The floating thumb and the 5 string.

[bubinga5]

I will probably always use a 5 string now. It just works for me. I can play in positions i cant with a 4, and sixers are either too heavy, and i dont use the high C. The low B is always there for the music i play and love. So the 5ver is the perfect solution for me. I use the B string as a thumb rest and a mute. Does anyone else use this technique when playing a 5 string.

Edited January 21, 2017 by bubinga5

[JapanAxe]

Just out of curiosity, where do you rest your thumb when playing the B string? Against the body, or on hardware e.g. pickup?

[Kev]

Absolutely, on all counts.

And to the above, I personally use the neck pickup

Edited January 21, 2017 by Kev

[skej21]

Sometimes. I switch between 4 techniques most often on my 5 string. Palm muting, Matt Garrison's 4 finger technique, anchoring my thumb on the pickup as describe above and also using a floating thumb technique. It just depends on what I'm playing and which one suits best!

[Japhet]

Yep! I use my thumb to play a fair bit on the bottom string as well whether a 4 or 5 string. I also rest my thumb on the pickup if using 2 fingers on the bottom string. Can't get used to having no anchor point and too old to change what isn't broken.

[chris_b]

I anchor on the pickup, B string and E string.

Mute with the both the right and left hand fingers.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1485011622' post='3220391']
I will probably always use a 5 string now. It just works for me. I can play in positions i cant with a 4, and sixers are either too heavy, and i dont use the high C. The low B is always there for the music i play and love. So the 5ver is the perfect solution for me. I use the B string as a thumb rest and a mute. Does anyone else use this technique when playing a 5 string.
[/quote]

Yup. Apart from playing off the low B itself. If I pick on the B with my thumb rather than fingers it saves looking for a resting place and leaves me free to pluck wherever the heck I like between the bridge and neck. On my guitar thumb plucking helps get the best from the B. I sometimes rest my thumb on one or other of the pick ups too. 'pends. Muting is more of an unconscious thing for me these days. All I can tell you is that both hands share the muting and damping.

[ambient]

One of the important thing with either a 5 or a 6 is effective muting.

I advocate whatever technique works for you, as long as you're muting unused strings and avoiding extraneous noise and notes.

I will rest my thumb on the B when playing notes on the E and A strings, moving down the strings as I play notes on the higher strings.

[GreeneKing]

My thumb rests on the string above the one I'm playing unless it's the B and then it rests on the bass/pickups. I mute with my thump and left hand.

[bubinga5]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1485011894' post='3220393']
Just out of curiosity, where do you rest your thumb when playing the B string? Against the body, or on hardware e.g. pickup?
[/quote]On the back pickup. It seems I like the tone there for a tighter B string. But I will put my thumb on the a string and rest my upper hand on the E and B string as well as left hand muting.

[SpondonBassed]

Funny, I never managed to mute the B or E with the thumb of my neck hand. It's something that my hand refuses to do.

I sometimes wish I had one of those bent back thumbs that you see sometimes. You know, where the end bone of the picking hand thumb is almost bent back at right angles to the rest of the thumb. It must make slapping easy. With mine, I have trouble picking out the E and A strings without striking the adjacent ones.

[uk_lefty]

For my fretless five I rest my thumb on the protruding edge of the fretboard around the twenty-something fret. If I'm not going for mwah tones I'll rest on the back pickup, something I've always done since having a two pickup bass and seeing Fleas instruction video for the tight focussed sound. Both these I use for the low B and sometimes E and A, then it's resting on a string

[Pinball]

Hmm interesting.
I use a pick some of the time and palm mute and tend to palm mute the low B .
When playing finger style I use the low B as an anchor point for and and then play it with my thumb so I must use my fingers on the other strings as a rest. I think I palm mute when doing that although have never analysed it before.

I used to simply play 5's like a 4 string and then bring in the low B when I needed it but as my playing has progressed I'm using the B more and more in a percussive way.

As I'm self taught player playing his own music I guess my technique is a mess but hey it works for me I never thought about it before.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Pinball

[stingrayPete1977]

I don't think I do anything different than I would on a four string bass, I probably get most of my muting done with the left hand, the first gig 10 years ago with a hifi sounding amp/cab soon had me muting better!