Floating thumb

#5
I had the same realization a while back. The funny thing is, I tried to consciously apply it a couple of times, but abandoned it pretty quickly because it just didn’t feel right. But when I’m not thinking about it, it just happens. Especially when playing my 5-string. Muting is not something I’ve ever given much thought, it just comes naturally.
 
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#6
Gaolee said:
Same here. Beats me when it happened. I didn't even know I was doing it for who knows how long.
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I hadn't considered it until it cropped here a few years ago. My initial reaction was "What is the fuss about? Isn't it a comnon thing? I've been playing that way for years." But like you I couldn't recall making a conscious decision. Then I found a picture from 1990 which clearly showed me 'floating'! Funny how the small changes through natural development and progress often go unnoticed. 😀
 
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#7
I can tell you that it never crossed my mind and never happened. I learned floating thumb because my natural muting technique found its limits on certain tunes on a six string. I forced myself to learn floating thumb for those tunes and it felt ... wrong. I never used it unless I had to.

Fast forward to now. Playing some tune on my four string I look down to discover my thumb is floating of his own accord, with no input from the conscious mind.
 
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#9
Floating thumb.

For me, I rest my thumb on the E string but when I note on the E, I float off of it. I do this automatically and don't think about it.

I used to anchor my thumb on top of the P pickup and J neck pickup but then I bought a single coil P Bass ('51 to '56) and I couldn't rest my thumb on top of that kind of pickup. At first, I had to force myself to float my thumb but it's all natural now.

So, may I ask, what is your floating thumb method?

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#11
I do half of my muting with my left hand on the neck and the other half with my right hand.

Floating thumb is pretty much a must for me.

But I’m really not a reincarnation of Jaco Pastorious though so works great for me.
 
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#15
Sometimes technique evolves without any conscious thought. When I first started playing 5's, I realized that damping (one more string to attend to) was an issue. A few weeks, later, it somehow wasn't - somehow my brain and fingers figured out how to do it without conscious effort being put into it.
 
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#17
bassdude51 said:
Floating thumb.

For me, I rest my thumb on the E string but when I note on the E, I float off of it. I do this automatically and don't think about it.

I used to anchor my thumb on top of the P pickup and J neck pickup but then I bought a single coil P Bass ('51 to '56) and I couldn't rest my thumb on top of that kind of pickup. At first, I had to force myself to float my thumb but it's all natural now.

So, may I ask, what is your floating thumb method?

View attachment 7073094
Click to expand...

As I understand it. it means if you are playing the D, your thumb will be resting on the A, when you play the A, it rests on the E. And it goes 'wherever' when you play the E. In my playing it never goes to sit on the D string currently, based on observation. But there might be a bit of quantum mechanical thumb involved if I am trying to observe when playing naturally as I might not be playing naturally. But I am not going to set up a video camera to watch video of my hand after playing!
 
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