I read that Jaco used to practice with a P neck on his Jazz for better technique and use a Jazz neck for performance. Is this true that this will help improve your technique? If so, why? Is it because of the different string spacing, neck size, fret size etc?

Well, after playing my P, it's much easier to play my J after. It is good practice.

Well, after playing my P, it's much easier to play my J after. It is good practice.

Any speculation as to why?

Ps tend to have pretty thick necks which are also wider at the nut, while the common J neck is the exact opposite. For most people, thin necks feel "faster" and easier to play than thick necks.

yer pretty much thats why starter basses tend to have larger necks.Larger necks tend to make you work more

Well....i have played nothing but a Fender V for the last year. I also played a Carvin 5 and just got rid of it to go back to a 4 stringer and ...yep big change . I feel so much faster playing runs are a breeze and i just seem to glide along everywhere and at my gig last Friday the 4 made playing easy vs the 5. I will use the 5 and practice with it to keep the feel i get when switching to the 4.

Well I defintely just confirmed this. We haven't had band practice in almost a week and the whole time I've been practicing on my no-finish Squire P-Bass and when I got to practice today, it was like the fretboard wasn't even there. Was a real pleasure to play and I was hitting the notes a looot easier.

Do you think the fact I have the action set a lot higher on the squier also attributed to my ease of playing my jazz?

I actually find no real difference in difficulty between my precision, jazz, and conklin. Yeah, the neck is thicker, but it's just different for me, not any harder.

I actually find no real difference in difficulty between my precision, jazz, and conklin. Yeah, the neck is thicker, but it's just different for me, not any harder.

even to play the same song? with practice?

I am still just a beginner so I'm looking for any edge that is going to help me out. I equate this to running with weights on and then running in the meet without them. Sure you know how to run but the feel whether mental or not is quite the difference.

I don't know whether Jaco actually did this or not, anyone got a reliable source for this?

this thread should probably be in technique

I am still just a beginner so I'm looking for any edge that is going to help me out.

i'm sure it's helpful to give your hands a bit of a stretch and workout but it seems like a virtually insignificant thing to consider...

no tennis ball squeezing, no grip-developing gadgets, no P bass necks in place of Jazz necks are really needed... just normal hard work in your practice will get you all the technique and strength you need

Know what gets my wrist burning? An upbeat blues song. Doesn't have to be anything crazy, something like T-Bone shuffle by Buddy Guy. Deceptively simple, but play it for 5 minutes at speed and my forearms are bur-ning!

Oh yeah I definitly can get a workout. Just seems much easier trying to grip a jazz neck after using a P-bass neck for a while. Yeah I agree this should go in Technique, I think that's where I originally intended to go but must've got lost.

I built a bass with a neck thats thicker than a P neck,

its really hard to play at first, but I get used to it.

and when I go back to my jazz, I can play it way faster.

I have to add my two cents, which is that I think it's best to practice with the bass you'll be using the most. A thinner neck may feel "easier" after using a thicker one, but it can also be clumsy, because your muscles aren't finely tuned to it. Ever see a good acoustic bassist pick up an electric bass and have no feel on it? Having the appropriately light touch is just as important as being able to stretch and "manhandle" the neck.
By the way, Jaco talks about practicing with a Precision neck during the famous instructional video with Jerry Jemmott.

Call me silly, but I think you should practice what you play on...

I read that Jaco used to practice with a P neck on his Jazz for better technique and use a Jazz neck for performance. Is this true that this will help improve your technique? If so, why? Is it because of the different string spacing, neck size, fret size etc?

acctually this story comes from his video on how to play bass ..in which he is seen setting up a p neck on one of his jazz bodies.

now the thing is jaco said he did this to improve his chops but if you look into the whole jaco story you will realise that he probably broke his neck and that was the only neck he could find last minute to replace the old jazz neck.

the guy was a total alchoholic by this stage and he was just bull****ting to cover himself....jaco didnt need to improve his playing....he just needed to get off the booze.

so the neck story along with chicken grease on the fingers is just the beer talking..really! old bass wives tales!!

Well what about this arguement:

I'm practicing on a Squier P Bass right? Because it is a lower quality instrument (and maybe my set up job could be a little better) it takes more care in trying to get a decent sound out of it i.e. fretbuzz, ringing open strings and vibrations in the bridge causing other strings to ring out. So would the technique of me needing to compensate for high action (to reduce fretbuzz) or muting open strings translate into better technique on the higher quality instrument? because I would be over compensating and much more meticulous?

Well what about this arguement:

I'm practicing on a Squier P Bass right? Because it is a lower quality instrument (and maybe my set up job could be a little better) it takes more care in trying to get a decent sound out of it i.e. fretbuzz, ringing open strings and vibrations in the bridge causing other strings to ring out. So would the technique of me needing to compensate for high action (to reduce fretbuzz) or muting open strings translate into better technique on the higher quality instrument? because I would be over compensating and much more meticulous?

No.

