This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he breaks down where to rest your right-hand thumb when fingerpicking a 4-string bass.
Contents
Thumb Position
I think of thumb position as falling into five basic patterns:
- Resting on the front pickup
- Resting on the rear pickup
- Resting at the base of the neck
- Resting on a string
- Not resting anywhere (floating)
I often get asked, “Is it better to rest my thumb on a string, or on the pickup?” Honestly, either works fine.
A Small Detail That Actually Matters
If you rest your thumb on the low E string, your index and middle fingers end up that much closer to the G string. Keep your thumb parked on the pickup the whole time, on the other hand, and the G string stays farther away.
That’s why I’ll often recommend resting the thumb on the low string to players with smaller hands. And if you’re on a 5- or 6-string bass, where the neck is wider, resting your thumb on a string might be the better call regardless.
Here’s how I’d weigh the pros and cons of each.
Resting Your Thumb on the Pickup: Pros
It gives you a stable anchor. Your thumb position stays fixed, which gives your picking hand a stable pivot point.
Resting Your Thumb on the Pickup: Cons
The G string is farther away.
Resting on the pickup puts a real gap between your thumb and the G string. If you have shorter fingers, that gap can be a struggle.
Resting Your Thumb on a String: Pros
The G string is close by.
Picking the G string becomes effortless this way — a good fit if you have shorter fingers.
Muting the low E string is easy. If you keep your thumb resting on the E string while you pick it, you get an easy, built-in ghost note. A lot of Motown-style and older R&B basslines use this kind of two-finger ghost note — different from the slap version — and resting your thumb on the string makes that sound much easier to produce.
Resting Your Thumb on a String: Cons
You have to lift your thumb off to play the low string normally.
If you want a normal picked tone out of the low E string, your thumb has to come off it. Depending on the situation, it might move up to the pickup or just float in the air — either way, your pivot point shifts.
Take a look at where the thumb moves:
From here —
— to here.
It’s a tiny distance, but getting that transition to feel smooth takes some getting used to.
Try a Few Approaches and Find What Works Best for You
As I said at the start — as long as you’re getting a good sound and playing well, your thumb position can really go anywhere. Plenty of players rest their thumb on a string, plenty of players don’t rest it anywhere at all. Listen to the music and bassists you love right now, and think about what’s working for your right hand too.
I Also Cover This in Video Form
I hope this gives you something useful to experiment with in your own playing — and figuring out exactly what’s holding your right hand back is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to diagnose alone.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.