There’s a bass guitar technique called Thumb and Palm Mute. Basically you gently rest the palm of your plucking hand against the strings and pluck the string with your thumb. This gives you a deep tone – great for reggae, walking style bass lines and keyboard bass lines (in conjunction with a pedal).
You’ll see I use a strip of foam at the bridge on my guitar to replicate this effect on a lot of my reggae and classic R&B lessons. For example here’s my lesson for Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley using a strip of foam. Or here’s my lesson on Mama’s Pearl by The Jackson 5.
Here’s my buddy Thomas (aka MarloweDK) using this technique on a Grace Jones tune called I’ve Seen That Face Before. The original bass player was probably Robbie Shakespeare.
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