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My thumb goes on neck Pickup, or E-string, or A-string, or end of the fingerboard. So I voted nothing too.
It depends on the bass.
I detest ramps with a violent passion because I prefer to have plenty of room beneath my fingers when i play, and I feel limited just playing over a pickup.
Having a ramp isnt a "just because" kind of thing. It depends on your personal technique and whether or not you feel the need to have one.
I did my 2 Warmoth Jazz basses with only bridge pickups, so i had to put in thumbrests where the neck pickups were, so that i would still have the "edge of the pickup" area to anchor my thumb to when i play. Thumbrests are cool if you use them, but otherwise pointless.
Pickguards really depend on the bass. If you have a really nice piece of wood, don't cover it up with a piece of plastic.
On the other hand, I have always found Jazz and Precision style basses to look weird without pickguards.
I detest ramps with a violent passion because I prefer to have plenty of room beneath my fingers when i play, and I feel limited just playing over a pickup.
Having a ramp isnt a "just because" kind of thing. It depends on your personal technique and whether or not you feel the need to have one.
I did my 2 Warmoth Jazz basses with only bridge pickups, so i had to put in thumbrests where the neck pickups were, so that i would still have the "edge of the pickup" area to anchor my thumb to when i play. Thumbrests are cool if you use them, but otherwise pointless.
Pickguards really depend on the bass. If you have a really nice piece of wood, don't cover it up with a piece of plastic.
On the other hand, I have always found Jazz and Precision style basses to look weird without pickguards.
Bryan R. Tyler
TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002
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- May 3, 2002
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Bryan R. Tyler
TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002
Staff member
Administrator
Gold Supporting Member
Supporting Member
- May 3, 2002
- 28,948
- 20,932
- Disclosures
- Reviewer: Bass Player Magazine
Pfft, your bacon is around long enough for you to be able to rest your fingers on it? Rookie....
whats a ramp?
i'm seriously interested. have not heard the term.
can somebody show a pic?
floating thumb for me. sometimes pickup, sometimes nothing, sometimes string.
i'm seriously interested. have not heard the term.
can somebody show a pic?
floating thumb for me. sometimes pickup, sometimes nothing, sometimes string.
Bryan R. Tyler
TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002
Staff member
Administrator
Gold Supporting Member
Supporting Member
- May 3, 2002
- 28,948
- 20,932
- Disclosures
- Reviewer: Bass Player Magazine
They don't have anything to do with each other though, and you can have more than one on a bass. If you meant "what do you rest your thumb on?," it would have made a little more sense. As it is, you can have a bass with a thumbrest AND a pickguard and not rest your thumb on either, a bass with a ramp and a pickguard, etc.
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I notice that without ramps, I migrate too close to the bridge to be effective sometimes. I've put ramps on all my basses in the last year.
I use my thumb to play a lot, but when using my fingers, on my 5'er I use the B string to rest my thumb. If I'm using fingers and all 5 stings, I'll rest my thumb on one of the pups, on the neck side corner. On my 4, using fingers only, I'll rest my thumb on a pup.
So my nothing vote translates to none of the above.
So my nothing vote translates to none of the above.
I have used a henweigh in the past
I generally use the pickup, floating thumb, or occasionally the edge of the fretboard. A ramp could be nice, but I don't really care enough to put them on my basses.
