Body Size and Resting the Plucking Arm

[ravlin]

I'm ever looking to avoid GASing for the next bass but here we are.. I picked up the bass in my avatar 6 months ago and had never thought it would be so darn comfortable to play. The neck is amazing, but I'm talking about how the body shape and size effect my ability to rest my plucking/picking arm on the bass. I should note that I have long arms and big hands, but what I noticed when I picked up my P bass is that the body is more narrow (measured perpendicular to the strings) and thus I get the hook hand on my P bass that I don't on the custom.
The questions I'm hoping to glean information from ya'll are:
Does this matter to anyone else such that you've pursued a particular bass or have a developed perspective?
Is there some common knowledge about how different basses fit that I'm just missing? I'm thinking from the looks that a Jazz bass is wider in this way than a P bass.
For clarity I don't fully rest my arm like a dullard, I still move my right hand to the strings and float my thumb/slap/thumb pluck, etc. I'm also aware that strap length plays into the hook hand.
Is this factor the reason I need to go swap my P bass for a J? Nevermind the pickup differences, I warmoth as needed.

 

[Lobster11]

Stop resting your arm on the body. Doing this forces you to pluck with a bent wrist, which both limits the dexterity of your fingers and can potentially lead to long term injuries such as CTS. If you lengthen the strap a bit and hold the body a little lower you can maintain a nice straight line from your elbow to your fingertips.

 

[fearceol]

I am a bit confused. First you say that the body shape effects your ability to to rest the plucking arm on the bass. Then you say that you use the FT technique.

I agree with @Lobster11. Adapt the FT technique and the benefits will be twofold. One, the bass body shape won't matter. Two, you will be doing your hand and wrist a big favour.

 

[ravlin]

Thanks @Lobster11 and @fearceol I tried to nuance my technique in the first post but will try again. I keep my bass about waist height and don't completely rest my arm (like a dullard) but rather like 50% de-weight. It's light enough that I can still move my hand around to float the thumb. Maybe rather than "resting" my arm I'm anchoring heavily... My wrist angle is probably 30 degrees, not 90 like some of the extremist Jaco/Timmy C types, I'm probably resting more like John Entwistle or lower, resting closer to the elbow than wrist.
Anyways, maybe the real question is: Do you guys that thumb float really just hold your arm up for 3 hours? That seems crazy, and like I shouldn't ever practice sitting.

 

[brianrost]

The only time I've had an issue with the size and shape of the body was when I switched from a P bass to a Steinberger.

After about three months I had tendonitis. I was also driving a car with a manual transmission and typing all day at work. My right elbow was not happy. Having a body to rest the forearm on meant I didn't have the elbow floating in space.

Eventually I figured out how to play the Steinberger without screwing up my elbow again but it was an eye opener to be sure.

 

[MCS4]

I think you can just strip this concept down to the basics and understand that a particular bass might suit you better (or worse) than others based upon how its size and shape interact with the ergonomics of your body, strap height, playing style, and so forth. Certainly it makes sense that if you rest your arm on the body you might feel more or less comfortable depending on the size, shape, and configuration of the part of the body you are resting it on. On that very specific point, I have a Kiesel Osiris five-string that feels really good if I play it seated (or standing with a higher strap) and rest my arm on the body to play with a particular technique I use sometimes that uses my thumb plus my index and middle fingers in more of a pseudo-classical style rather than a more standard perpendicular bass approach.

 

[jim nolte]

It’s a big deal for me , the ability to rest my forearm on the top of the bass when plucking is one of the main ergonomics of a bass that I look for, it helps to stabilize the bass against my chest and prevents movement especially if it has a slight neck dive, I love my Fbass BN5 but it doesn’t have quite a wide enough body to support my forearm so when I go to first position I can feel the body shift ever so slightly but luckily it has zero neck dive, personally I can’t tell too much difference in that regards between a J and P bass body and I like them both.

 

[Ralph Manak]

Can this clarification be helpful: (top) edge of body vs (top) face of body?

 

[ravlin]

Can this clarification be helpful: (top) edge of body vs (top) face of body?

I'm definitely referring to the top edge. Appreciate the clarification.

 

[Gervais Cote]

All I know is that a p bass of 7.5 to max 8 pounds is the best for me. Standing and sitting.
And I simply can’t play music with a baseball bat type of p bass neck from the 60's !
A jazz bass is usually too big and a Spector Euro 4 is too small.
My technique is far from perfect but with a light p bass I can play a few hours without any problems and not with other sizes or configurations of bass.
I wanted to have various types of sound though so that lead me to this with various strings and pickups :

 

[Turnaround]

To be clear...
Poor positioning:

Good positioning:

 

[evanrunyon]

With the exception of some extreme examples (ABGs, big ol' hollowbodies, etc), I haven't found that the style/body shape of a bass radically changes my right hand approach. As long as I can keep elbow and wrist at gentle angles–I used to play with my bass super high before an awful bout of tendonitis in my right elbow in my early 20's made me reevaluate things–and everything stays nice and loose then I'm content, and it usually only takes a few minutes and maybe a strap length adjustment to get used to it.

That being said, my career has involved literal years of playing on different borrowed instruments dozens of times a year, so whatever adaptability I have is probably more a survival skill than anything else.

 

[lomo]

This is why I do not enjoy playing a T-Bird, Spector or any other bass with a very narrow body shape.

 

[ravlin]

To be clear...
Poor positioning:
View attachment 5368255

Good positioning:

View attachment 5368256

To be clear...
Poor positioning:
View attachment 5368255

Good positioning:

View attachment 5368256

I looked at these pictures and messed around playing a bit. I definitely alternate between good and bad form depending on the song/part. Independent of that though is the question of how comfortable the resting (first picture) and/or anchoring (second picture) is. My jazz v deluxe is narrowest, if I'm playing E or B string my wrist is at the edge of the body. Maybe I should just pretend to play a Steinberger...

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, I find that any bass without a cut-away (and especially a semi-hollow) requires some adjustment from my forearm. Whatever I gain from lighter weight, I give up with arm strain.
Probably just poor technique on my part.

 

[Grinderman]

All I know is that a p bass of 7.5 to max 8 pounds is the best for me. Standing and sitting.
And I simply can’t play music with a baseball bat type of p bass neck from the 60's !
A jazz bass is usually too big and a Spector Euro 4 is too small.
My technique is far from perfect but with a light p bass I can play a few hours without any problems and not with other sizes or configurations of bass.
I wanted to have various types of sound though so that lead me to this with various strings and pickups :

+1

I've got two P basses in the 7.5 to 8 pound range and a Jazz bass.

The only difference in the Jazz body that I feel is the extra half pound. (Yeah, it's a light Jazz bass)