Every true bassist needs a P-bass

[B-Mac]

Geddy Lee is a true bassist and he got rid of his p bass after his first album.
JPJ and Mark King : no p bass !

Geddy has over 400 basses. He wrote a book about them, although I think he has more autographed baseballs and bottles of wine.
He may play only certain basses on record or on stage, but he definitely has a few P basses as he also does Thunderbirds, Wals, etc.

 

[Altitude]

Any bass player who seeks steady employment as a sideman, pit player, session player, or that sort of thing - gets requests to play a P bass now and then. Players in that situation should have access to one. They know who they are.

If you aren't one of those guys, pick a bass that makes you want to practice, whatever it is.

 

[B-Mac]

You can get them as refrigerator magnets as well.

Do they setup easily?

 

[Altitude]

Any bass player who seeks steady employment as a sideman, pit player, session player, or that sort of thing - gets requests to play a P bass now and then. Players in that situation should have access to one. They know who they are.

If you aren't one of those guys, pick a bass that makes you want to practice, whatever it is.

Geddy Lee is a true bassist and he got rid of his p bass after his first album.
JPJ and Mark King : no p bass !

As illustration, none of those guys are in the group I described, but of course they're "true bassists." They're all at the level where they make the rules about what kind of bass is appropriate, they don't follow the rules. Good for them.

 

[dougjwray]

To me, the P-Bass is kind of "the" bass. The default bass.
Like, historically, you have the Precision Bass... and everything else.
So, everyone should play what they like, of course, but I can see the value in at least trying a P-Bass, just to get some perspective.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

I'm firmly in the "nonsense" camp. Sententious pronouncements making claims about "true" this-that-or-the-other always make me think of the "no true Scotsman" fallacy. It's too easy to move the goalposts.

 

[Camaro69]

Ask your bass Preacher if he knows who Joe Osborn is…

 

[GretschWretch]

Ask your bass Preacher if he knows who Joe Osborn is…

Except that Joe never used the bridge pickup on his jazz. Functionally, it was a P bass.

 

[Camaro69]

Except that Joe never used the bridge pickup on his jazz. Functionally, it was a P bass.

But it wasn't a P bass
And nether were the thousands of songs he recorded on

 

[lordradish]

My Wal disagrees.

 

[Malak the Mad]

The OP's story kinda reminds me of when I was an early '90s art student at trade school for cartooning, graphic design and animation. The animation teacher I was stuck with was mister "Disney is all! If you want to get work, do things their style! Everything else is inferior!". That would've been fine, if I wanted to be an animator, instead of a cartoonist/illustrator. But, like I said, I was stuck with him. All first-year students had to take animation as a part of the curriculum.

Meanwhile, I was really, REALLY big into the Japanese anime/manga style. I wanted to be on the leading edge of working that style and sensibility into the American zeitgeist, which had yet to take hold in the U.S.

Years later, whenever I see how mainstream that style is, I remember that teacher and think, "Who was ahead of their time by only a few years, jackass?!"

The big takeaway is pretty simple and, unfortunately, terribly universal; just 'cuz someone is "in charge", it doesn't necessarily make them a "leader".

 

[bmusic]

I'm a P bass fanatic—strictly Fender, all the way—and I voted hogwash. I think it was the "true bassist" verbiage…

 

[ChrisAlan]

"true bassist" ?
I've only recently come back to talk bass. What is with the trolls now?? This is dumb bait to cause dumb arguments.
This question all depends on if you're doing regular studio work and/or regularly gigging a variety of styles of tunes.

Yes, P Basses are very handy to those people and it is also handy owning a variety of basses. .. to these people!

How about asking your teacher what they meant and telling them what you think.
Looking forward to your follow post after you do.

You should have done that first.

 

[JeffTCS]

I'm not even going to dignify this with a response....






Oh, wait...

 

[iTzPrime]

Well I had a P for about a week. Wasn't great in the band, not great to play either. I do have a p pickups as humbucker on my custom bass, but I hardly think it counts. Doesn't sound like a p, doesn't look like one and doesn't play like one.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

My bass teacher told me that "Every true bassist needs a P Bass."
Agree or disagree?

Maybe not that exact phrasing, but I believe every bassist should have at least one Precision Bass in their arsenal. Because...

*phone rings*

"hey man you available this thursday night for a session? Really good money, dinner included, and you might get some gigs out of it"

me: "yup, totally available. What time?"

"great. be there at 7. Also, make sure you bring a P bass"

me: "well, actually I don't have ..."


Don't let this happen to you!!! Get yerself a darn P bass already!!

 

[thunesBARROW]

I voted no even though I like and play them. They have a classic and useful tone, but you can approximate that sound with lots of other basses. Sometimes other musicians might prefer the look of a P.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Maybe not that exact phrasing, but I believe every bassist should have at least one Precision Bass in their arsenal. Because...

*phone rings*

"hey man you available this thursday night for a session? Really good money, dinner included, and you might get some gigs out of it"

me: "yup, totally available. What time?"

"great. be there at 7. Also, make sure you bring a P bass"

me: "well, actually I don't have ..."


Don't let this happen to you!!! Get yerself a darn P bass already!!

I suppose it could be situational to a degree. For some of us, that's a real consideration. But for a lot of us, "bring a P bass" is just not a thing. And not because we don't play out or record; we just do so in contexts where a P bass isn't considered a sine qua non.

 

[Ryan X Decent]

I love these old wives tale threads.

 

[fauxtoe]

Interesting thread!

Do you need one? No. It's not a bad idea to have one though and to learn how to fit it into your playing.

Funny, one of my earliest basses that I played the crap out of before I had adult money was my Yamaha BB414 in a PJ configuration. I've never really played it in the P only setup since I bought it specifically for the PJ tone. Still have it, but it has been stored away in its case for several years now.

With that said, I do have two other P basses and a third in the works. One that has flats with active EMG's and will remain as such, and the other that is an active PJ with rounds and I adjust between the pickups as needed. The third will be fully passive with rounds. Once you get into a cover band situation that could play anything from the past 75 years or so you'll probably start tone searching to see what works best. Come to find out, a P bass works REALLY well for a massive amount of music.