floating thumb techniqe

[Factory Owner]

Hello rwm0268! I agree with what you say...(or said, I am realizing that I am responding to a post from 2006!)

Anyway, I always took "floating thumb" to mean literally floating...no anchors.

I've used the floating thumb technique for more than 10 years now.

For me the reason was...years ago, I developed similar symptons to carpal tunnel. I noticed that when i used my thumb as an anchor, my wrist always bent with an acute angle!

So I rethought things and decided to stop anchoring my thumb. When I floated my thumb I noticed that it is almost impossible to bend your wrists when your are plucking the strings!

I think it is because, when you use your thumb as an achor, it is easy (by habit) to push your arm out forward more. This creates that acute angle with your wrist!

The way I approached floating my thumb was to just play as if I never had a thumb in the first place. I thought, what would that look like? An recreated that look on my hand.

It did make my touch lighter, I had a much less (and sometimes nonexistent) bend on my wrist! i can play now for hours with no more problems!

It's cool... I learned from reading this post that many other bass players approach their technique the same way and also call it the "floating technique!"

 

[mikey_s]

Hey guys,
What a great thread... I'm originally a guitar player (been playing for 7 years now) and been playing bass for about 3 years (self taught), and really got serious with it the last year. Recently I developed a serious pain due to the angle of my hand while trying to reach the high strings (using the anchoring method). After reading this thread and seeing Todd's video I figured that this might be the solution to my problem.

Just wanted to verify that I got this correctly: In his video, Todd doesn't seem to rest either his wrist nor his forearm on the body of the Bass, only slightly touching it, is this correct?

Thanks a lot,

Mikey

 

[BandcaveMan]

Speaking of thumbs, check out these. I always thought it was interesting how Jaco would sometimes press the flat part of his thumb against the body of his bass when on the E string. My thumbs won't bend back that far, I rest mine on the neck pickup on my P. Sometimes I float my thumb and sometimes I don't, I mute a lot of the time with my unused left hand(neck) fingers. It's really sort of a combination between both hands for muting. Bad habit I guess but that's what I'm stuck with now. Too old for new tricks! - BandcaveMan

Invalid Link Removed
(image link http://www.jacop.net)

 

[spindizzy]

First on the question of where Todd rests his arm I have to say the I am not positive on that and you should post that question to his forum. I think I read once that he does rest it a little (more like slides it along the bass body). For myself the tell tale sign of ware on the front of my bass tells me that I also run my forearm lightly across the body of my bass. Mine is more pronounce I think because my bass body is far less sculpted than Todd's being very sharp )ala a Les Paul) and thicker than most modern bass bodies so it is hard to avoid some contact.

Ideally as little resting as possible would be best so that you are not interfering with the movement of your arm while floating but some is to be expected.

BandcaveMan - You are never too old IMHO. One thing to point out is that even with FT you should be using aspects of both hands for muting so it sounds to me that your left hand muting will work nicely with FT should you decide to experiment with it sometime.

Spin

 

[magnusdeus123]

I recently made a floating thumb + three fingers tech. video , and would appreciate it a lot if the vets could have a look at it , and give me suggestions if needed . Although my three finger technique is far from being steady ( just started a couple of weeks ago ) , I feel that the thumb technique is highly applicable . Thanks . Looking foward to opinions ;

 

[barbarbass]

Again, I didn't consciously adopt these techniques, they just happened out of need. I believe I'm a better player now that I don't anchor my thumb on the pickup.

+1

Exactly -- I might add, it's a matter of wrist angle. You want the "meat" of your hand "behind" your plucking fingers, so to speak, giving you leverage on the string. You lose that leverage on the higher two strings if your thumb is all the way back there on the pickup.

 

[Dr Illing]

This is a really great thread, very enlightening. I think these talk bass forums are a such a great resource. It's so nice to see so many helpful people, like spindizzy, in one place.

I found this thread yesterday, and I'm on my way to adjusting to this ergonomic playing style. One thing that I wanted to point out that I haven't seen mentioned here yet is that I've used mainly an anchored fingering technique for the some time. I always though that this was proper technique, and I used to index and middle finger to play while using my ring finger to dampen the subsequent strings. I've never really had much trouble muting the strings because of that.

I'm having difficulty with FT when I do string skipping, for example skipping from E all the way to G. Any suggestions?

 

[kesslari]

I'm having difficulty with FT when I do string skipping, for example skipping from E all the way to G. Any suggestions?

Practice

I'm an FT kind of guy, and I find my whole right hand moves as a unit across the strings for skipping, and it works well for skipping, even at fast tempos.

 

[spindizzy]

Don't forget the thumb isn't just for muting. I find using the thumb and three fingers helpful in string skipping and octaves. Sometimes can lead to a gallop kind of attack so be careful to not fall into that trap (although there are many interesting things you can do with a gallop).

As always FT isn't mastered overnight, slow practice is the key and being flexible in how you use the technique (meaning don't make it dogmatic rather make it a useful tool in your tool kit) and using the now liberated thumb to its maximum effectiveness.

And don't forget Todd Johnson, who in my opinion (along with his mentor Gary Willis) is one of the best resources for how to effectively incorporate FT into your play. His forum is another place to seek these kinds of answers and Todd is a generous fellow with his advice.

Spin

 

[dalconthenovice]

you know i've been playing bass for three years and appearently i've been playing floating thumb all those three years, hoorah! i'm better than i thought!

