Feb 10 2009
The Floating Thumb Technique
When I first got my Fender Musicmaster bass, there was a little plastic thumb rest that was over the strings, right above the pickup. The idea was that you could rest your thumb there and then your fingers would be in the “correct” position for playing. The thing is, there are lots of different correct positions depending on what kind of sound you’re looking for. You get a different sound playing closer to the neck, or right over the pickup, or closer to the bridge. I eventually removed that thumb rest to gain versatility and my thumb usually rests on the edge of the pick guard, my forearm rests on the body, and as I move from string to string it’s my wrist that does most of the motion.
But there’s another technique which I might give a try. It’s called the floating thumb technique. The thumb and forearm do not rest on anything, and all the motion between strings is coming from your shoulder. Sounds strange, huh? I know. It sounds a little bit strange to me, too. But below is a more detailed explanation and demonstration by Todd Johnson. He says that it’s a bit difficult to adjust to at first, but once you get the hang of it it’s better for your wrist and supposedly easier to train your hand to play whatever you need to play. It’s also better for playing basses with more than 4 strings.
