Prevailing wisdom on muting E and A string

[Nicko]

I think I use my thumb as described without thinking about it. However since I switch between fingers and pick I also mute strings with my left hand as one would with a six string guitar.

[radiophonic]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1507202860' post='3383861']
This is one of the ways I mute on my 7 string. I'm also muting with my left hand fingers that aren't being used to fret notes.
[/quote]

Ditto. But on a 4 string. I didn't even realise I was doing it until recently. It's just automatic. Sometimes LH, sometimes RH Sometimes I float, sometimes I don't. I've never had a bass lesson in my life though, so I'm probably doing everything wrong.

[chris_b]

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1507277100' post='3384386']
I've never had a bass lesson in my life though, so I'm probably doing everything wrong.[/quote]

If it works then it isn't wrong.

[Dood]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1507225860' post='3384092']
Quick tip: If you rest your thumb on a pickup or a string, don't let it support the weight of your arm/hand. It should be touching, resting and firm enough for your finger to pull back towards only. Though the tendency is to then rest your forearm over the top of the body and dangle a hand down on to the strings. Don't do that either
[/quote]

[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Quick tip: If you rest your thumb on a pickup or a string, don't let it support the weight of your arm/hand. It should be touching, resting and firm enough for your finger to pull back towards only.[/size][/font][/color][/quote]

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1507274618' post='3384355']
Interesting..why do you say that?
[/quote]

I've re-quoted my whole post as I think this will help to highlight the point. Really, it's all about promoting good hand health and posture. I've had people, bassists, come to me who complain that they have aches in their thumb, hand and sometimes lower arm and shoulder too from playing long gigs. Often, there's a reason why that can be helped. I'm not a physiotherapist but my experience (sometimes learning the hard way) I hope can help to undo some bad habits. It's not always about hand position, sometimes it can be down to being too heavy handed on the instrument or the bass weighs a tonne and suffers from terrible neck dive for example.

This is easier demonstrated than described, but here goes: Thumb first. If you bear down on your thumb joint with your arm, then it's taking the load. That joint isn't supposed to be compressed. Add to that the constant pulling motion on the strings with your fingers, it's going to eventually cause discomfort. Instead of that, your hand should be more 'dangling' but your thumb is there to steady your hand not be an anchor for your arm. Ok, I've got an analogy. Think of it as resting your thumb on an egg.

Forearm. There is a tendency for bassists to rest their forearm on the top of the body and dangle the hand over towards the strings. Also not a wise idea because the wrist is bent over at an angle (sometimes as bad as nearly 90 degrees) to the forearm. This is a recipe for carpal tunnel and other complaints. Keeping the arm and wrist straight is the way to go. Or at least as straight as possible.

[ivansc]

Hadnt really thought about it but I have pretty much always muted mostly with my left hand and sort of allowed the notes to escape as needed.

But I am a lefty playing right handed, which may account for it.
Works great fro me though.

[SisterAbdullahX]

I naturally gravitated to muting with my little and third fingers and keeping my thumb on the E string when playing the D and G strings, it kind of happens without me having to think about it. I must admit I find it hampers me when playing fast alternate fingers on the D and G so have started trying to move my thumb to the A string. I'm having to work at it as it doesn't come naturally to me, I'm conscious of thinking "move thumb now" every time I go to or from higher strings, but can play faster runs easier.

[Mastodon2]

I do this, thumb on the B when I'm playing the E, on the E when I'm playing the A and on the A when playing the D or G. I've never found it difficult but I learned my right hand technique playing acoustic 6 string guitars. If you want to play fast or intricate fingerstyle patterns on an acoustic you need to have your muting down because it gets really noisy otherwise and this was handy to transfer over to bass.

Janek Gwizdala has pretty much the same right hand technique as me - not that I'm claiming to have even 10% of his ability, but iirc he used to play classical guitar before bass, so probably had a similar route to me.

[Oopsdabassist]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1507286765' post='3384496'] I've re-quoted my whole post as I think this will help to highlight the point. Really, it's all about promoting good hand health and posture. I've had people, bassists, come to me who complain that they have aches in their thumb, hand and sometimes lower arm and shoulder too from playing long gigs. Often, there's a reason why that can be helped. I'm not a physiotherapist but my experience (sometimes learning the hard way) I hope can help to undo some bad habits. It's not always about hand position, sometimes it can be down to being too heavy handed on the instrument or the bass weighs a tonne and suffers from terrible neck dive for example. This is easier demonstrated than described, but here goes: Thumb first. If you bear down on your thumb joint with your arm, then it's taking the load. That joint isn't supposed to be compressed. Add to that the constant pulling motion on the strings with your fingers, it's going to eventually cause discomfort. Instead of that, your hand should be more 'dangling' but your thumb is there to steady your hand not be an anchor for your arm. Ok, I've got an analogy. Think of it as resting your thumb on an egg. Forearm. There is a tendency for bassists to rest their forearm on the top of the body and dangle the hand over towards the strings. Also not a wise idea because the wrist is bent over at an angle (sometimes as bad as nearly 90 degrees) to the forearm. This is a recipe for carpal tunnel and other complaints. Keeping the arm and wrist straight is the way to go. Or at least as straight as possible. [/quote]

Ah I see now, I was interested as my thumb is usually anchored on the pickup regardless of what string I am playing, which means my wrist angle changes depending on what string I am playing, so I was wondereing if I can expect pain problems at some point in the future!

Thanks for the explanation Dan.

[Dood]

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1507711129' post='3387338']
Ah I see now, I was interested as my thumb is usually anchored on the pickup regardless of what string I am playing, which means my wrist angle changes depending on what string I am playing, so I was wondereing if I can expect pain problems at some point in the future!

Thanks for the explanation Dan.
[/quote]

I hope it helps!

That's interesting point re: anchoring the thumb on the pickup regardless of string - there are plenty of players that do. One of my drivers for dropping the thumb down on to the adjacent string for me is that I have more control over playing fast with three fingers when my thumb is closer to them. As an analogy , try typing with your thumbs spread a long distance from your fingers and it feels weird. Also, again, for me, resting my thumb on an adjacent string has the secondary effect of muting the string it is resting on, which is always handy should you be playing at full volume using way too much distortion It helps to keep things clean and not have strings resonating out by themselves. As it happens when I am resting on the A string, more often than not my thumb leans up against the E string too, (But I do have long fingers!) so I have the added benefit of muting both the E and A strings when I am playing the D. This leaves me extra right and left hand muting available for the part being executed.

To reiterate for others reading, my original point was about not placing the weight of the arm on the thumb joint and to not bend the wrist over too much.