Beginner - Using thumb with fingerstyle.

I do it all the time. Depends on the tune though. Mostly laid back type grooves.

 

I do it on this classical guitar inspired song.

 

I do it a lot when I want a really oldschool thump. Back in the day, plucking with your thumb was the standard playingtechnique. That's why old fenders have the "thumbrest" below the strings, as a "tugbar"

 

Willis, Garrison and countless other bassists with solid reputations (and some like myself with no reputation at all) include thier thumb as part of thier armory of right hand techniques.

I think you are doing just fine.

Spin

 

There certainly is no "right or wrong way" and it sounds like you're doin fine. I personally agree with victor wooten and others that the thumb is just another way to hit the string. It shouldn't define you're playing or style of playing.

I use my thumb to pluck when playing chords especially 10ths

I also use it to slap, but not necessarily just in funk style tunes. A valuable lesson for me was victor's method of going through the string rather than bouncing off, which leaves you the option of immediately picking back up through the string.
I have since been perfecting this technique as an alternative to alternate finger picking in for example, eighth note rock or pop grooves. I get an economy of motion coupled with a nice controllable "edge" to the sound.

JKT

 

That is not to say that "bouncing off" (as in slap) the string is not also a viable technique. The fact that folks like Wooten proclaim that it is a better way (the through string approach) is fine but you should always take it with a grain of salt and decide for yourself what to put in your bag of tricks.

I do both depending on what I am trying to accomplish. A bounce attack slap can allow you to do somethings that are as impossible to do with the through string approach as double thumbing is to do with the bounce approach.

I do it sometime just so I can get some of the wierd overtones and false harmonics that happen when you strike the string from the top down onto a fret and then bounce off (which produces the harmonic overtone).

Try that with the "through the string" approach Mr. Victor "Know-It-All-Who-Is-Way-Richer-Better-known-and-Perhaps-Handsomer-Than-I-am" Wooten.

Spin

 

There are a lot flamenco players that use this technique. Anthony Jackson plays this way. I started playing this way by accident. I started on upright and had a hard time alternating fingers, and since I seemed to develope a floating thumb at the same time, it was just a progression to use the thumb to skip strings coming down since it was already resting there as I was trying to build speed playing with one finger. Eventually I learned to use my middle finger and still use my thumb since it was such a foundation of my begining technique.

 

Absolutely, and I have heard VW say pretty much the same the thing. I just wish I had been exposed to other techniques early on in my playing career. I had a guy that I respected tell me years ago, that I should NEVER use my thumb to pluck a bass string with ever.

The story goes that as a young lad, Victor was having trouble getting a deep pocket by bouncing and someone suggested going through the string and for him it worked and so he went on to develop the technique further.

I for one am glad I have both techniques at my disposal.

JKT