*** is a "thump" tone???

Plstrns · #1 11-16-2010, 03:58 AM

I've played bass for 20 some-odd years. I don't know what a thump is- help me please it's making me nuts

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username1 · #2 11-16-2010, 06:48 AM

I always thought of it as the muted sound you get with flatwounds or using a foam damper under the strings by the bridge.

5string5fingers · #3 11-16-2010, 06:49 AM

This is what thump sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDZJMKfgaCk

Son of Bovril · #4 11-16-2010, 07:34 AM

so thump = flatwounds?

beans-on-toast · #5 11-16-2010, 07:56 AM

I figure that any musical sound that you can produce is a tone.

A thump is one of the better ones. A palm mute or foam under the bridge with a percussive hit on the string.

greenboy · #6 11-16-2010, 07:59 AM

Pressure-sensitive palm muting while thumbing the string.

Mark Olson · #7 11-16-2010, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5string5fingers

This is what thump sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDZJMKfgaCk

I really like those Labellas! I may have to try a set! Thanks for the link.

staccatogrowl · #8 11-16-2010, 08:07 AM

According to Funk Bass and Beyond by Bill "Buddha" Dickens, THUMP is a bassic (ha,ha, yep, pun intended) funk technique of producing a percussive slapping sound.

"You strike the string with the side of the thumb, using a quick rotating motion with the wrist."

This is one of 9 elements described as his "funk arsenal," listed in referenced book.

http://www.amazon.com/Funk-Bass-Beyo...9919926&sr=8-8

It's a very cool book. Dickens is a fine musician, bassist, and educator. Many of his percussive bass techniques were devised and translated from his experience as a drummer.

Otherwise, thump is the tone you get when you unplug your cord from your bass, while being plugged into your amp, with all volumes up. . . (keeping the discussion in the TB amp category). That could be viewed as a percussive technique as well. However, keep doing it and you bank account will take a pounding.

sleepytime · #9 11-16-2010, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

I really like those Labellas! I may have to try a set! Thanks for the link.

Labellas for the win. And they feel as good as they sound.

As for thump, if you are talking about "a thump", I would guess a muted, percussive, literal thump on the string. On the other hand, if a bass has a lot of "thump", I take that to mean a strong fundamental tone with a rather quick decay.

EricF · #10 11-16-2010, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepytime

Labellas for the win. And they feel as good as they sound.

This ^

And that V

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepytime

As for thump, if you are talking about "a thump", I would guess a muted, percussive, literal thump on the string. On the other hand, if a bass has a lot of "thump", I take that to mean a strong fundamental tone with a rather quick decay.

rumblethump · #11 11-16-2010, 11:17 AM

Thump as a sound, the flatwound demo pretty much nailed it. Thump as a technique, the buddha's one of the best. His right hand 5 finger technique also came from his mastering classical guitar and piano. I've been floored every time I've seen him at Namm.
Larry Graham can thump.

Ewo · #12 11-16-2010, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenboy

Pressure-sensitive palm muting while thumbing the string.

Yup! And another thing I sometimes find useful is letting the ring and pinky rest on the strings I'm plucking with my index and middle fingers.

The thump is just an altered envelope for the note. IOW, it doesn't sustain and then decay as it normally would.

Edit: that's what thump means in fingerstyle. See next post for another meaning!

Ewo · #13 11-16-2010, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by staccatogrowl

According to Funk Bass and Beyond by Bill "Buddha" Dickens, THUMP is a bassic (ha,ha, yep, pun intended) funk technique of producing a percussive slapping sound.

"You strike the string with the side of the thumb, using a quick rotating motion with the wrist."

In slap style, the word means the thumb strike, yeah.

And when you do both downstrokes and upstrokes, it's what Wooten calls double-thumping.

(Etymological note: it ain't unusual for a given word to have different meanings. It's all good.)

Alex1984 · #14 11-16-2010, 11:40 AM

Ever heard an SVT when you switch it off standby?

Thump, IMO, is a dull attack with a full body and lots of weight and punch, but not as much of an edge. If a jazz bass is an axe, a precision would be like a hammer. Blunt attack but powerful nonetheless, especially w/ dead flats.

Wait, are we talking thump or thumbing?

klokker · #15 11-16-2010, 01:51 PM

I've always thought of "thump" as a kind pressure you get along with your tone. I get it with my p-bass better than anything else. The thumb seems to get it easy, but you can get it with finger style as well.

Or is that "Whump"?

greenboy · #16 11-16-2010, 02:00 PM

Thump:

Plstrns · #17 11-18-2010, 12:50 AM

OK, I'll assume "thump"= "slap" but with flats or is a muted version of it, or fingerstyle funk... seems to have a very loose definition.

Very nice playing in the video, btw.

greenboy · #18 11-18-2010, 06:31 AM

Though some people will talk about thump when referring to slapping, the term was used way before slap was formalize, and I'd still posit that it's a amplitude and tonal enveolpe with a quick attack where higher frequency content dies away very quickly, percieved as woody and or deep.

Thus the doghouse pic, specifically Mingus, who could drive a large band percussively and tonefully without an amp.