Does anyone else play thumb-over?

[Chrisk-K]

I even use my left thumb to fret the E strings.

 

[micguy]

For sone folks, it’s a cardinal sin. For someone like me (Huge hands and I play 4’s), sometimes If I’m playing something, and want to add a low note, well, my thumb is right there, ready to go.

 

[Thumpin6string]

You must have a bass with a narrow neck. There is no way I could even do that on my 6 string, even if I wanted to. Never understood why a guitarist would do this either. I guess if it works for you then who are we to say if it is right or wrong?

 

[Alfonso Alba]

I even use my left thumb to fret the E strings.

I use mine to fret the G-string.

 

[Clemouze]

I even use my left thumb to fret the E strings.

Hendrix style !!

 

[Watchootognbout]

Only like this.

 

[Garret Wheeler]

On the fretting hand, I mean, of course.

I do about 98% of the time, I reckon because I started out on guitar ...

I do not have large hands, what I am told makes it even stranger, but I find it's how I learned/taught me, and it's baked-in.

Anyone else do this?

Anyone used to and change, and if so, why?

I mean, I play a good few hours a week, sometimes a day, for a few years now, and I've had no physical problems yet ...

I do play with my thumb over, but I don't use my thumb to play notes. On guitar there are some chords that are easier to play with your thumb (like D major with an F# in the bass), but on bass that's never been something I've needed to do. A lot of times I'll use my thumb to mute the E string, but even if I'm not touching the strings my thumb is usually anchored on top of the neck. I wouldn't call it bad technique though.

If you can play what you want to play that means you're doing it right!

 

[Watchootognbout]

You must have a bass with a narrow neck. There is no way I could even do that on my 6 string, even if I wanted to. Never understood why a guitarist would do this either. I guess if it works for you then who are we to say if it is right or wrong?

Well....I don't know!

You might do a double octave like this with a six.
I'm not saying that I do this...but it can be done.
E#on the B string.E# on the C string.

 

[Mastermold]

This is one of the funniest TB threads in a while!

 

[juggahnaught]

I always play with my thumb in classical position. When I first picked up guitar, I played a classical guitar and learned classical technique from a book (PIMA, along with the footstool). I never found it uncomfortable and I quickly progressed to the one-finger-per-fret method on guitar in first position after some practice. (I remember back then what a stretch it used to feel like. Now, as a bassist, it feels so small.)

On bass, I tend to play extended-range instruments, where wrapping the thumb around the neck is impractical due to neck width. I use floating thumb to mute the lower strings and I don't have any issues playing chords with four fingers on the fretting hand. I do tend to wear my bass higher - I find low-slung bass positions difficult to play in. If I did play thumb-over, I'd have a lot of trouble trying to play quickly and with articulation; I can't spread my fingers when my hand is clenched like that, and the hand position/palm position doesn't help either.

One benefit of playing with the thumb behind the neck is that the whole "neck profile" thing means a lot less. I've seen guitar and bass players who talk about how important a C neck is vs a V neck, neck depth, nut width, etc - and I think that this stems from the fact that people like a neck that fits their palm well. Thumb behind the neck makes it easy to play any neck profile as you're not death-gripping the thing, and so these concerns become completely trivial.

I think that thumb-behind-the-neck is the classical, standard position, and I think that it will work in all situations. Thumb-over is non-standard, and it's become normalized over time for both guitar and bass - it's not wrong, but I don't think you'll get the mileage that you'll get from classical position (it won't work in all situations, essentially). Yes, there are good players who have made this work in various situations. I don't think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, though.

 

[vvvmmm]

Jeez, some of you guys react like I said, "thumb-under".

And I guess I wasn't clear - I fret the E string with the thumb about 98% of the time. I play lead guitar the same way - I think that's where I get it.

Someone mentioned "bouncing around" and yeah, that's a big factor. Live and jamming, I don't really stop moving. But even when sitting to record, I thumb-over.

FWIW, I don't believe in 5 or 6 string basses, as I think they are a figment of all y'all's imagination. (Or, at least, their value. )

I do play 8 string bass (4 courses of 2), and 3 string slide bass ("low guitar").

