What does thumb position mean in music?

Left hand & fingerboard

Thumb position

Thumb position is a cello and double bass technique in which the left thumb leaves the back of the neck and presses down on the string itself, acting as a movable nut.

High on the fingerboard the neck of a cello or bass gets in the way of the conventional hand shape, and the distances between notes shrink. Bringing the thumb onto the string solves both problems: it stops a note of its own, usually alongside the octave harmonic, and gives the hand a fixed anchor to measure from.

The thumb is laid across the string sideways, using the fleshy side rather than the tip, and it very often stops two strings at once to enable octaves and fifths. It is demanding, the thumb has no callus and no experience of stopping a string, and it is normally a third or fourth year technique.

Violinists and violists never need it: their fingerboards are short enough that the standard hand shape reaches the top of the range.

Position: A position is a fixed placement of the left hand on the fingerboard, numbered by which note the first finger falls on, so that a set of pitches is reachable without moving the hand.
Shifting: Shifting is moving the left hand to a new position on the fingerboard, and it is the technique that gives a string player access to the instrument's full range.
Harmonics: Harmonics are pure, flute-like tones produced by touching a string lightly at a node instead of pressing it to the fingerboard, notated with a small circle above the note.
Extension: An extension is a temporary widening of the left-hand frame, most commonly on cello, that reaches a note a half step outside the position without shifting the whole hand.

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All 106 terms

Related terms

Position

A position is a fixed placement of the left hand on the fingerboard, numbered by which note the first finger falls on, so that a set of pitches is reachable without moving the hand.

Shifting

Shifting is moving the left hand to a new position on the fingerboard, and it is the technique that gives a string player access to the instrument's full range.

Harmonics

Harmonics are pure, flute-like tones produced by touching a string lightly at a node instead of pressing it to the fingerboard, notated with a small circle above the note.

Extension

An extension is a temporary widening of the left-hand frame, most commonly on cello, that reaches a note a half step outside the position without shifting the whole hand.