When a lot of us play down low, we play the vocabulary that’s typical of someone like Paul Chambers. Then we go up into thumb position, and we play all modern and sonorous. It’s very different. You don’t have to. You can play bebop up high. It might be a little unexpected, but it’s possible, it’s legal, and the jazz police haven’t come after me yet.
Quick answer
You can play Paul Chambers’s solo on Dexterity in thumb position with traditional bebop phrasing. It’s legal. The key is pivoting, using the other fingers to move the thumb somewhere other than where it started, because the only reason we can’t play chromatic language up there as well as we think we can is that we don’t know where the thumb can go.
To show you, I take Paul Chambers’s solo on Dexterity, the Charlie Parker tune, and play it in thumb position. Dexterity is my favorite bass solo of all time. It’s on Chambers’ Music, and it’s the solo I recommend my students transcribe to really get into Paul Chambers. I spent a full two months on it when I was at Juilliard.
What is pivoting in thumb position?
Chambers starts the solo with four chromatic eighth notes, and I start that phrase with my thumb on the beat. From there, the key idea is pivoting. Pivoting is using the other fingers to move the thumb somewhere other than where it started. If my fingers carry my thumb to a new spot, that’s a pivot. Those pivots are super important, and I use them to play solos like this one.
Pivoting is what opens up chromatic lines up high. Most of us think the thumb stays in one place, so the only “chromatic” language we learn to play up there isn’t really chromatic at all. It’s just scales. Once you learn how the other fingers can make the thumb pivot around, chromatic stuff is very easily playable. To be honest, it’s not that new. A lot of classical bass players use it already. It’s just new in an improvised context.
The only reason we can’t play chromatic language as well as we think we can is because we don’t know where the thumb can go.
Cole Davis
Fingerings for the tricky spots in Dexterity
A few spots in this solo are tricky. Here’s how I finger them:
- Spread the hand in the first phrase. You’d be tempted to play the B-flat with the third finger. I don’t, because then I have to get to the F-sharp, and the standard fingering is very clunky. I spread my hand out a little and use 0-1-2 on the G string, with 0 as the thumb. That way I can reach the F-sharp, and the third finger is already where I need it to be.
- Use the whole hand. You can use all four fingers at once in thumb position. We don’t often do that, but you can.
- Play fourths from the first finger. The fourths at the end of the first A section are a little awkward. Play the lowest note with the first finger, then angle your hand so you can reach the second note. That’s pretty standard fingering.
- Swap 2 and 3 freely. I use my second and third fingers interchangeably. In one spot, even though the F is directly ahead of the C I’ve played with my third finger, I use the second finger on the F because it makes more sense: 3 on the C, 2 on the F.
- Go thumb to first finger. From the G to the B-flat I use 0-1. It doesn’t all have to be 0-2-3, 0-2-3. In this position your thumb is in one spot and your first finger is all the way over, so thumb to 1 isn’t really a stretch.
All of this is about getting out of what I call playing in the box. I call it that because it quite literally is a box, and for a lot of players, that’s all we know up there. It’s the reason I wrote Understanding Thumb Position. If thumb position itself still feels new, start with my three thumb position tricks, which cover the setup and the two basic shapes.
Can you play bebop phrasing in thumb position?
Just because you’re playing up high doesn’t mean you have to use the modern, flat, ECM or Bill Evans Trio style articulation. I love that stuff, and I’m not making fun of it at all. But you can use traditional bebop phrasing in thumb position, and you don’t hear that a lot. If I played one of those phrases an octave lower, it would sound like straight-up traditional bebop. Play it up high and people just assume I’m Eddie Gomez. That’s not how this works. All of that vocabulary can be played in thumb position, as long as you shift the way you think a little. Here’s what to take from the lesson into your practice:
- Go slow without the track. At the end of the lesson I play the whole solo again, slower and without the track, so you can see what I’m doing. Start there.
- Watch for the pivots. Every time the thumb moves because the other fingers took it somewhere new, that’s a pivot.
- Compare a phrase an octave apart. Play one phrase down low, then in thumb position, and keep the same bebop articulation both times.
For more on where Chambers’s language comes from and the records to start with, see Paul Chambers bass lines.
What’s in the transcription
The full transcription is Paul Chambers’s Dexterity solo as a PDF, with a 13-minute video lesson where I play it in thumb position, walk through the pivots and fingerings above, and play it once more, slowly, without the track.
Take the first phrase up high this week, thumb on the beat, and see how far one pivot can carry you.
Go deeper
Paul Chambers: Dexterity in Thumb Position
Paul Chambers’s solo on Dexterity, played up in thumb position with straight bebop phrasing. Yes, it’s legal.
FAQ
What album is Paul Chambers’s Dexterity solo on?
Chambers’ Music, which is a really great album. Dexterity is my favorite bass solo of all time, and it’s what I recommend my students transcribe to really get into Paul Chambers. I spent a full two months on it when I was at Juilliard.
How do you play fourths in thumb position?
Play the lowest note with the first finger, then angle your hand so you can reach the second note. That’s pretty standard fingering. In Dexterity there’s an awkward spot with fourths at the end of the first A section, and that’s how I handle it.
How do you play chromatic lines in thumb position?
Learn how the other fingers can make the thumb pivot around. Most of us think the thumb stays in one place, so the chromatic language we learn up there isn’t really chromatic. It’s just scales. Once you can pivot, chromatic stuff is very easily playable. It’s not really new, either. A lot of classical bass players use it already. It’s just new in an improvised context.
Do you always use 0-2-3 fingerings in thumb position?
No. It doesn’t all have to be 0-2-3, 0-2-3. In Dexterity I use 0-1 from the G to the B-flat, I spread my hand to use 0-1-2 on the G string, and I use my second and third fingers interchangeably. You can even use all four fingers at once. We don’t often do that. Getting out of the box is how you play solos like this.
