Strings vibrating and such.

[moopants]

When I play on my 6, the other strings tend to vibrate too much, and it makes the notes I'm playing sound out of tune, because much of this vibrating causes overtones and notes that are 1/2 steps and such away from eachother. I thought about using a ponytail holder to mute the strings, but I really want to be able to do it on my own. Is there a certain technique to use when you have so many strings?

[thewanderer24]

Originally Posted by moopants

When I play on my 6, the other strings tend to vibrate too much, and it makes the notes I'm playing sound out of tune, because much of this vibrating causes overtones and notes that are 1/2 steps and such away from eachother. I thought about using a ponytail holder to mute the strings, but I really want to be able to do it on my own. Is there a certain technique to use when you have so many strings?

mute the lower strings with your thumb on your plucking hand, while you play (floating thumb). This is a little wierd at first, but you'll get used to it quickly.

For the higher strings, you can mute them just by loosely touching them (resting your fingers against them) on your fretting hand.

[moopants]

Should my thumb always be on the next lowest string, or just touching the strings enough to mute them?

[Bassist4Life]

Floating Thumb Technique

You're in the right forum. There's a sticky at the top. Check it out.

Joe

[fish man]

What a title.
Strings vibrating, and all that kind of stuff.

[moopants]

That technique is really uncomfortable. Plus, it doesn't help all the other strings stop vibrating if your thumb is only covering the string below the one you're playing.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by moopants

That technique is really uncomfortable. Plus, it doesn't help all the other strings stop vibrating if your thumb is only covering the string below the one you're playing.

I hate to see folks discouraging floating-thumb. For many, MANY bassists, it's not-only NOT uncomfortable, it's commonly said that "I don't know how I ever played any other way!".

In my case, I was starting to have problems with my right wrist until I went to floating thumb. No more pain or tingling, presumably because I hold my wrist much straighter now!

It's true that a F.T. only mutes strings that are physically above the string you're playing. I use 'precision slop' on my LEFT hand fingers for muting the strings below the one being sounded.

I really think that as The Bass advances, we'll see much more floating-thumb - as well as use of harmonics, hollow-body basses, extended-range basses, fretboard tapping, chording/double-stops...

I guess the main thing that's still on my mind is that dogmatic statement! I think he must have meant to say "many find it uncomfortable" or "I personally find it terrible" or somthing like that -- right?

Joe

[thewanderer24]

Originally Posted by moopants

That technique is really uncomfortable. Plus, it doesn't help all the other strings stop vibrating if your thumb is only covering the string below the one you're playing.

You asked a question. If you don't want to put any work into a solution, maybe you should've prefaced it by saying that you wanted an easy solution that didn't involve you doing any work or learning anything new.

Learning new techniques is never easy. If you want to be a better player, you work through the issues.

floating thumb is awkward at first if you are used to anchoring on the pickup, etc. It is worth getting used to. I don't know of any other way to consistently mute the lower strings.

[fish man]

If you're playing what I think of as moveable anchor (where the thumb rests on the string lower than the one you're playing), the left hand mutes strings higher than the one you're playing, and the right hand mutes strings lower than the one you're playing.

As shown, for right handed playing:

playing on E, the A D & G are muted by the left hand

---0000---------------------------
---0000---------------------------
---0000---------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

playing on A, the E is muted by the RH and the D & G are muted by the LH

---0000---------------------------
---0000---------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------0000---

playing on D, the E & A are muted by the RH and the G is muted by the LH

---0000---------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------0000---
---------------------------0000---

playing on G, the RH mutes the E, A & D strings!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------0000---
---------------------------0000---
---------------------------0000---

You should probably be able to get this to work for you, and of course the same applies for a ER instrument.

All the best,
fm