Floating thumb problem

[Stormer]

I have been experimenting with floating thumb technique and I seem to have hit a bit of a wall.
when I play the A, D & G strings, I lay my thumb against the other strings as a mute which also provides a bit of stability. But when playing the E string there is no string to lay the thumb against and no other string to halt the movement of my fingers. This results in inconsistent attack and the inability to comfortably alternate my plucking fingers while playing the E string.

I can rest the heel of my hand on the body but that changes the angle of my wrist and causes problems when skipping strings. My question is, is this a case of practice, practice, practice or should I consider a ramp or is it something I am missing altogether?

I usually "anchor" my thumb on the side of the pick up or the E string and mute with my ring or pinky fingers but lately my wrist is getting sore due to the angle my freakishly long thumbs cause on my wrist and I feel a technique upgrade is needed.

All advice and opinions greatly appreciated.

 

[thewildest]

Hi there, a few notes you may want to consider:
- resting your thumb somewhere and consider the technique "floating thumb" is a little bit of a contradiction. The overall idea is to bring the thumb into total independence, deliverying a variety of functions, muting, soloing, chords, etc. After playing for a while I use the thumb mostly on the lower strings and go mostly "3 fingers" on the upper registers... Sort of a 3+3 technique; I sort of assign the thumb to whatever function it requires on the mix.
- A ramp becoming your anchoring point is definitively a good idea. Whatever finger position on any string combination "becomes" your anchoring point instead of a single area (as you use your thumb today). A ramp will facilitate this exponentially.

In your specific example the thumb is actually "up" playing; If I was soloing playing on the E string, once my other fingers pluck their assigned notes they then rest on other strings (often my ring finger does this) or on the ramp while the thumb does its thing (all this over fractions of a second). It seems thumb and ring take the role of becoming the "contact point" depending on the situation.

I hope this helps.

 

[Stormer]

Hi there, a few notes you may want to consider:
- resting your thumb somewhere and consider the technique "floating thumb" is a little bit of a contradiction. The overall idea is to bring the thumb into total independence, deliverying a variety of functions, muting, soloing, chords, etc. After playing for a while I use the thumb mostly on the lower strings and go mostly "3 fingers" on the upper registers... Sort of a 3+3 technique; I sort of assign the thumb to whatever function it requires on the mix.
- A ramp becoming your anchoring point is definitively a good idea. Whatever finger position on any string combination "becomes" your anchoring point instead of a single area (as you use your thumb today). A ramp will facilitate this exponentially.

In your specific example the thumb is actually "up" playing; If I was soloing playing on the E string, once my other fingers pluck their assigned notes they then rest on other strings (often my ring finger does this) or on the ramp while the thumb does its thing (all this over fractions of a second). It seems thumb and ring take the role of becoming the "contact point" depending on the situation.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the response!
Certainly some food for thought there. I have been aiming to use the same technique as I have seen Alphonso Johnson use where the thumb "hangs down" as a mute and so far I find it very useful as long as there is another string to limit my finger movement but very strange on the E string. I naturally, or habitually, seek an anchor point.

I think I will make a ramp today and give that a go.

 

[winegamd]

What you describe is more of a movable anchor a la Adam Nitti and not so much floating thumb like Gary Willis and Todd Johnson. There are also hybrid techniques like Scott Devine where you anchor your thumb, but it is angled a bit so it still dampens the lower strings.

Adam Nitti


Gary Willis


Todd Johnson


Scott Devine

 

[klokker]

I play a 5 for the most part, but when I play my low B I just don't anchor at all. You can keep a very similar position of your hand and play without having to rest your hand on anything. Also it helps to pluck with you first finger and ring finger to relax you hand position for muting. It takes a little time to get the ring finger going, but it's faster and smoother in the long run.

 

[Stormer]

progress update...

I have watched the various videos and read many threads on floating thumb and have really made progress. My touch is lighter and more expressive, I am more comfortable playing for longer periods of time, no more awkward wrist angles and no more pain and my speed is not quite what it is with a fixed anchor but getting there.

There is still a small issue though, which I feel the videos do not address;

The lack of an anchor is not the problem I thought it was and my thumb is perfectly happy to trail along muting the unused strings but I like to play rest strokes and have no problem until playing on the E string as there is nothing there to halt my fingers and this makes its very difficult to play consistently on that string. My initial solution has been to fit a small "thumb rest" type thing which sits on the pick guard at the same height as the strings and is positioned in line with the top of the pick up, thus enabling me to play rest strokes on the E string. (a phantom B string if you will)

Do you think this is something I should stop before it becomes a "crutch" or does anyone else do this?

How do you manage consistent attack and rhythm on the E string?

I thought the benefit of floating thumb is economy of motion as the same hand position for each string is used, but without my "thumb rest" my fingers will naturally travel farther towards the body of the bass meaning my fingers do more work on the E string.

p.s. thanks for the replies so far, really helped!

 

[winegamd]

Stormer, this is where the ramp comes in with Willis and Johnson. It is that or anchor on the pickups. Another option, which I do when playing a P bass at the bridge, is just anchor on the body. It feels a bit strange at first, but it doesn't take long to get used to it.

 

[Stormer]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

I knew about this technique years ago but thought I would never need it and thus never bothered to learn it. If Jaco, etc... didn't use it then I would be fine playing with a fixed anchor and extreme wrist angles.

How wrong I was. Even though I have only been floating my thumb for a few weeks now, it feels so natural and it is very alien to go back to a fixed anchor (unless on the E string).

I would urge everyone to at least attempt this technique and see how it works for them. I had no issues with a fixed anchor in my youth but when you reach your 30's, things start to go wrong. Hopefully I have avoided CTS, but I wonder if it helps for male pattern baldness.