thumrest - anyone besides me uses it?

[lockedlx]

Hi there!

I find the thumbrest extremely useful. I couldn't feel comfortable without some support.

I didn't find enough of that when resting my thumb on my Fender JB's pickups. So I have the thumbrest sold by Fender installed above the neck pickup, forming like a "T" shape with it.

I know Tim Commerford got custom made thumbrest on his basses. I'd like to know your thoughts and experiences on that.

Cheers!

 

[Jeff K]

I have two basses with the thumbrest, although technically, one would be a thumbrest and one a finger-rest. (One's above the strings, one's below. I never use them. I just use the pickups.

 

[Phalex]

I've played a Rickenbacker with the pickup cover in place for the last 15 or 16 years. The mother of all thumb rests! When I got a precision, I had to put one on that too. I can play without one, but I just like the reassuring feel of something substantial under my thumb.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Never, I use my thumb to mute the top string on 4s and 5ers. I don't even rest my thumb on the pickup other than just touching the side of it for reference. If I put my thumb up in the rest if feels too strange to play

 

[joeyl]

I move my thumb up and down across the strings, I don't like the anchored feeling, unless maybe playing 16th notes on the E string.

 

[four2oh]

i enjoy a good anchor point.

my Ibanez Affirma series have a Thumb Groove, which is the best design i have ever seen/played.. most comfortable bass EVAR!

my GoldTone Bass Banjo has a plastic thumbrest glued to the banjo head, and i actually find it kinda awkward and always have a hard time finding a comfortable hand position.. probably time to yank it off or reposition it.

 

[thecapm]

Thumb rests look totally dorky, but are pretty comfortable. Although I do use my thumb to mute as well as anchor to the string above the one I'm playing, there is no such luxury when on the E or B string and thus a thumb rest is quite useful.

 

[El-Bob]

i like them between the pup and bridge on p's, although my peavey has jazz pups, so when i play the B string i just rest my thumb on the bridge pup.

 

[ksandvik]

Many Ibanez bass mikes have a thumb rest, it's a very good ergonomical idea for those who like parking their thumb somewhere. --Kent

 

[shirky]

My low B string, sadly, is my go-to thumb rest.

 

[Juniorkimbrough]

i don't like 'em because when my finger comes back up through the E string it hits the thumbrest

 

[Oren Hudson]

Well, if you're near my age (56) you more than likely learned to play with your thumb. I did, and still do. That's why Leo put that block where it is on early 70s and back Fender basses. It was later changed to the top side when many bass players started using their fingers rather than their thumb. There was a thread very much like this one a few weeks ago where one of our bass brethren referred to it as a tug bar. Pretty much fits lower and upper and descriptive as well. I have farily short fingers, and when I play larger bodied basses, it's a bit of a stretch for the A & E strings, especially it I need to really thump on them. Some of my basses I've added the tug bar to if there's nothing else to grab. Also, the positioning of the rest had you playing near the neck, which is my favorite sound except for plunkee picking, which I do near the bridge.

 

[bwsailer79]

I've always just rested my thumb on my pups or on my E string. But I just got the Squier VM TB and the pup doesn't make for a good thumb rest so I'm considering learning to play without a thumbrest or installing one.

 

[mjolnir]

I got the pup cover on three of mine and the thumbrest on two. I love em:

 

[Lesfunk]

I sometimes use a thumbrest. It's called the neck position pickup

 

[spade2you]

In the past, I used to use my neck pickup a lot as my primary anchor.

When I ordered my Rob Allen Mouse 30, I was a little hesitant to give up my usual neck pickup, so we worked on a design that extended the fingerboard. I had also enjoyed some fretless tones that resulted from placing my right hand around the 26th stop.

 

[cammage]

Generally I lay my thumb on the string above what I am playing on...and just move my thumb as I go.

 

[ProfGumby]

Lately I have been really considering a thumbrest. I generally play with my fingers above the front pup, about halfway between the pup and the neck.....no good place to rest ones thumb other then the E string.....

But I am unsure. I considered a ramp of sorts, about picup height and running the length from the neck to the top pickup. More of a really long thumbrest than a ramp, and out of clear or pickguard colored material so it doesn't look too stupid....

 

[ProfGumby]

i don't like 'em because when my finger comes back up through the E string it hits the thumbrest

That's why the one I am thinking of is only about half as tall as a "normal" thumbrest......

 

[rfclef]

I put a thumbrest between the humbuckers on both my Epi Viola and my cheapo "Anti-beatle"... I rest my thumb on the pups or the tumbrest, so the rest is about the same place as the pups so I can move it forward or back for different tones. I have huge hands so I can reach all the strings with my thumb on the rest, though I am more and more floating to other strings. But I do feel faster on the lower strings when I am on the thumb rest...