vesterberg.se

I stumbled over this interesting video from You Tube where Todd Johnson explains the floating thumb technique when playing bass. This technique means that instead of anchoring your thumb on the pickup or on a particular string (B or E), your rest the side of your thumb on top of the lowest strings. As you play on higher strings you just move your thumb from B/E/A to E/A/D for example. This way you can mute several strings with your thumb and your hand has the same natural position whether you play on E-string or on G-string. Also the angle of the wrist is smaller and healthier than with the traditional way.

I had an interesting conversation with Byron Santo some time ago that inspired me to pursue this change of thumb position. The video mentioned above is an excerpt from Todd Jonsons DVD “Technique Builders”. In the video he demonstrates how to do it and the advantages of using it. The DVD might be worth buying.