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Double Thumbing With Alex Lofoco: Lesson 2
Meet Alex Lofoco –
A warm welcome to all the readers of Bass Musician Magazine. In this second lesson on ‘Double Thumbing’ we will see some more simple licks to practice with.
In our first appointment we have seen the basics of the technique and the hand positioning, practicing on two simple patterns. The movements involved were three: Down (T?) – Up (T?) – Pluck (P). In pattern no. 2 (see Lesson 1) we introduced the Hammer as a device to play our notes with the only use of our left hand (or the other way around if you are a left handed player).
Using the same three motions I introduce now some new patterns based again on triplets.
1. In the first example (no.3) we will work with triplets on one string, using some combinations of Down, Up, Pluck and Hammer. As soon as you get more confident with the motions involved you can expand the pattern over other strings and playing other notes.
In this sample the note is an E at the seventh fret on the A string.
1) The first group is a Down-Up-Pluck combination.
To get a quite fluid motion is recommended to keep the tip of your plucking finger in line with your thumb, which I naturally place parallel to the strings (see image on lesson 1). Once you hit the string with the Down, your finger is ready to pluck even before you come up with the thumb (Up).
2) In the second group we use the Hammer to play the first quaver of our triplet, followed by a Thumb-Pluck sequence, in order to play the remaining two eight notes.
Here again the key is to keep thumb and finger as close as possible in order to save time and avoid an extra movement placing your finger underneath the string you are about to pluck. An extra care to the Hammer, which has to be clear and strong enough to produce a full note on beat, giving the accent of our triplet. Therefore the triplet effect depends by the strength of the hammered note.
3) In the third group we have a Down and Up stroke with a Hammer in between. The coordination is needed to have a fluent triplet using an open string and then hammering a note which will be subsequently plucked by a coming back thumb motion.
In this last combination, our first quaver is an open A. It can be played both as a full or ghost note according to the dynamic we want to have. Bear in mind that the accent is on the One in order to respect the triplet. (you may also put the accent on the second or third quaver, but do not get confused when playing). The main concept of this combination is the same of the line no.2 (see Lesson 1). We have just replaced the ‘pluck’ with a ‘thumb up’.
2. In this line no.4 we introduce the second finger (m) to pluck, and the Strum as new elements to hit the strings.
1-2 In the first two groups the Hammer plays the first quaver -in this example an E, seventh fret on the A string- and two ghost notes on the open G string. Using the last two quavers as ghosts we can build a scale or arpegio changing the hammered note resulting in a flashy chop lick when played at fast tempo.
To have a tight triplet I advice to keep the fingers next to each other and articulate the two plucks with one movement when pulling. In this case the double-pluck is not produced by the rotation of your wirst but by the articulation of the fingers. To have a more compressed triplet you can treat the double pull as a flam. You can practice with it separately, on one or two string, and put the hammered note afterwards.
3-4 In these last two groups of triplets we use the Hammer to play our notes, and two movements of the right hand: down to Strum, and up when plucking. Stumming is a quite common way of playing for guitarist, for instance. Index and middle fingers are involved in order to hit the string(s), and to have the possibility to pluck once or twice on the way up if needed. I noted the D and G strings only to be strummed, in order to have a high pich sound, almost as a snare drum that stands out in contrast with the low sounds generated by a bass drum, or in our case the bass line. You can strum any note on any string. The Strum is an useful device to enlarge our tonal range.
Once our picking hand has strummed down, it will be easy to come back and pluck (P) with an up motion.
Strumming is not a quite common device for bass players, and it is quite hard to find it in ‘traditional’ bass lines. Stanley Clarke was a pioneer of this technique, introducing strummed double stops in his slappy bass lines (‘School Days’ by Stanley could be a good example). Having the chance to hit one or more notes in this way, full notes or ghost, we can produce a percussive effect which adds groove in our bass line. Keep an eye on muting the strings you do not want to ring, in order to avoid undesired resonances.
For any questions, suggestion or comments you can contact me at lesson@alexlofoco.com. I will be happy to answer your questions as soon as possible.
Enjoy and good practice, and I look forward to see you in the next issue.
Stay tuned
Alex
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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