thumb position exercises that would be beneficial for jazz soloing? I don't necessarily expect a book that is specifically for jazz. Those of you who teach jazz bass, what would you recommend to your students?

I tend to reach up into thumb position in solos, use my thumb as an anchor, but don't actually play notes with the thumb, and I figure that can't be a good habit or the right way to do it.

Can anybody recommend a book of thumb position exercises that would be beneficial for jazz soloing? I don't necessarily expect a book that is specifically for jazz. Those of you who teach jazz bass, what would you recommend to your students?

I tend to reach up into thumb position in solos, use my thumb as an anchor, but don't actually play notes with the thumb, and I figure that can't be a good habit or the right way to do it.One book is "Melodic Playing in the Thumb Position" by Michael Moore.

P.S. I enjoyed your Dead Polytone Club tag. I've got two right now.

One book is "Melodic Playing in the Thumb Position" by Michael Moore.


+1 a great book. There are 1 or 2 errors that i've found in it, but I recommend it to all my advancing students.

Go thru it slowly for maximum absorption :smug:.

Thanks. I'll check it out. If there are only 1 or 2 errors, I will just follow the rule in jazz: Play it the same way twice, and it becomes correct. :D

Hey Francis
Michael Moore's book is great. I'm a bit of a thumb position guy. Studied it with Michael and with Franco Petracci in Italy. Petracci's book is great, also. There is a great youtube clip under Joe Lovano's name with George Mraz. It's like watching a great dancer. As fluid thumb position as there is. I've spent almost 40 years working on thumb position and feel free to ask any technical questions. I was going to be in Madison on Sunday to watch my son bike racing, but he just broke his thumb (really!)----oh well. ( I'm in the north shore area of Chicago) I've developed a lot of additional exercises to develop the thumb. Lots of intervallic stuff. Lots of cross string stuff utilizing the thumb. Work on the first movement of the 1st Bach cello suite. In the original cello tessitura. That'll whip your thumb into shape! Take it slow-----it is doable. I would learn Charlie Parker heads lower on the fingerboard and then an octave up in thumb position. The Omnibook is great. Once you're comfortable with the heads do the same with solos. Think of the thumb as an active capo. Practice different open and closed positions
( chromatic---thumb to minor 3rd with the ring finger on one string, then thumb to major third, then thumb to fourth) . Also, practice thumb position going back as far as D on the G string.

Thanks for the advice, and offer. I played the 'cello from 4th grade through high school, and I got pretty good at thumb position. However, I have not been able to translate it to the bass. A couple of barriers: One is doubtlessly just the physical demands of the bass. The other is that I can't "think" on the bass when my thumb is involved, i.e., translate my musical intentions directly into workable fingerings, which seems to be necessary for soloing.

So I am hoping that some exercises will get me over the technical issues, and also program the logic of thumb position fingering into my brain.