See how he arches his wrist over the edge of the body?
-Vurbal
That's actually (supposedly) the more "correct" way to to do it. You see a lot of jazzers play that way. Largely (i suspect) because that "perched and peeking" over the bout was Jaco
Recommend some music videos to me! Recommend some music videos to me!and Stanley Clark's thing back in the day. Lots of bassists who wanted to play like those two felt that hand position was the key to their unique sound. It wasn't. However, some flat out genius (in Jaco's case) - or in Stanley's case, a hell of a lot of study and practice combined with one of those gorgeous Alembic Series-I basses with active electronics -
might have had something to do with it.
Here's Stanley back in his Weather Report days with the scariest
tarantula-like hand position imaginable (makes me think of the scene where Shelob was about to pounce on Frodo):
Recommend some music videos to me!definitely creepy...although in later years he toned it down a lot. But he
still kept that
bend:
Recommend some music videos to me!FWIW, that's a hand position I always found uncomfortable. I generally try to keep my wrist in a fairly straight line with my forearm. Far less worries about cramping or carpal tunnel when you do it that way.
On a string bass you need to arch your hand (and Stanley started on upright) because the strings are arced. On an electric with a fretboard radius between 7.25" and 9.5" you really shouldn't need to bend your wrist much if at all.
Either way, the "best practice" being taught by most bass instructors these last few years is to wear your electric bass up high and drape your hand over the bout. Can't say (having seriously tried it) that it brings much (if anything) to the party. But that's me. And don't even get me started on those effin' "bass ramps" that are all the rage.
And...I better stop here. I could (already did?) go on and on about this stuff. Apologies to all for rambling.