And I do play fretless (jazz, A/E, headless and U-bass), thumb-over.

 

[bikeplate]

Nope

 

[Mushroo]

 

[cxcxcx]

I do, but not all the time. Nothing wrong with it. We’re not playing classical guitar with classical guitar technique. Sometimes using thumb-over is the best technique to play certain things, sometimes it’s not. It’s okay to use it now and then, but not exclusively. Of course, Will Lee and Billy Sheehan play thumb over neck an awful lot of the time, so successful and competent exceptions certainly can exist.

I can think of maybe 2 players that have been on the cover of Bass Player Magazine that never play thumb over neck. The rest do at least a little bit, if not a lot. All celebrated, Grammy-winning figures, too.

 

[MVE]

Of course! And I do that ...


... 2% of the time or so.

I reckon that's on me - it's just the kinda playing habit I'd really hafta work on to break, and I know it's "wrong", but if it's good enuff for D-Jones and it's workin' for me so far ...

BTW, I'm fast enuff to get the occasional complaint from lead guitar ...

So, no one else does this?

I do, all the time. I often use the inside of my thumb to fret the E string.
For the past year or so, I have been working on a more classic “wrist down” technique, but only because I have been playing mostly fretless and I have been told classic technique helps intonation.

When I do play with my thumb, Im usually playing the octave and third (above the octave) with my other fingers. Its a great full chord sound and very useful.
You can hit the bass note with your plucking thumb and then flamenco strum the top strings.
I suggest everyone give it a try.

 

[konfyouzd]

I never tried that on bass. I don't think my hand naturally wants to do that. I've really only gone thumb over on guitar for brief periods of time depending on what I'm trying to do.

EDIT: Nevermind. I just watched my hand. I do it sometimes.

 

[OogieWaWa]

When I do play with my thumb, Im usually playing the octave and third (above the octave) with my other fingers. Its a great full chord sound and very useful.
You can hit the bass note with your plucking thumb and then flamenco strum the top strings.
I suggest everyone give it a try.

That is interesting; I play the root with my index finger and use the second and third fingers for the third and then the octave occasionally. I alternate between that and using the fifth instead of the third, depends on the 'mood' of the line. It really helps fill things out for a 3-piece band! I'll have to try that one with the third above the the octave, too, although I hardly ever play anything except thumb below the neck!

 

[Thumpin6string]

Well....I don't know!
You might do a double octave like this with a six.
I'm not saying that I do this...but it can be done.
E#on the B string.E# on the C string.
View attachment 3473494

With the width of my neck and the size of my hand, not a chance.

 

[LBS-bass]

If it's there for a reason, sure. I use it to mute the E string sometimes. I very rarely will use it to fret a note sometimes if I'm doing something really weird. But mainly I use the thumb for leverage however and wherever I need to use it, to maintain comfort. You can see this in this video where it pops up to mute the E string a few times in the intro. Then it jumps back to wherever it needs to be to keep me from developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

ETA I don't know why it won't allow me to just put this in as a link but if you want you can click the "watch on facebook" to see it.

 

[Bander]

on a standard tuned 6-string not really. you may argue that taking several strings with one finger makes not really true chords, but it's a part of standard technique.

however, if your guitar is a 7-string gypsy/russian one with DGBDGBD tuning, the answer is yes.
in fact, Cm there looks like 5545545, that would take 7 fingers to fret it, but in fact usually they use one finger for middle D and G strings on the 5-th fret and use thumb for the bass on lower 2 strings, so that's 5 fingers again.

The thumb is stronger than the bar, so the Eddie Lang G and D chords can't be emulated on an archtop with a bar, the bar will sound weak, especially if you are backing a 22 piece jazz band. PS - many of us never use bar chords on a flattop or archtop on purpose. There is a lot of classical guitar technique that doesn't translate to steel string guitar. Thumbs might just be one in reverse.

PS - always envied the 7 string and its regional music. I had a bout of jazz manouche some years back, still have my Patenotte too.