Are you using your fretting hand thumb at all?

[Fynn]

I was wondering how many people wrap their fretting hand thumb sort of around the neck. Whether you do that just to have a better grip, or maybe even to fret a note, I was simply wondering how many people do something like that regularly.

I am mostly self taught and have never taken advice from any instructors on how to properly hold the instrument, or how to fret a note correctly. I have however looked at different ways some of my favorite players are using their fretting hand to play their songs and have adopted some of those techniques, without actively trying to incorporate them into my own playing.

I've heard people say that you should never really hold the bass neck like a baseball bat, but I often do something like that and whenever I need to play something more challenging, I'll just adjust my technique accordingly. I'm sort of doing whatever fits the best to comfortably play what I want to play.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I play six string basses.
So my thumb is never over the E string.
The necks are too wide to do that.
And I can't spread my fingers to fret the other strings while my thumb is there.

I do,however,use my thumb to do certain chord shapes in the upper frets.

 

[Lobster11]

Personally, I don't understand the baseball-bat grip at all. I can't even do it when I try. My thumb is always behind the neck -- usually pointing more or less toward the headstock.

 

[SteveCS]

...
I've heard people say that you should never really hold the bass neck like a baseball bat, but I often do something like that and whenever I need to play something more challenging,
...

If anything, rolling your thumb over the top should really be reserved for the simplest of simple lines, when you might use it to give your hand a bit of a rest. Generally speaking, there should be little to no pressure through the thumb. The purpose of the thumb is to locate and stabilise the handshape within a given position.

 

[Fynn]

Personally, I don't understand the baseball-bat grip at all. I can't even do it when I try. My thumb is always behind the neck -- usually pointing more or less toward the headstock.

It's one of the best ways to bend the necks if you are into such techniques. But beyond that, I feel like there is way more control over the entire instrument when I'm moving around a lot. And it helps with really heavy hammer ons and pull offs.

 

[Fynn]

It sort of surprises me how one sided this pole is at this point.
If there is any sort of confusion, I am talking about the way people like Dusty Hill, Geddy Lee, Les Claypool, Victor Wooten etc... hold their basses at times. Which is sort of what I refer to as the baseball grip.

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

I'm entirely self taught, and I had to look at my playing of a few familiar lines to see what happened. I had no strongly conscious notion of where to put my thumb, but it's usually not right at the back, though it can be at times, it usually points toward the far end, but is often close to the edge while not close enough to the E string to interfere with it.

For me, it's all about stabilisation, there is rarely much pressure in it (or I'd be more conscious of it). It's just enough to get a steady relation for positional accuracy. Very rarely (and usually only when checking tuning) I'll use it to damp the E, and sometimes the A string, but never if I want access to all strings.

I suspect the 'baseball grip' reported here as seen in some players, may not be the fierce grip it might look like it is. It may just be helping to prevent a careless loss of position by guarding against upward motion. I bet neck dive isn't the only force acting on where a neck ends up in the Z axis. Playing hard with a pick, I'll take any form of stabilisation I can get. A strap made for this is useful, mine grips so I don't have to worry about neck dive either, but the best stabilisation is at the far end, much less force needed as leverage there, and it can correct for strap position error when playing too. Couldn't do that if I obsessed about keeping a thumb centred over the back of the neck.

(I voted 'other'..)

 

[Fynn]

I'm entirely self taught, and I had to look at my playing of a few familiar lines to see what happened. I had no strongly conscious notion of where to put my thumb, but it's usually not right at the back, though it can be at times, it usually points toward the far end, but is often close to the edge while not close enough to the E string to interfere with it.

For me, it's all about stabilisation, there is rarely much pressure in it (or I'd be more conscious of it). It's just enough to get a steady relation for positional accuracy. Very rarely (and usually only when checking tuning) I'll use it to damp the E, and sometimes the A string, but never if I want access to all strings.