And Zazz took the words out of my mouth (about Jaco). Even before his mental illness and alcoholism took over, he was the kind of guy who loved to pull your leg-- a real practical joker. I'm sure the P-Bass neck was on because it was the only thing available after he broke his Jazz neck, and he was telling a tall tale about intentionally using it to help his technique. You have to take a lot of what he said with a grain of salt. It's too bad that so much of it is taken as gospel by young bass players.

I wouldn't exactly call it gospel because I'm really not a fan of the music. It's alright but I had no idea who he was till I came here. Secondly, this theory was passed through the grapevine as I read it on TB and seems to make sense. I think it is the same thing as batters warming up in the batter's box with donuts on their bats or even 2 bats at a time. Sure they aren't going to swing like that, but it makes it a helluva lot easier when they step up to the plate.

No.

And Zazz took the words out of my mouth (about Jaco). Even before his mental illness and alcoholism took over, he was the kind of guy who loved to pull your leg-- a real practical joker. I'm sure the P-Bass neck was on because it was the only thing available after he broke his Jazz neck, and he was telling a tall tale about intentionally using it to help his technique. You have to take a lot of what he said with a grain of salt. It's too bad that so much of it is taken as gospel by young bass players.

Secondly, this theory was passed through the grapevine as I read it on TB and seems to make sense. I think it is the same thing as batters warming up in the batter's box with donuts on their bats or even 2 bats at a time. Sure they aren't going to swing like that, but it makes it a helluva lot easier when they step up to the plate.

To me, it's a pretty implausible story. It doesn't really make much sense, both for the reasons given above (i.e., him being a practical joker and maybe not even having a full working J at the time) and because ... well, think about it. Ideally you want to practice or somehow play about every day, right? How likely is it that Jaco is going to take off his J bass neck and replace it with a P bass neck every day or anything close to it? (Remember, he gigged and jammed a lot, so he'd have to be switching the neck back to a J many or most nights, if your belief is correct.) I mean, who would waste time doing that when they could be playing, you know? It's one thing if you have two basses, and you practice on one and gig on the other. But swapping necks on that kind of frequency? I very much doubt it.

IIRC, Jaco did have a fretted Jazz in addition to his fretless. The story is that he used to practice sometimes on the fretted by placing his fingers directly on the frets rather than slightly behind them, as is usual--the idea supposedly being that this would help reinforce is finger placement and intonation on the fretless.

After playing on my upright, the neck of my electric basses feel like guitars. Same thing when I play my P and then my J after. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

I really don't know anything about what Jaco had. I assumed he had more than one bass.

I really don't know anything about what Jaco had. I assumed he had more than one bass.

on occasion he didnt have a bass to his name let alone a few basses to choose from.

I don't know or care if the Jaco story is true...but one thing is true play a bass with a wide thick neck ..like a 5 or 6 string then go pick up a thin neck 4 like a jazz and see how much faster you play and how easy it feels ...this i know is true:)

Right, but I still maintain that good "feel" and time take more than having a neck that feels like a pencil, and if your muscles are adjusted to one set up and you switch to another, it'll hold you back, not help. Examples: Do you think you might rush on an "easier" neck? Play too heavily (excess fret noise, etc.)?
That's all I'll say...:cool:

I don't know or care if the Jaco story is true...but one thing is true play a bass with a wide thick neck ..like a 5 or 6 string then go pick up a thin neck 4 like a jazz and see how much faster you play and how easy it feels ...this i know is true:)

True for some, I guess, which is cool. But I never found it to be true when I used to switch between a 6 and a 4. Quite the opposite: I didn't find that it helped me at all, I found that it made me disoriented on both instruments.

Right, but I still maintain that good "feel" and time take more than having a neck that feels like a pencil, and if your muscles are adjusted to one set up and you switch to another, it'll hold you back, not help. Examples: Do you think you might rush on an "easier" neck? Play too heavily (excess fret noise, etc.)?
That's all I'll say...:cool:

I think some of you might be throwing in variables of which I'm either not experienced with or really don't think apply to what the premise of the arguement is.

I am going from a 4 string to a 4 string. They are both Fender or Fender style instruments (meaning similar fret board radius etc etc) and I'm playing the same songs.

It is harder for me to play fast songs on the P neck that involve a lot of finger movement. When I go back to my better quality Jazz what was nearly impossible for me to get a good note sound out of on my P I could do much easier with the J. And it sounded a whole lot better. Mental OR Physical, I noticed that the harshness of the sound wasn't there such as fretbuzz or clicking that I had before I started practicing with a P bass.

What I'm trying to determine is if the better playing is only a result of more practicing or if it's the result of an easier feel from switching from the P to the J. OR both.

I pretty much reiterated the thread subject but I think it was needed.

What I'm trying to determine is if the better playing is only a result of more practicing or if it's the result of an easier feel from switching from the P to the J. OR both.

I pretty much reiterated the thread subject but I think it was needed.

I dunno, I'd guess it's probably (a) as you suggest, more practicing, in and of itself, (b) a better setup on your J (which is variable, as opposed to the basic dimensions of a bass, which aren't), or perhaps (c) some aspect of your technique that might make a P harder to play than it should be (e.g., do you wrap your left hand thumb around the neck when you play, or do you put it behind the neck?).

