Both of my hands are ALL thumbs.
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Thumb Behind Middle Finger
- Thread starter Matthew_84
- Start date
I tell my students these rules.
1) no pain, no pain. If it doesn’t hurt either now or in the long run, it’s fine.
2) if it sounds good , it is good
1) no pain, no pain. If it doesn’t hurt either now or in the long run, it’s fine.
2) if it sounds good , it is good
Do you keep you left elbow tight to your body when playing? If so, then the natural fall of the thumb as described -- beyond the forefinger. This is because of the unnatural turning of the wrist required to play that way. It might be comfortable to you based on the height you wear your instrument and the angle of the neck, I don't know and honestly didn't read the entire thread to see if you already answered that.
When you keep your elbow out and away from your torso, your wrist will be in a more natural, straight and inline to the forearm, position and the thumb will likely fall more naturally behind the middle finger. This is more so the "proper" technique and it's all about preventing wrist strain and fatigue.
When you keep your elbow out and away from your torso, your wrist will be in a more natural, straight and inline to the forearm, position and the thumb will likely fall more naturally behind the middle finger. This is more so the "proper" technique and it's all about preventing wrist strain and fatigue.
I just picked up my bass for the first time since starting this thread as I was curious about something…
I barely need to rest my thumb on the back on the neck when I have my right forearm resting on the bass guitar body. I mostly just do it to help support the neck and hand. Again, I don’t use my thumb to pivot, I slide up and down as needed.
What I wanted to check was, if I don’t put my thumb to the back of the neck and leave it in its most relaxed state, where does it float in various positions on the neck while covering all of the frets as flat/evenly as possible in my 124 and 1234 fingerings.
I tried that and it was practically always floating, naturally, to the left of my index finger. In the lower positions it was closer to the index, but even in the first position, it was still slightly to the left of it.
So I don’t know. I don’t know why I seem so different than many here (while some agree with me), but yeah, to the left it is.
I barely need to rest my thumb on the back on the neck when I have my right forearm resting on the bass guitar body. I mostly just do it to help support the neck and hand. Again, I don’t use my thumb to pivot, I slide up and down as needed.
What I wanted to check was, if I don’t put my thumb to the back of the neck and leave it in its most relaxed state, where does it float in various positions on the neck while covering all of the frets as flat/evenly as possible in my 124 and 1234 fingerings.
I tried that and it was practically always floating, naturally, to the left of my index finger. In the lower positions it was closer to the index, but even in the first position, it was still slightly to the left of it.
So I don’t know. I don’t know why I seem so different than many here (while some agree with me), but yeah, to the left it is.
If you want help can you post a short video? much easier to judge from that than from text.
No, I do not keep my elbow tight to my torso, I move it out as needed to keep my wrist straight and get good coverage of the frets. The only time it’d start touching my torso is when the left index finger is at or above the 9th fret.
I also have my basses up pretty high to the point where my belly button is closer to the ground than my lower horn is, and I keep my basses in a 45 degree angle so that my nut is roughly at eye level
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I appreciate the offer, but my intention of this thread was not to change my technique tbh.
I guess I’m just surprised that having the thumb behind the middle finger is comfortable for so many users here. I always thought it came off as bad advice quite honestly because of how uncomfortable it is to me.
I guess this thread just goes to show that we’re all different though and what works for one person will be different than another.
In reality many bass players don't hold fast to this 'rule', check out photos of many of thee greats playing and you'll see instances where they move fingers in elation to their thumb wherever they need to to play the piece. All these supposed iron clad rules remind me of learning to play classical guitars decades ago, there are sensible reasons for many of them, but as the old saying goes, "rules are meant to be broken". Which I take to mean, that once you know them, you can decide if there are, or should be times, not to follow them.
Can I ask if the OP is playing the bass slung low on a strap? That forces the thumb beyond the index finger on a long scale bass on lower frets. I used to suffer from cramps in my hands after extended playing as a young man, but I discovered that a shorter strap reduced that pain to virtually nil.
Where technique is concerned I think the two main things to consider are efficiency and comfort. You want to be as efficient in your playing as possible and you want to be as relaxed and comfortable as possible as much of the time as possible. If your technique allows you to achieve both of those goals then I'd say you are on the right path. Regardless, it's good to be self-aware when it comes to technique and it's good to periodically evaluate oneself. Even after thirty-five years of playing electric bass I will re-analyze aspects of my technique and make sure I'm playing in as efficient and as comfortable a manner as possible. This has become more important as I get older and things that didn't used to hurt begin to. 
I was taught one finger per fret and thumb behind the middle finger but I only use that when I hit a musical passage that requires it. For simpler stuff, I'll be much more lazy with my left hand, often grabbing it like a baseball bat (thumb over the top) and playing with fingers 1 and 4 only.
I would be careful about any talk of middle fingers on TalkBass ...
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Depends on what I'm shakin'.
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