Bass Guitar: Fingers, Picks, or Thumbs?
Beginning bass players often need a little guidance when approaching the large fretted, wide necked, and heavy handed instrument that is the electric bass guitar. So you’ve got it, now, how do you play it, right? Well, first, the strap needs to be adjusted for comfort and placement on your chest; usually beginners enjoy the bass a little higher on the chest for easier ergonomics and find that sightlines are better with the bass at a closer adjustment when getting used to the size of the frets and length of the neck. Many professional players in jazz and funk styles find that a higher placement allows for a better field of motion when using advanced techniques as well as higher proficiency during passages requiring more intricate, dexterously fingered playing.
Now that the bass feels comfortable around the body, how should it be played? Short answer: anyway you please. Long answer: there are a myriad of options. Bass players switching from guitar may find that the pick will be an excellent choice. However, thinner picks often must be traded in for thicker ones when attacking the thick cords of roundwound steel that make up the thick strings of a bass guitar. Once the right pick is acquired, let the picking and strumming begin! Now, of course, the bright sound resulting from the attack of nylon on steel by the pick will not work for every situation, and that is exactly why your right (or left, southpaws) hand has fingers and a thumb! You can float your hand over all the strings as you play, but that can get tiresome after awhile. A great place to rest your thumb when playing finger style is on the edge of the pickguard or on the string nearest you that’s not being played. Some bass players even place a block above the lowest sounding string to rest their thumb on as well, while others have a block on the other side (away from the player) to rest fingers when thumbing (not to be confused with slapping) the bass strings in the thumb technique used by players such as Sting. Slapping is a technique pioneered by funk bassists of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, most notably Larry Graham and Louis Johnson. The thumb is used to strike the strings in a hatcheting, tomahawk sort or fashion, often paired with a plucking (away from the bass) of other strings with the forefingers. All styles of playing require the player to do much more muting of strings than in traditional guitar playing. This can be achieved either with the palm or the upper divisions of the forefingers after thumbing, fingering, picking, slapping, or plucking.
Bass guitars can be played in all of the above ways, and new innovative techniques are coming to the fore each year by new virtuosic players bringing low down playing to new heights. Picks, cables, and basses, are all available at preferred local music shops like Austin’s Strait Music Company that are excellently stocked for outfitting musicians of all types and abilities with the gear they need.
About the Author: Clint Strait is a third generation owner and assistant manager of the Strait Music, Austin Music Stores, providing the best selection of electric guitars and basses to Austin and the surrounding area for over forty years. For more information please visit www.straitmusic.com.
Now that the bass feels comfortable around the body, how should it be played? Short answer: anyway you please. Long answer: there are a myriad of options. Bass players switching from guitar may find that the pick will be an excellent choice. However, thinner picks often must be traded in for thicker ones when attacking the thick cords of roundwound steel that make up the thick strings of a bass guitar. Once the right pick is acquired, let the picking and strumming begin! Now, of course, the bright sound resulting from the attack of nylon on steel by the pick will not work for every situation, and that is exactly why your right (or left, southpaws) hand has fingers and a thumb! You can float your hand over all the strings as you play, but that can get tiresome after awhile. A great place to rest your thumb when playing finger style is on the edge of the pickguard or on the string nearest you that’s not being played. Some bass players even place a block above the lowest sounding string to rest their thumb on as well, while others have a block on the other side (away from the player) to rest fingers when thumbing (not to be confused with slapping) the bass strings in the thumb technique used by players such as Sting. Slapping is a technique pioneered by funk bassists of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, most notably Larry Graham and Louis Johnson. The thumb is used to strike the strings in a hatcheting, tomahawk sort or fashion, often paired with a plucking (away from the bass) of other strings with the forefingers. All styles of playing require the player to do much more muting of strings than in traditional guitar playing. This can be achieved either with the palm or the upper divisions of the forefingers after thumbing, fingering, picking, slapping, or plucking.
Bass guitars can be played in all of the above ways, and new innovative techniques are coming to the fore each year by new virtuosic players bringing low down playing to new heights. Picks, cables, and basses, are all available at preferred local music shops like Austin’s Strait Music Company that are excellently stocked for outfitting musicians of all types and abilities with the gear they need.
About the Author: Clint Strait is a third generation owner and assistant manager of the Strait Music, Austin Music Stores, providing the best selection of electric guitars and basses to Austin and the surrounding area for over forty years. For more information please visit www.straitmusic.com.
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