all you double thumpers

Not yet.

But I have VERY hard nails. I ruined some scissors too

 

My right thumb is a mass of bone anyway due to it being broken (by my wife!!) so it sort stays the same no matter what.

 

Not me. I think its just you. I wouldn't be worried about it, though.

 

Yeah, when I first started practicing it, I was worried that I was gonna wear all the way through the nail.

 

way hardcore

where can i find some info on this famed "double-thumbing" technique? it's about high time i got stuck into it like a mullet to Jeff's cranium

 

its a simple idea.. instead of bouncing your thumb off of the string... hit the string on your way down but follow through and smack the body of the bass w/ your thumb... then hammer a note w/ your fret hand, then pull your thumb back up, hitting the string again on the way... instant 3 notes.

in practice its really hard.. and gets harder if you do it on any string other than the G string... if you want to hear it done well, listen to "classical thump" by Victor Wooten, or that entire album for that matter...

 

I haven't noticed any changes to my thumb (haven't been doing it too long) but I remember getting a huge blister on my index finger when I first started double-thumbing. I'm not sure if I was popping more forcefully or if the change in technique caused me to pop with a different area of my finger.

 

Yup it's darker on one side, I've noticed that on my index and middle fingers. My fingertips are darker then the rest of my hand too, they seem to frame my fingernails so well too...

 

in my crazy naive, and slightly perilous way, i've been trying to teach myself double thumbing from what you guys at TB have been saying... but until i read the last few posts, i've been trying it on the E string and wondering why it is so bloody hard... crazy

oh yeah... you're supposed to use your thumb nail... how much more dramatically wrong could i have been... i've been using the side of my thumb, as if i was slapping it... gutted... maybe i should buy a video, instead of making it up as i go along...

simon a

 

It also helps a lot when first starting with the technique to use smaller strings (0.95 or even 0.90 on the bottom). This makes the first part where you go through the string with the thumb a lot easier. If you still have trouble, lowering your action helps too.

 

I don't use my thumbnail, I brush the string with the side of my thumb.

 

dont get at me for this but what is thumping and double thumping?

 

For me, slapping came very easily and I can keep up (thumb slapping) with our drummers double kicker, to some people's amazement. This I don't understand but it seems very easy to do because of the light strings on my bass. Anybody else in the same boat?

 

I've been double thumping for about two years...no discoloration to the thumbnail. Then again I bite my nails as a result of school (going for the biochem degree and all), so I'm only using the flesh at the end of my right thumb.

 

no discoloration.. but i seem to have worked up a pretty serious callous. such a callous, that it frightens children and small dogs.

 

...bet it looks like your a recliner wearing a big fat teamster, that would scare me!

 

How exactly do you "double thump"?

 

nah man. vic doesn't wear his thumbnail out, he is doing all of that wit his mouth. . besides. who ever heard of A bass player that stands out in a band. geeze ... I haven't done a lot of double slapping.. I'm mostly finger style, but I decided to learn it after working on classical thump.. I do slap some, but not really in a band situation unless its a solo.. even then its reserved.. no discoloration yet however