Watching a video and the bass player has a thumbpick on and it looked kind of cool. Had the finger rest below the strings and was holding on to it there and doing all his picking with the thumb with a tumbpick ring on. Looked like an interesting way to play, but maybe confusing for those like me who only know finger picking.’
Just curious if this is a good technique to learn, is it harder and more problematic, or is it just another way of making a cool bass sound out of our trusty bass fiddles?
Can you share the video?
I can try and find it but don’t remember which one it was. A night I just flip around videos on YouTube to see what’s interesting.
If you think it’s cool, go for it.
This is not a necessary technique to learn.
It’s only bad if it gives you a repetitive stress injury or causes pain.
If you’re into it, go for it.
Check out Unleash the Archers Awakening and you can get a good view of this technique - without the thumb pick
That’s interesting. I can see he’s still using index and middle fingers but plucking the E with his thumb. So many different ways to play. Guess I eventually should become proficient in all of them.
OK, here’s the video I saw. You can see the white tumbpick.
Using the thumb is an integral part of fingerpicking a guitar. It is not integral to finger plucking a bass.
Essentially, the bass player is using his thumbpick as flat pick. It is useful in limited situations, but finger plucking is a much faster, more versatile and more efficient way to play.
If you’re going to concentrate on finger plucking, follow Josh’s lead and strive to master it. Beyond that, using a flat pick or even slapping, if you like, will give you more versatile options than using your thumb, thumbpick or not.
I would guess the bassist started playing guitar, and then the band needed a bassist and he switched
I would agree. Every guitar player I’ve known (including myself, before B2B) has used a pick of some sort to play bass.
To paraphrase the old hammer/nail saying: To a man with a flat pick, every stringed instrument looks like a guitar. 
You have the bass player picking and the guitar player plucking so it all evens out in the end. Great guitar playing!
Roy is hybrid picking: primarily flat picking with fingerstyle thrown in for flourish as the need strikes him. A lot of guitar players use this technique.
Next time you are flipping around youtube search ‘reggae bass thumb technique’ or similar…it is an old studio technique to get a ‘meatier’ sound for reggae bass lines
It is with a flat thumb (not a thumbpick)…I learned it from an Andrew Ford course on true fire it is fun and sounds great with tapewounds (or flatwounds) and a bass EQed for reggae 
Just don’t do what I did and practice too much on the first day you try it or you will not be playing on the second (bruised sore thumb) 
Misa is a very good bassist and uses a hybrid picking/slap technique. If you’re interested
https://www.reddit.com/r/BandMaid/comments/ny260k/misas_interview_partial_and_hybrid_picking_demo/
@DixonGunn check out this thread from the beginning. Maybe it’ll inspire some of what your working on with thumb picking.
Here is someone playing the e string with their thumb. it starts at 2:13
I have thought about trying banjo pick (Scruggs style) on the bass.
Have a look at Sir Paul playing Ticket to Ride also.
The guys are just lip-syncing and miming singing over a playback track. I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in what they’re doing in this video.
You could just about play Ticket to Ride in your sleep anyway
Thanks Eric.
I’ve tried the thumb pick and like the clear & sharp tone, but I am going to learn finger style and then experiment with my thumb pick. This lap playing is going to be hard enough already!
Thanks for the info.