Thumb plucking "wrong" ?

[Chef]

No sir, there is no reason not to do this, if you dig it.
Playing with thumb, while palm muting is an absolutely valid technique, and one I find plenty of use for.

I got back into bass very recently and I've been trying to learn to play finger plucking but really can't get used to it. The plucking itself is fine but having my hand in that position makes it so much harder and more confusing to mute string noise.
When I play with my thumb I can play faster and very easily mute string noise. I sound much better playing with my thumb and I enjoy playing with my thumb.

The only thing is that I've been told that it's "bad" technique or "wrong", can anyone give an actual reason for it being bad? It seems people just think bass should be slap or fingers so they assume that if you're not doing one of those then people just give mouth.

Am I missing something or is there actually something about thumb picking that will hold my playing back?

 

[RufusB]

I posted a thread earlier and mentioned the troubles of muting strings constantly while fingerplucking.
What I mean here isn't just muting a string after I have played it; but when I pluck one string, ALL other strings vibrate because of it, creating a big amount of noise and the only way to get rid of that noise is to mute. (I've tried amp settings etc.)

But even when I mute the strings, as soon as I pull my finger off the string, that is enough to get it vibrating and creating noise.
What's the problem here? I am being as tidy as I can with my technique, not even hitting the string to cause them to vibrate.

Are my pickups overly sensitive/too noisy or is getting used to muting noisy strings all the time just a part of playing?

 

[wvbass]

Pretty much, you have to mute anything you don't want making noise. This gets really tough for me as you add strings. Four string muting is second nature. Five is doable, but six is pretty tough.

 

[Russell L]

I use my thumb mainly when muting for a double bass sound. The only trouble I have is that I'm not as fast as fingerstyle because I'm not as good with an upstroke with my thumb.

 

[Chef]

I really don't worry about "being as fast as fingerstyle," cause, hey, it's not fingerstyle

I really only thumb, downstroke. More meat on the string that way, nets me a ftter sound.

And yessir, thumb+palm mute=pretty nice fat DB-ish tone.

 

[bThumper38]

It'd be worth practicing fingerstyle. As someone else mentioned, using just the thumb will limit your speed. I sometimes use thumb picking near the neck for a softer attack and deeper timbre in ballads.

I play nothing but pizzicato with my thumb down and up, and have no problem playing at any speed, muted, or not. It takes work if you want to play it to full capacity, but if you wanna just get a simple reggae groove, yeah you can get that down pretty quick. Just not sure how it would limit your speed.

 

[Munjibunga]

I play nothing but pizzicato with my thumb down and up, and have no problem playing at any speed, muted, or not. It takes work if you want to play it to full capacity, but if you wanna just get a simple reggae groove, yeah you can get that down pretty quick. Just not sure how it would limit your speed.

Drop in around 10:50 on this. Tell me you can play at that speed with your thumb. (That's not to say I could play it under any circumstances.) Anyway, learning to play fingerstyle would be good for the OP by any rationale.

 

[Marty Forrer]

My favourite tone comes from using the thumb, muted or not.

 

[simplebassliner]

I posted a thread earlier and mentioned the troubles of muting strings constantly while fingerplucking.
What I mean here isn't just muting a string after I have played it; but when I pluck one string, ALL other strings vibrate because of it, creating a big amount of noise and the only way to get rid of that noise is to mute. (I've tried amp settings etc.)

But even when I mute the strings, as soon as I pull my finger off the string, that is enough to get it vibrating and creating noise.
What's the problem here? I am being as tidy as I can with my technique, not even hitting the string to cause them to vibrate.

Are my pickups overly sensitive/too noisy or is getting used to muting noisy strings all the time just a part of playing?

To me muting is indeed part of playing, I'm using both hands to mute, not just the plucking hand. Usualy my fretting fingers would mute higher strings (D & G) simply by resting my fingers to those strings and my plucking hand thumb would mute lower string (E & A) while I pluck with index and middle fingers...
Forgive my poor English, hope these make sense to you...

 

[Summit]

Correct me if I'm wrong but thumb plucking is the original technique for playing electric bass. Like slap, finger style, and pick it has its own tone. It's very fat, even, and vintage sounding. I love it and regularly switch between finger style and thumb depending on the tone I am going for.

The best part of using your thumb is it puts your hand in great position to palm mute close to the bridge to fatten the note even more. You can get a lot of different tones by applying more or less of your palm on the strings. This simulates using foam under your bridge very decently, but you can scale it back or remove the muting entirely if desired.

Speedwise you can get very close to the same speed as finger style if you use it enough. It's not quite as fast and I will switch back to fingerstyle if I have a particularly speedy passage to get through. With practice you can drop back and forth seamlessly.

 

[Chef]

For me, when I use thumb+palm mute, I've no need of "playing fast as finger-style."

 

[Clark Dark]

There's no one style or technique that's going to be "absolute" so like most seem to be suggesting, open to expanding your horizons to several styles but work comfortably.

 

[Chef]

It could totally be that thumb style could work for a whole bands worth of stuff, if that's the genre/feel that fits.

I use it selectively, but, if it fits/suits what you're doing and what you like, totally use it!
No reason not to.

 

[Munjibunga]

For me, when I use thumb+palm mute, I've no need of "playing fast as finger-style."

But you can play fingerstyle when necessary, right?

 

[Chef]

Sure!
But not everyone's gig is gonna require that, if "faster" is why you'd want it.

I can think of roots/country type gigs I could've done the whole show like that, if that was what I wanted to do. It ain't 100% my bag, but, if it's his: cool.

 

[portlandguy]

I have seen Billy Talbot with Crazy Horse (Neil Young) uses his thumb a bit.

 

[bThumper38]

Drop in around 10:50 on this. Tell me you can play at that speed with your thumb. (That's not to say I could play it under any circumstances.) Anyway, learning to play fingerstyle would be good for the OP by any rationale.

No I certainly can't do that. Just saying, thumb isn't only for slow reggae/dub stuff. I broke my finger that never healed, so for me I use my thumb for tight pizzicato, thumping', muting, whatever it takes. Though I do dig the Chick stuff, I can't keep up with him

 

[Fenwick]

When I play with my thumb I can play faster

With all due respect, your finger technique must be terrible if you can play faster with your thumb, I can't even fathom it. Logic dictates that more digits equals more speed and less work.

I don't think there is anything 'wrong' with how you decide to attack a stringed instrument. In theory you could use a tree branch as some sort of plucking device or even your big toe (I've seen it!).
Obviously some methods are more efficient than others and I believe that using your thumb as your main plucking device is slightly more efficient than using a tire iron or a tube of chapstick, but only slightly

 

[phii]

As far as I know, if used properly, finger picking can become a killer shredder. It's just hard

 

[Audiodraggin]

I started playing with thumb, but after a while my other fingers just started to join in. Rob from Metallica once said you sometimes have to just let your fingers do what they want to do. Flamenco players use anything they can as long as they enjoy playing.