Muting 4th string issue

[GreyBeard]

I used to do the same thing, I even had thumb rests made and installed on my MM SR5's.

Then on day I played and bought an Ibanez ATK 305.

No place for a thumb rest without really compromising the look of the bass. So I changed to what they call the "floating thumb". With it your thumb lays on all the strings below the one you are plucking. You move your thumb across the lower strings as you play. You are always muting the lower strings. It will feel weird for a while but it is all I do these days and it makes switching basses a little easier.

 

[JACKSON JS1XM]

Leverage for what? We are playing the bass guitar, not cocking a crossbow or hanging a suspension bridge Joking aside, the anchor is for stability and provides a position reference. Whilst it is true that floating thumb encourages a lighter touch (and certainly opens up greater variety in articulation), there is plenty of power on tap once the technique is fully developed.

YMMV

He was concerned that his thumb wasn't going to play the E1 string as cleanly as his index/pointer finger could or was. That he might also mute the string with his thumb when he shouldn't. Hey, whatever method anyone uses, I'm all for making them feel more comfortable, he also said he just felt he wasn't musically inclined to play an instrument. I also told him it's because he wasn't taught & trained for it to be 2nd nature and that he hadn't put in the work.

He's also a lefty playing right handed instruments. That concerned him, but I also told him that all his life he had played golf with right handed clubs, baseball gloves & his hitting was right handed. The only thing he did left handed was write & sign documents. I didn't expect him to stock with it, he was over for a couple of hours, in that time though he had fun, that's what I was trying to reinforce rather than him playing rifts that would be too difficult to learn. I also let him noodle around with the entire lot of instruments, amps & pedals. That was a crash course of sorts. He's a whammy bar (Strat) & Bigsby (LP) type of player. His preconceptions, he didn't like acoustic, until I plugged him in with the acoustic electric with an Ovation. Unless he chases a lef handed guitar, and like anything being left handed limits what he could get in a right handers world for a right now acquisition.

Those 2 hours I spent encouraging him. He thought he also had to buy the finest expensive gear. That he couldn't afford an instrument & amp that he'd like without breaking the bank. Freaked him out how good it all sounded. I was even surprised at how good it was being audience & sound tech as my sole focus instead of playing the instruments. Maybe he gets something, maybe he doesn't. but for having one around for affordable, he can take it as far as he wants to go with it.