Help me transition from thumb playing style to finger style.

[Wasnex]

Bottom Line Up Front:
I suspect your problem is related mostly to patience and the motivation to practice. There are no shortcuts. Do the work and the time, and the proficiency will follow...assuming you have the requisite innate ability.

Comments:
If you are able to play the bass part appropriately with just your thumb, there is no problem. Nothing wrong with using the thumb when it gets the job done. However, if you can't play fast enough, you will probably benefit from developing finger style.

I don't see much point in learning a single finger plucking technique as it will have similar speed limitations to using your thumb. Pretty sure finger-style with alternating index and middle fingers is the most common bass technique. FYI, There are quite a few exceptions where you don't stick to strict alternation.

I have used two variations of alternating fingers. I started on upright and adapted my upright plucking approach to bass guitar. My thumb pretty much anchored on the E string or the corner of a pickup. My plucking fingers were fairly straight. I would describe the resulting sound as smooth.

Over several years, I transitioned to floating thumb and arched plucking fingers. To my ears this technique gives you a more punchy and focused tone. Also it gives you the ability to produce a wider range of tones that can be used expressively to make your bass lines more interesting.

From my perspective, anchored thumb is a simpler approach and easier to master. Although I use floating thumb and arched fingers the vast majority of the time, I still revert to anchored thumb and straight fingers as needed. IMHO some patterns are still easier for me with anchored thumb. But as my proficiency with floating thumb has grown, I revert less and less.

 

[Wasnex]

 

[Tony In Philly]

Back in the 70's I was at a party and a guy from a funk band was there using his thumb quite a bit, especially on the low strings and mixing it up with his fingers. As someone who had a classical guitar playing background this seemed like a natural to me and I've used the thumb extensively since then.

 

[retslock]

OK ... there's my problem. I'm in my 70s and when I first picked up a bass maybe back in the late '60s or early to mid-70s I had nobody local to help me learn how to play the thing. And of course back then there was no Youtube or other freely available ways to learn the proper technique. I say "proper" because is playing with your fingers the "proper" way to play ... or not?

Some other bass players played with their thumb ... I've seen videos and pics of Paul McCartney. I even had an old bass that had the thumb rest installed on the right-hand side. And I used it, too, also placing the palm of my hand over the chrome cover for the bridge pickup.

But now I'm told that style is ... wrong ... or something only dinosaurs would use.

So two questions: Is finger style preferred as a way to produce the optimal bass sound and/or speed? I do sometimes use a compressor to help when I play with my thumb.

And ... is there any way for me to move more into the finger style? I'm doing some fill-in with a local band and I have eight more gigs this summer. So far I have used my thumb, my fingers (on slower songs) and a pick for faster, punchier rock songs. I would like to rely more on the finger style but when I'm playing live I fall back on what is easier for me ... either my thumb or using a pick.

Do you have the facility you need to play the music you want to play? If yes then as you were...carry on.
If the answer is no then Youtube is a wealth of information pointing you towards finger technique. The rest is practice. Choose challenging material, slow it right down if you need to until you have it right. After more than 50 years playing music I can tell you there is always room for improvement and there is no substitute for doing your homework.

 

[Five or Six]

There is no "right or wrong" way. It's whatever works for someone. If you can play "Runnin Down a Dream" or "Dark Side" however you are playing now, you should be good to go. Suggestion, play any song you are playing now as you normally play. Then, go over it again in the new method you wish to use. You have to spend time and diligence to make changes at anything.

 

[retslock]

In addition to comment #24 there are some great apps to assist practice. I use Anytune Pro+ constantly. It provides tempo changes without affecting pitch and pitch changes that don't affect tempo. Difficult sections can be cycled at slow tempos to enable working up to speed in your own time. These are very useful features.

 

[Paul New]

I started in the 60s too, and played with my thumb exclusively at first. Eventually I began using more alternating finger, but still use thumb when that's what I want. If you want to develop two finger style as an option, Jon Liebman published a book that includes a section of exercises for getting started on that. Funk Jazz is the title.

