Double Bass Floating thumb

[Trivolis]

Anyone using it on doublebass?

 

[garrett2]

What would it mean on double bass?

 

[SAlcott]

It probably refers to not anchoring the thumb on the side of the fingerboard. A lot of the early jazz bassists played this way. Today, it's associated with a BG technique usually involving a "ramp" below the strings that prevents attacking the strings with more than the fingertips.

 

[Ketbass]

I can only think of using it on my 6 string BG’s. The thumb floats up and down the strings in order not to stretch to far and also mutes strings. I don’t use the technique on my 4’s though I didn’t know it was used by upright 4 string players.

 

[Lobster11]

Today, it's associated with a BG technique usually involving a "ramp" below the strings that prevents attacking the strings with more than the fingertips.

From the BG side: The "floating thumb" has nothing to do with ramps, which is an entirely different issue. As @Ketbass just said, it's a technique for muting lower strings (especially on 5- and 6-string basses) and ensuring that the finger plucking angle is the same across all strings -- as opposed to anchoring the thumb on a pickup or the bass body and having to reach different distances for different strings. Here's a short video demonstrating the technique in case you're interested:

 

[BobDeRosa]

Jazz bassist James Cammack sometimes uses it on upright.

 

[BarfanyShart]

I was taught not to anchor my thumb on the fingerboard when playing jazz pizz. My teacher used to hit my hand with a bow if my thumb touched the board. Looking back, I don't think I was being taught modern technique, and that was to my detriment.

 

[Wasnex]

I do use two plucking techniques, depending upon how fast I need to pluck. Normally I anchor my thumb and the index and middle finger work together. The fingers are straight. You can use only one of the fingers as well. Also you can sort of use each finger independently for a few fast notes, but IMHO not very effectively for extended fast passages.

For extended fast passages, I typically use arched index and middle fingers independently. It sort of resembles floating thumb, but I think floating palm might be a more accurate label. This is not a technique I can sustain continuously on UB, because it relies on too much finger strength.

My #1 BG is a TRB6P. I use primarily floating thumb, but sometimes I use anchored thumb. I learned upright first. When I started playing BG I simply used what I had learned on upright. So I used primarily anchored thumb and straight plucking fingers. One difference is I used the index and middle finger independently on BG. Over the years I have transitioned to primarily floating thumb and also one finger per fret. So I see UB and BG as substantially different instruments that require different techniques.

 

[Trivolis]

It probably refers to not anchoring the thumb on the side of the fingerboard. A lot of the early jazz bassists played this way. Today, it's associated with a BG technique usually involving a "ramp" below the strings that prevents attacking the strings with more than the fingertips.

I've read that Eddie Safranski played that way...Can you mention anyone else from the early jazz bass players who used that technique? Thanks

 

[Silevesq]

If I remember correctly Scott Lafaro used to play that way... You can see him here but the quality is so bad that I doubt you can see something...

 

[MikeDavis]

I think floating thumb in the sense of the EB would prohibit one from getting the big acoustic sound people strive for.

That said, in the RH technique I was taught and use I suppose could be classified as a ‘floating thumb’ in that I do not squeeze my thumb against the edge of the finger board. Hard to describe verbally, but it is touching the board and more as a touch point to help me know where the board is. At no point in my RH attack is there any real ‘pressure’ applied to the RH thumb.

In both my RH and LH technique, the thumb is not ‘pressing’ or ‘squeezing’ against the neck or fingerboard. In that sense, I suppose you could say they are floating, but that’s not what I took the question in the OP to mean.

 

[turf3]

I'm no technician, but I know that my right thumb behaves a bit differently according to context. When I need big notes, not too often, it becomes more of a pivot point for the "chicken wing" right arm action; when I need a lot of notes in a short time (and thus can't play as loud), I"m leaving it in contact with the FB edge but the fingers are doing more work, the arm less, and I'm not gripping the board hardly at all.

Also, in a sense the thumb is "floating" because it's impossible for anyone with normal hands to keep the thumb in exactly the same relationship to the FB edge and go from the low E string to the high G string. There has to be some pivoting there, which is a form of "floating thumb".

 

[Bruce Calin]

Due to a thumb injury many years ago I had to play for about a year with "floating thumb". I managed to do it effectively enough but wouldn't want to do it otherwise. It did teach me to use arm weight and big muscles and not pull against my thumb, so that was a good thing.

 

[SAlcott]

If I remember correctly Scott Lafaro used to play that way... You can see him here but the quality is so bad that I doubt you can see something...

LaFaro's right hand is pretty visible at several points in the video. I don't see any sign of "floating thumb" in any of them.

 

[Silevesq]

LaFaro's right hand is pretty visible at several points in the video. I don't see any sign of "floating thumb" in any of them.

I could be wrong and mixing information. It could also be my understanding. But I think I read somewhere that his thumbs was never touching the fingerboard and is hand was sort of floating over the string. But maybe I'm thinking about someone else. Could be Red Mitchell... I'll have to take the time to search.

 

[Francois Blais]

Here's Red, and he sometimes lift his right thumb indeed, but not all the time:

 

[Trivolis]

I think floating thumb in the sense of the EB would prohibit one from getting the big acoustic sound people strive for.

That said, in the RH technique I was taught and use I suppose could be classified as a ‘floating thumb’ in that I do not squeeze my thumb against the edge of the finger board. Hard to describe verbally, but it is touching the board and more as a touch point to help me know where the board is. At no point in my RH attack is there any real ‘pressure’ applied to the RH thumb.

In both my RH and LH technique, the thumb is not ‘pressing’ or ‘squeezing’ against the neck or fingerboard. In that sense, I suppose you could say they are floating, but that’s not what I took the question in the OP to mean.

Thanks for your reply, no, I was actually refering to the floating thumb technique that slab players use. The thumb is not anchored anywhere but rests (floats)on top of the strings(not the one you're playing at the moment obviously).

 

[SAlcott]

I honestly see no reason for adopting this technique on DB. Keeping the thumb on the side of the FB (anchoring, resting, whatever) provides the fulcrum for for arm weight to be used for getting a big pizz sound.

 

[Don Kasper]

Note Eddie G.'s right thumb resting in the nook between the E string & fingerboard - NOT Floating. His thumb is still being used as a fulcrum to pull a big sound.
IMFO, of course.

 

[John Goldsby]

A couple of years ago, we had students from the performing arts high school in Havana, Cuba come visit our local high school/music program near Cologne, Germany. We hosted an amazing young bassist by the name of Leo Luna Roblejo ... who I jammed with a lot in our living room He uses a floating thumb technique to good advantage. You can find Leo on Facebook if you want to follow him and check in on the Havana music scene—he posts some videos on FB. He attends the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldan school in Havana (maybe he's graduated by now).

Here's a video he did a couple of years ago—I think he must be about 17 or 18 here: