Practice with a Precision Neck = better?

Kickin'Fruit · #1 09-19-2006, 10:00 AM

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?

tkozal · #2 09-19-2006, 12:12 PM

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

Kickin'Fruit · #3 09-19-2006, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkozal

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

Any speculation as to why?

phxlbrmpf · #4 09-19-2006, 03:05 PM

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.

jonpeck · #5 09-19-2006, 03:08 PM

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

bassbully43 · #6 09-19-2006, 03:10 PM

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.

Kickin'Fruit · #7 09-19-2006, 05:06 PM

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?

Snarf · #8 09-19-2006, 06:29 PM

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.

Kickin'Fruit · #9 09-19-2006, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snarf

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.

cowsgomoo · #10 09-20-2006, 10:55 AM

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

Quote:

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

**WillPlay4Food** · #11 09-20-2006, 11:03 AM

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!

Kickin'Fruit · #12 09-20-2006, 11:34 AM

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.

anonymous278347457 · #13 09-20-2006, 11:36 AM

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.

dougjwray · #14 09-21-2006, 11:28 AM

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.

McHack · #15 09-21-2006, 12:27 PM

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

zazz · #16 09-21-2006, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kickin'Fruit

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!!

Kickin'Fruit · #17 09-21-2006, 12:53 PM

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?

dougjwray · #18 09-21-2006, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kickin'Fruit

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.

Kickin'Fruit · #19 09-21-2006, 02:37 PM

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougjwray

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.

Richard Lindsey · #20 09-21-2006, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kickin'Fruit

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.