Where do you put your thumb?

[son_of_magni]

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've been around.  But I've been playing my Alembic lots.
 
The question is where do you put your thumb?  Over the years I've had basses that had good places to put my thumb (my Fender P was probably the best) and others that didn't.  I have an acoustic with no good place except the end of the fingerboard.
 
I like to be able to move my thumb around to get different sounds.  On my MK I don't find myself doing that much because there's really only one good place to put it, the pickup toward the fingerboard.
 
It might be nice to have a wooden bar mounted on the bass parallel to the strings, maybe 5 inches long, running between the fingerboard and the bridge pickup so you could move around more.
 
On a side note, there was something Jaco said that I thought was really funny, when asked about plucking the strings in different places.  The interviewer was trying to get Jaco to talk about all the different sounds he could get from the Fender by moving up and down the string.  All Jaco said was that he plucked closer to the bridge when he wanted to play fast...

[rogertvr]

Hmmmmmm - interesting question this one.  Whenever I've played a Fender P I've never found anywhere comfortable to put my thumb.  Jazz basses are a different story but before The Dragon's Wing, I pretty much played my 4001 all the time.  I've carried over my thumb position from that - so it's over the neck pick-up for me. I am happy to play in other positions but that's my favourite.
 
Rog

[bracheen]

I generally use the neck pick up with occasionally using the bridge pick up.  That's when playing the E string.  As I move up the strings my thumb follows.  For example when playing the A string my thumb is on the E.  When playing the D, on the A, etc.
 
Sam

[son_of_magni]

Rog - my '76 P bass has a thumb rest between the fingerboard and the neck (original) pickup.  Can't remember if I added it or it was original.  I use it or the neck pickup which does have a pretty sharp corner though, always hurts my thumb.  Right now is the first time I ever thought of using a file to round off the corner, but I've only had it for 28 years...
 
Sam - That's what Jaco said was the best method.  Helps lots with damping strings too.  Only wish I'd been told to do that 30 years ago.  Hard to change old habits.
SoM

[palembic]

I'm following the Sam way but there are moments I play with  ...oh ....huh ...a floating thumb?? I mean: not rested. Normally I play between neck and bridge PU but alway more to the bruidge in my standard playing. When I step in those slow  Stormy monday blues classica I move more to the neck.  After my tone is made for the environment we play (S2 + SF-2) the change of plucking area is the only tonal variation I do.
 
Paul the bad one

[dadabass2001]

I vary from over the neck (around 20th fret) for big round tone, to just in front of the bridge pickup. I sometimes pluck arpeggiated chords with thumb, 2, 3.  
 
Mike
 
(Message edited by dadabass2001 on April 25, 2004)

[jet_powers]

Not that this helps much.... but when I thought about it I realized I use all the methods described here, though I most often tend to float like Paul describes. When using my Rogue 5 I tend to rest my thumb on the B string to damp it.
 
JP

[mint_bass]

i like to be over the neck pickup normally but strum chords and play finerpicking with thumb and other 3 fingers just infront of the neck and to play arpeggiated chords towards the bridge pick up i move around a lot but i mostly stay ontop of the neck pickup i think that the alembic pick up design really helps to make the pick up aperfect  a thumb rest

[lowlife]

I too rest my thumb on the pickups (neck & bridge), but my fear is that I'm pressing way too hard with my thumb and eventually the pickup cover will be damaged. For me, it would be nice to be able to purchase a small block of the same brass that is used on the tail piece; smoothed & rounded and finished the same; with one hold bored.  I'd just screw it right into place and not worry about my pickups anymore.  Some might say that this is not the way that the bass was made, but for me, I bought my Alembics to play, and I have to comfortable.  
 
Ellery (Lowlife)  
 
 
(Message edited by lowlife on April 26, 2004)

[bracheen]

My pickups seem pretty secure.  Another thing I like about my Alembic is that the hole routed for the pickup is slightly larger than the top of the pickup.  I can rest my thumb there without rubbing the finish on the body.  My other bass is flush and susceptible to wearing into the finish.
 
Sam

[alembic76407]

On the top of the Pick,  
sorry that was to easy,
I'm starting to sound like Brother Paul
 
David T(TLO)

[palembic]

haaaaaaaaaaa-ha-ha ...
a good one!

[adriaan]

Me being a Dutchman, it will have to be in the dyke. (This is silly. We can't have that! Oops, sorry, Monty Python reference on the loose in the wrong thread. #13, the larch. Nudge nudge, wink wink.)
 
But anyroads, the thumb goes onto the end of the fingerboard on the fretless, the same on the fretted but there it will often move to the neck pickup.

[811952]

My thumb goes wherever it's needed.  It doesn't have a specific resting place.  Usually the fingers muting other strings keep my hand in position, so I have no need for a thumb rest or specific pickup placement because one or more of the strings perform that function unless I'm flailing, in which case I'm flailing...
John

[jazzyvee]

I'm with you on that one John, i never really think too much about where it is. It ends up wherever it's needed.  I did actually try to notice where it was at reahearsal yesterday and sometimes it is in front of the strings resting against the E or A string to stop ringing or underneath the strings damping from the underside. No idea how that developed  LOL
When I'm getting a big deep sound playing over the fingerboard my thumb does rest on the top edge of the neck.
 
It's interesting to just notice where you move your hands to make subtle changes in tone without thinking about it.