I suspect the 'baseball grip' reported here as seen in some players, may not be the fierce grip it might look like it is. It may just be helping to prevent a careless loss of position by guarding against upward motion. I bet neck dive isn't the only force acting on where a neck ends up in the Z axis. Playing hard with a pick, I'll take any form of stabilisation I can get. A strap made for this is useful, mine grips so I don't have to worry about neck dive either, but the best stabilisation is at the far end, much less force needed as leverage there, and it can correct for strap position error when playing too. Couldn't do that if I obsessed about keeping a thumb centred over the back of the neck.

(I voted 'other'..)

I didn't necessarily contribute a sort of pressure to the baseball grip. For me a baseball grip just means that you sort of wrap your hand around the bass neck (as you can see with the picture of Dusty in my previous comment). Maybe that confused people a bit. I am also not applying much (if any) pressure really. It's just sort of holding against my fingers fretting the notes. Which can hardly described as applying pressure. Sort of an action reaction thing

 

[Les Fret]

The basic position is thumb behind the neck but sometimes I use it to mute the E string when slapping. People like Louis Johnson use it to fret notes on the E string when slapping.

 

[ryco]

Depends. Most of the time my thumb is on the back of the neck and my hand in the classic C shape. I don't put a lot of pressure on the neck with the thumb, it's almost more of a sliding guide.

But on some techniques like slapping I'll collapse my hand and have my thumb helping to mute the E string. I'll also have my fingers pretty flat over the strings to help dampen overtones.

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

I didn't necessarily contribute a sort of pressure to the baseball grip. For me a baseball grip just means that you sort of wrap your hand around the bass neck (as you can see with the picture of Dusty in my previous comment). Maybe that confused people a bit. I am also not applying much (if any) pressure really. It's just sort of holding against my fingers fretting the notes. Which can hardly described as applying pressure. Sort of an action reaction thing

He's taking slightly more risk with it than I do. I agree with you though, it's a balance thing, regulating the force with as little strain as possible. Most of the time I probably put it wherever it works, while not straying far onto the edge of the fingerboard with the side of the last section of thumb. That maximises area contact, so minimises pressure further.

EDIT. I thought I recognised him... ZZ Top. I saw them live at Donnington a little after Metallica, in 1985 I think. Great gig, we got in over a 16 foot wall round the far end. Very exciting times.. They arrived by car. And helicopter. At the same time!

 

[Leigh Semmens]

Playing guitar, I often use my thumb on the low E string with especially with the open D chord. On Bass, never, it lives behind the neck where all good thumbs should be.

 

[J Wilson]

I always center my fret-hand thumb along the center line of the back of the neck.

Then, of course I KNOW you can't play bass with your thumb hung over the E side of the neck, and then see some guy on a skinny neck like a Jazz or Ric doing it just fine.

 

[superheavyfunk]

It’s definitely “poor technique” according to the rules of proper bass playing but rules are meant to be broken, as has been said. If it’s not preventing you from doing everything you need to, then it doesn’t really matter

 

[BarfanyShart]

Because of being mainly a DB guy for my formative years, I have played around with using my thumb up high to do big stretched out chord voicings and intervals, a la thumb position on a DB. It's a novelty that I just mess around with sometimes, if I really wanted to do similar stuff for real on BG I would try to get good at tapping - tapping is obviously a better technique for BG.

 

[skycruiser]

I often use my thumb for muting and fretting notes, both bass and guitar. It's a situational thing - sometimes using my thumb is the easiest way to get it done. I don't think about it much

Doesn't work so well on fretless though.

 

[Topkat13]

Only when I’m hitchhiking.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Utilizing your left thumb can be a very useful technique and a lot of very technical players, like Victor Wooten, use it as well.

Maybe it's not necessary if you have giant Jaco mitts but for us regular dudes it's much easier on the wrist to play a 10th with the thumb.

Of course, playing everything that way is not effective or healthy at all. But you can grab chords with it (a la Hendrix) just fine.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Here's a good example of Vic using the left thumb in a live solo setting:

 

[SloFingers]

I do on a 4 string Jazz neck.
Not my 5vers tho.