Beginner Bassist Looking for Advice on Right-Hand Technique

[AhlyxMU]

Hey everyone!

 

I bought my first bass guitar a little over a month ago and have been practicing pretty regularly during my spare time. Although I feel like various aspects of my playing have improved these past few weeks, my right-hand technique still feels off. I should note that I’m currently trying to learn the floating thumb technique since it’s what feels the most natural and comfortable for me. With that said, I have some questions regarding my forearm position and how bent my wrist should be when using this specific technique.

 

I’ve found that the most comfortable position for me when holding my bass is when I’m resting my forearm on the body. This also allows me to create the counter-pressure needed to fret notes without using the thumb on my left hand. However, when looking into whether or not I should rest my forearm on the bass body on different forums and sites, most advise that I shouldn’t. If that’s the case, are there any ways that I can avoid resting my forearm when playing? Does it even matter?

 

Regarding the wrist, I’ve found that it tends to bend significantly when playing on the higher strings. I know that the whole point of the floating thumb technique is to keep your wrist straight to reduce strain, but I find this pretty uncomfortable, especially when trying to cross strings since my forearm is constantly shifting/sliding up and down the body. Are there any ways to address this issue? Should I think about changing up my right-hand technique entirely?

Edited May 30 by AhlyxMU

[Reggaebass]

Welcome Ahlyx 

[Paolo85]

I am not an expert but to me your wrist looks fairly straight. The problem though is that in order to achieve that you keep the bass very much on your side. Not sure there is anything wrong with that per se but a big problem I'd see is that if you play standing with a strap the difference in terms of where the bass stands relative to you is must be huge.

As for not resting the arm.. well, if I do not follow "the rules" and bend my wrist and rest the arm, I get pain. The way to avoid it is to lift the arm a bit. Hard work at first, but apparently not as damaging. If you do not have room to lift the arm as your shoulder gets all weird, then maybe that's another downside of keeping the bass on the side. Maybe try to have it pointing more toward your left

[itu]

I see problems coming...

 

When your arm rests against the bass' body, your hand's circulation will be affected. Later on you will find lots of lactic acid from your finger muscles, but you start to talk about CTS, which it actually isn't. A muscle hammer may help, then (and how do I know this?).

 

Playing is just like sports: repeated exercises, warming ups, lots of training. Use a mirror/video to check your position. Do trials with different strap lengths, with different strings. Find the right ones for yourself. (When the sweat of your fingers feels odd, check your menu.)

 

Do you have a teacher? Try few until you find one you feel comfortable with, and you can get exercises you need. Scales may sound boring, but they are good for warming up. Two beat, four beat, walking bass, after some time you can mimic many styles.

 

I would buy these two books right away:

https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Line-Encyclopedia-National-Workshop/dp/0739069853

https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Shadows-Motown-Legendary-Jamerson/dp/0881888826

[Kitsto]

Sorry, what I'm about to say is SO basic, but:

1) whether you play sitting down or standing up makes a huge difference to everything else - the comment above about looking at every aspect (e.g. strap length) is spot on

2) whether you use pic or fingers

3) if fingers, whether you alternate index and middle or (like Jack Bruce and Ged Lee) just the index

 

The best advice I got from a teacher was actually about my left hand. It didn't look right to me. He said, "That's because you play guitar, right? And you're fretting as you would on a guitar. Wrong - play it like a double bass or cello - use two or three fingers, not one." That made a huge difference to me - I started to adopt a much sloppier way of fretting and kept my whole hand much closer to the strings, always hooking my thumb over the top of the neck - all the opposite of what I'd done on guitar (which by now I'd abandoned). Nick Beggs has a fascinating way of fretting, essentially placing his fingers flat across the strings (not when he's playing stick).

 

My RH I deploy as I did when I was taught classical guitar - floating thumb, alternating fingers - except when I don't. This may sound counter-intuitive, but I position my RH for playing with a pic and try to maintain that wrist and arm position when using fingers.

 

There are no rules. Do what works for you.

[chris_b]

Try moveable anchor for your thumb. You should be able to do both.

[bassalbert]

if you rest your forearm on the body, most likely you have your wrist in a 90º angle or near, which compress all your tendons which can cause tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndromme in the long term or in short term sometimes.

so best advice, start with a good teacher