I dunno, I'd guess it's probably (a) as you suggest, more practicing, in and of itself, (b) a better setup on your J (which is variable, as opposed to the basic dimensions of a bass, which aren't), or perhaps (c) some aspect of your technique that might make a P harder to play than it should be (e.g., do you wrap your left hand thumb around the neck when you play, or do you put it behind the neck?).

I think I have proper technique. I put my thumb pointing at the sky and below or on the truss rod and fingers perpendicular to the fretboard. As well as one finger per fret.

I think I have proper technique. I put my thumb pointing at the sky and below or on the truss rod and fingers perpendicular to the fretboard. As well as one finger per fret.

Then it sounds like (a) or (b) to me.

I pretty much reiterated the thread subject but I think it was needed.


you know this talk of the p v the jazz neck for making it harder to increase your chops is not good news for p bass necks. Some people find the p neck easier than the jazz neck so its not clear cut.

but take a low spec clunky cheap bass with dead strings and a bad setup and once you make that sing then a good bass will be a walk in the park.

I practice on a P, I play on a P.

I move to a jazz neck and cramp up quickly.

you know this talk of the p v the jazz neck for making it harder to increase your chops is not good news for p bass necks. Some people find the p neck easier than the jazz neck so its not clear cut.

but take a low spec clunky cheap bass with dead strings and a bad setup and once you make that sing then a good bass will be a walk in the park.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. A reaffirmation that my crappy squier is actually helping my technique by being crappy.

yeah... i moved from a squire p (10 years) to a stingray and overall i think the squire coaxed more out of me to make it sound good... good pratice i think.

My two cents:

I don't think practicing on a P allows you to play any better on a J. People who prefer the feel of a P neck will likely play better on a P than a J.

I normally play a P but switched to a Warmoth J recently because my P-nut snapped. The Warmoth neck is a narrower neck and feels much more "slick". Additionally, the J bass is set-up with lower action.

Yet my wrist / hand received a tougher workout than usual! I found myself stumbling just a bit because the neck felt different.

Oh, and I think playing a good bass (or at least one set-up well) will be better for your technique than playing a crappy bass.

I´m sure practising on a P-bass wil improve your skills on J-bass and vica versa:)

What I have experienced, though, is that playing Double Bass for a year has made tapping on electric a joy...

Im gonna be awkward now :D just to go totally opposite of the story.

I learnt on my peavey millenium bxp (VERY thin neck) and when i tried out a fender P.... FOUND IT EASIER and much more natural. I could actually play songs i couldnt on the peavey. Hence why the fender is ON THE WAY :bassist:

I think I'm going to rescind my original thoughts about the P-Bass neck making it easier to play on the jazz. I think there were factors in there that made me think it was easier on the Jazz. These factors being that my Squier P Bass has pretty high action compared to my jazz and while the bigger neck might be good for hand strengthening it really didn't help in the transition to the Jazz be cause I did notice I was over aiming for the strings on the frets and sometimes pushing my E up over the top of my fretboard. Also my Squier has rough roundwounds and my Jazz has Elixer Nanowebs which are much slicker. I'm going to go with the idea that you should practice on what you are going to perform with.

I find that if i paly any other bass btu my normal bass it's harder to play, whether the neck be biggest smaller etc. Give it a try, if it works for you then awesome, if it doesn't then at least you got yourself a sweet p bass.

Shed bass is my '64 P-bass(redone).
"TV bass" is a Jazz with medium high action with stiff flats.
Gigging bass is a Jazz-style.

...just got into the habit of wanting to play my 'old' P-bass in the shed.
Keep the 'log' Jazz in the TV room for convenience.

I think some of you might be throwing in variables of which I'm either not experienced with or really don't think apply to what the premise of the arguement is.

I am going from a 4 string to a 4 string. They are both Fender or Fender style instruments (meaning similar fret board radius etc etc) and I'm playing the same songs.

It is harder for me to play fast songs on the P neck that involve a lot of finger movement. When I go back to my better quality Jazz what was nearly impossible for me to get a good note sound out of on my P I could do much easier with the J. And it sounded a whole lot better. Mental OR Physical, I noticed that the harshness of the sound wasn't there such as fretbuzz or clicking that I had before I started practicing with a P bass.

What I'm trying to determine is if the better playing is only a result of more practicing or if it's the result of an easier feel from switching from the P to the J. OR both.

I pretty much reiterated the thread subject but I think it was needed.

A lot of what you're describing can be due to differences in materials, setup, back of neck finish, where the pickups are i.e. one bass doesn't play as well as the other or doesn't even sound the same.

Ideally you're technique and your ability to play should transcend any bass you play.

A lot of what you're describing can be due to differences in materials, setup, back of neck finish, where the pickups are i.e. one bass doesn't play as well as the other or doesn't even sound the same.

Ideally you're technique and your ability to play should transcend any bass you play.

True. The neck on my Squier isn't even finished. I brought my Jazz home now and have been playing with that and I think it really is much better to practice on what you're going to play with. I notice some lines I am doing are easier now that I've been practicing with the Jazz that I play on more so than I did switching from the P neck.