But if you decide to stick with thumb, you're in good company.

 

[FugaziBomb]

Easy. Whenever you're tempted to play with your thumb, just think of ol' Bob Newhart...

 

[Ralph124C41]

Do you think that playing with your thumb is limiting you ? I play finger style but I wouldn't judge you for playing with your thumb if it works for the kind of music you're playing.

I think that it is limiting in that the volume on other strings seem less ... and that is why I sometimes use a compressor (on a mild setting) to even out the volume of the strings.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Why not learn as many ways as possible to play.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

I used to only play bass with a pick, but as my gigs started to "pick" up, I wanted to add fingerstyle to the tool box.

I noticed a lot of bassists that bent their wrists at a right angle and rested their forearms on the body of the bass. I found this made my arm hurt, so I focused on keeping wrist and forearm straight.

Just start alternating what you use for each song during practice or gigs. Two fingerstlyle on, and one with pick or thumb. Eventually you will be able to do everything with fingerstyle.

Of course be mindful of the fatigue and skin situation. You may rub your finger pads so raw that you won't be able to do anything but thumb.

 

[MCS4]

I recently discovered a group called the Jazzbois who have some great performances up on YouTube, and their bassist (whose name I unfortunately doesn't know) seems to almost exclusively use his thumb, and it definitely is not holding him back any.



I would add for OP's sake, though, that they could consider doing something like Sting (already mentioned in this thread), who from what I have seen moved at one point in his career to a technique where he mainly uses his thumb but throws in some middle and index as a supplement either to play faster parts or to quickly hit notes on higher strings. I like this technique when I am playing with my thumb.

 

[Kashofa]

This sounds like you are saying other people told you that you need to learn to play with a different technique. Is that a condition of playing with them? Or is this just one of those things they rib you about and it's gotten under your skin a little? The way you put things makes it seem like you aren't that interested in developing a completely different technique for playing.

If you want to learn a new technique I think you just commit to it and do it. Play that way all the time for everything. What you know about your left hand will be automatic as you work on changing your right hand so that should speed things up. You work at it and it comes over time.

Now if you are asking how to learn a new technique and use it immediately in gigs you have scheduled, I don't think that's going to happen unless you are a real prodigy.

 

[PenaltyBox]

This video proves you can only go so far plucking the strings with your thumb. Who's ever heard of this guy?
If it works for you and you're curious about other techniques great, if not no reason to feel pressured.

Is it clear he only uses his thumb? It almost looks like a version of travis picking on acoustic guitar where the thumb is used on the top two strings and the fingers are used in the higher range strings. It also seems kind of like a machine gun riff that would be hard to pull of just with thumb?

 

[sean_on_bass]

OK ... there's my problem. I'm in my 70s and when I first picked up a bass maybe back in the late '60s or early to mid-70s I had nobody local to help me learn how to play the thing. And of course back then there was no Youtube or other freely available ways to learn the proper technique. I say "proper" because is playing with your fingers the "proper" way to play ... or not?

Some other bass players played with their thumb ... I've seen videos and pics of Paul McCartney. I even had an old bass that had the thumb rest installed on the right-hand side. And I used it, too, also placing the palm of my hand over the chrome cover for the bridge pickup.

But now I'm told that style is ... wrong ... or something only dinosaurs would use.

So two questions: Is finger style preferred as a way to produce the optimal bass sound and/or speed? I do sometimes use a compressor to help when I play with my thumb.

And ... is there any way for me to move more into the finger style? I'm doing some fill-in with a local band and I have eight more gigs this summer. So far I have used my thumb, my fingers (on slower songs) and a pick for faster, punchier rock songs. I would like to rely more on the finger style but when I'm playing live I fall back on what is easier for me ... either my thumb or using a pick.

only change if the music requires it. i am the opposite...learn alternating finger pluck but 20+ years later i play with my thumb. playing with the thumb is a warmer and less abrasive attack. it actually suits alot of music better to play that way. with that said don't expect to be playing Tower of Power with just the thumb. god tier is to know both.