 

[dalconthenovice]

i feel necessary to comment about the floating thumb technique, like someone who posted before me i just started doing floating thumb out of necessity, i had real problems muting strings and it just happened that i thought "huh, what the **** is my thumb doin?" so instead of resting it on the pickup i made my thumb travelw ith me, to me this makes **** so much easier cuz you don't have to rely on your fretting hand for muting quite so much and at the same time that strain i always got when i stretched down to fret the G and the D all the way up on my B string (yes a five string) disappeared! floating thumbs wonderful, i had no idea it was such a big thing, i honestly thought it was a basic thing

 

[XtreO]

Posted in wrong thread X)

 

[Bruno89]

So, I am started learning the floating thumb technique and encountered this "problem".

Let's say I'm plucking the A string. I'm starting with my index finger. I pluck the D string with my index finger and lower the finger to the G string and out comes a clean note. But when I do that with my middle finger you hear the hit on the lower string .

When I use my index the hit is being muffled by my thumb and when I use my middle finger there's nothing to muffle it.

How to solve this?

Should I pluck lighter? Will I adapt and sort of memorize when the finger will land slowing down right before it hits the lower string? Or something else?

 

[spindizzy]

Really wish I could see you playing so that I understand what you are describing better! Nonetheless it sounds like a matter of practice (slowly doing the exercises) until your motor memory starts to kick in. If you can post a few pictures or a video of you having these difficulties I can try and be more helpful.

Again I can't stress enough the shortcut to knowledge that Todd Johnson's videos bring most folks in this area. Sure you can spend years like I did crafting your technique or you can benefit from Todd's experience via his instructionals. I will tell you this Todd always ends his post with the saying "play slow". He get's this from his mentor Garry Willis who expounds the benefit of training your motor memory via slow, deliberate and thoughtful practice.

Spin

 

[cheesemonkey]

Eh i prefer using thumb for E string mute only... ring finger mute for A string and g string pluck follow through for the d

 

[Shoehorn]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking through this thread to see if my questions/observations/concerns about floating thumb were answered and I wasn't able to find them so here I am.

I find that using a floating thumb technique I need to have my pickups set-up very close to the strings feel stable and to give myself a bit more dexterity when playing with this technique. This is particularily true on the E string (lowest string for me). I'm wondering, does anyone else find this? Do any of you employ one of these playing ramp thingers to help with that?

Secondly and related to the first, this fingering technique is much more difficult on my lowest string. Using an anchored technique, when I'm playing on my low E my fingers hit against my thumb but with this floating thumb it gets all akward. I don't where exactly my thumb should sit, my fingers don't have anything to hit against like on the a,d, and g strings, etc. Any advice to me aside from just woodsheding it till I figure it out?

Oh, and is it okay for me to roll up my ring and pinky fingers? Or should I just have my hand more open?

 

[spindizzy]

Most folks plying this technique will usually start out by resting the side of thier thumb against that bass body just above the E or B string. I did too but quickly shifted to using my thumb (ala Gary Willis or Matt Garrison) as part of my plucking armory. As such I don't feel uncomfortable at all anymore even when I am just using a basic two finger technique on that string. I think it is just the knowledge that you have things to do with the thumb (playing related) that removes the feeling that you have to plant your thumb. If you have to hit so hard that you need to anchor on something to do it I would argue that you are probably playing too hard (completely subjective opinion and I mean no offense to folks who beat the hell out of thier instrument...they are the warriors).

As far as pickups or ramps I have never used one so I can't speak to either issue. Many folks sing the praises of ramps or high pickups that you play over so you may want to check some of those folks out. Again Gary Willis can be said to be at the forefront of ramp use and his videos are all over YouTube.

Hope that helps and good luck with this technique. It takes some time and it isn't the end all be all but it is an excellent addition to anyone's technique tool kit.

Spin

 

[JEDI BASS]

I was under the impression that movable anchor and floating were two different techniques. Maybe you should check out this page:

http://www.warwickbass.com/basssurvival101/lesson_9fingers.htm

CRAP! I thought I had invented something new when my playing sorta evolved into the moveable anchor technique back in 1989, when I first started playing. I couldn't stand the sympathetic ringing coming from the other strings, so I figured out a way to mute them: the moving anchor. I also use my thumb for picking occasionally.

 

[spindizzy]

Interesting page from Warwick. I love the little typo where they attempted to indicated that players who employ floating thumb "...like the freedom of it, but will admit that they can play with a lot of power..." which I think they meant to say "can't".

This is blatant misinformation in my opinion as power is not an issue for someone who is experienced in utilizing FT.

Spin

 

[Shoehorn]

Most folks plying this technique will usually start out by resting the side of thier thumb against that bass body just above the E or B string. I did too but quickly shifted to using my thumb (ala Gary Willis or Matt Garrison) as part of my plucking armory. As such I don't feel uncomfortable at all anymore even when I am just using a basic two finger technique on that string. I think it is just the knowledge that you have things to do with the thumb (playing related) that removes the feeling that you have to plant your thumb. If you have to hit so hard that you need to anchor on something to do it I would argue that you are probably playing too hard (completely subjective opinion and I mean no offense to folks who beat the hell out of thier instrument...they are the warriors).

As far as pickups or ramps I have never used one so I can't speak to either issue. Many folks sing the praises of ramps or high pickups that you play over so you may want to check some of those folks out. Again Gary Willis can be said to be at the forefront of ramp use and his videos are all over YouTube.

Hope that helps and good luck with this technique. It takes some time and it isn't the end all be all but it is an excellent addition to anyone's technique tool kit.

Spin

Thanks for the advice Spindizzy.

I try out resting my thumb on the body of the bass. I've been lightening my touch significantly for the past little while so you're probably right.

Oh, I have one more question. Do you use rest strokes when doing floating thumb or free strokes?