Fender Thumb rest

Can someone explain the thumb rest on fender basses to me.... what do i mean... ok
The thumb rest is towards the neck underneath the strings,, how do you use it? Thank you, I'm not idiot, I'm special!


DaNinja

I think it's because originally it was intended to let the player rest his fingers on it while they played with their thumb

yeah i think the idea is that when your palm muting to make your bass sound like a upright you hook your fingers underneath
im not 100% on that tho

EDIT

The use of the thumb was acknowledged by early Fender models, which came with a "thumbrest" or "Tug Bar" attached to the pickguard below the strings. Contrary to its name, this was not used to rest the thumb, but to provide leverage while using the thumb to pluck the strings.

from a wiki article

[opinion] It's freaking pointless [/opinion]

[fact] its is tottaly pointless [fact/]

it always made me wtf, I had images of people resting there palm there when slapping. ;s

What a waste of material.

Later, the 'thumb rest' was moved to above the strings. My '75 P-bass has the thumb rest over the strings so not sure what year it was moved, then finally re-moved.

radio

Howdy, below the strings "hooked" with fingers to play with the thumb, above the strings, thumb rest to play with the fingers, You can find out the most mundane facts on the internet if you look hard enough. I need to get out more!