Right hand thumb, yes i know its been on before-.-

[Demon]

But i never got a real answer, anyway, i play metal stuff, trash,death, melodic, progressive, anything metal^^ Anyway so im wondering, what are the best ways to use the thumb?(getting 5 stringer). I heard resting it on pickup is not really that good. So what do i do? rest it on the top string while playing the others, and when playing the top one, just float my hand and thumb? is that better? or should it be floating all the time? or always rest it above the string im playing?

[anomalybass]

Play what's comfortable. As long as you're accuracy and tone are top notch I would't worry too much. I personaly anchor my thumb and ring finger on the string above the one I'm playing on, and rest on the p-up when playing the b. -joe

[PrimusNut]

i do the same as Joe, but i dont rest my ring finger because i use it sometimes.. just rest your thumb on the pickup when playing E (low B on 5 string) and rest your thumb on top of the string above the one you are playing. i usually rest my finger 2 string above the one im playing tho, dont know why, just more comfortable for me.

[.matthew e wengerd.]

Have you checked the Floating Thumb technique thread in Todd Johnson's forum? I've bveen playing with a floating thumb since reading it and it has drastically improved my tone and accuracy.

[Demon]

but i dont really understand, floating thumb, is that when it floats all the time? cos i see no big use, since i play metal and probably wanna move around alot and i want power , so im wondering, should it follow my other fingers (be on the string above) or rest it on b string and when playing b just anchor it on bass, icant be sure whats the most comfortable for me yet, cos i got no strap, so ican only play sitting, one thing that seems to work well is just rest the arm and lower part of hand towards the bass and itll act as an anchor without having to bend the hand and ucan move the hand up and down, then the thumb will be floating and still have an anchor, havent tried this while standingyet tho, so dunno how itll feel=P

[spindizzy]

As much as I enjoy yet another floating thumb discussion I can't see that it will add more to discuss the physics of the technique here yet again. First I would suggest that you catch up with all of the other "floating thumb" threads. There are at least two in technique that you can read and one in Todd's forum.

One thing that does strike me in this thread and may be a better spin on the subject is the issue of what type of music you play. Just like with anything, most folks suspect that a particular technique is more favorable than another depending on the style of music. As far as bass goes I think this is something that is not always healthy. Any technique should be applicable to almost any style music. It is just a technique not the deffinition of any particular music style.

If a technique was just dedicated to one music type or another than you wouldn't have any slappers playing hard rock and you would never see a pick in the hands of an R&B player. Yet there are countless bassists out there who have taken a technique (slap is a great example) and applied it to a music form that wasn't typically associated with that technique with stunning results.

Here is my only real "floating thumb" comment for this thread. I, like Gary Willis, use my variation of the "floating thumb" to not only mute strings but as a plucking digit as well. This makes me very fast and, after playing this way for twenty years, able to dig in without any anchor to get as much power as I want. One thumb plus three fingers equals speed. Now I also occasionally grab a pick that lives in my bridge at all times and, particularly when I am playing up the neck of my 7 string in a more guitar like range, get a different kind of speed when I am soloing on certain types of pieces. The speed isn't really any faster as any part that I can play with a pick I can play without one. What does change is the tone with the pick able to create a slightly crisper attack than is possible with flesh. It is why the pick still remains part of my arsenal and why I don't just pick one technique and use it exclusively.

The more ways I figure out or steal for other players to produce sounds from my instrument the more range of expression I leave myself with. That ain't all bad and I strongly recommend that you learn everything you can, use everything you can and never limit yourself by artificial "rules".

The only rule is getting out of your soul the music that lives there.