no thumb rest, feeling sloppy on acoustic

[lsbland]

wondering about pointers or techniques that would help me feel more comfortable playing my acoustic bass. on my jazz and warwick, my thumb is glued to the pickup - which this bass doesn't have. particularly, i'm having trouble with the e string. i've been tending to use the e string as a thumb rest when playing any of the other strings. hoping there are ideas for how to conquer this, as i dig the tone and want to play it out more...

[ausf]

You either have to incorporate the floating thumb (which isn't a bad thing) or add a rest. It it's a nice finish, you can try laying out small blocks with double sided tape until you figure out a good place and height for you.

I bought a $200 Ibanez ABG as a beater, then closed up the hole (couldn't slap with that canyon), drilled another appropriate sized one behind the bridge and added a thumbrest.

The thumbrest was sculpted in place with an epoxy clay. It's a small smushed skull. My kids love it and it works like a charm.

You'll eventually get used to not having the rest if you prefer not to alter the bass.

[lsbland]

Would floating thumb help with the E string? I feel like the issue with the E is that I hit the wooden body after I finger it...

[Munjibunga]

Easy. Do what I did. Get a 5-string ABG.

[dmusic148]

Just play it. You'll figure it out.

[ausf]

Originally Posted by lsbland

Would floating thumb help with the E string? I feel like the issue with the E is that I hit the wooden body after I finger it...

You need to either install a block or just get used to it like the gentleman said. You will soon enough.

[IvanMike]

Originally Posted by lsbland

Would floating thumb help with the E string? I feel like the issue with the E is that I hit the wooden body after I finger it...

you may be plucking sideways towards your body rather than up toward the ceiling a bit too much if you're hitting the body of the bass after you pluck the E.

In general, it's a good idea to get used to not bracing on anything. all of us end up using the pickups as a rest sometimes on electric, but you can get so many different tones via playing at different spots on the string that limiting yourself to what you can reach by bracing on a pickup is pretty limiting.

[ricca]

I love acoustics,
in all my ABG's (a M.Kelly and a couple of Hohners) I installed thumbrests.
I carved them in ebony, drilled a couple of holes and screwed them so I can play them the way I need.
In my M.Kelly I made it longer so I can slide my position and play near the bridge or near the hole