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is it okay to not play over the pickup

#41
villarddefender said:
Interesting so we can safely ignore the pickup(s) position(s) to get the desired tone
Click to expand...
You have to remember that the "desired tone" is totally subjective. What the luthier desired for the tone may not be anywhere close to what your desired tone is. Experiment with hand placement a bit so you know what sound is produced from the different places you use your right hand.

With my passive Jazz, the closer to the neck, the mellower the sound. The closer to the bridge pick-up the brighter the sound. I can change my sound a lot by just moving my plucking position an inch or two and I do that as needed.
 
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#43
As others have mentioned, the area between the bridge and just over the fingerboard at the end of the neck are all acceptable areas to be playing over. Experienced players will move all over that area to get subtle changes in tone and note bloom. When people say your tone is "all in your fingers" that plus how hard you're playing is most of what they're talking about.

FWIW there's really no hard and fast right or wrong when it comes to where you're plucking or picking. I'll very seldom play directly over a pickup because I usually don't care for the sound I get doing that. But a different player with a different touch and technique than mine might well be able to get the sound they like playing in that spot.

tl:dr - use your ears and play where and how it sounds best - and try not to over analyze it too much.

Luck! :thumbsup:
 
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#45
Absolutely not! Never, ever should you do that.


image.jpeg
 
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#47
'78 P-Bass-2.JPG Tone Twins 2.JPG As others have said; play anywhere you want to. I generally don't play directly over a pick up, but that's just personal. Probably has to do with the fact that I learned to play bass in 1968, on a friend's 4001 Rick. Kind of hard to play over that big horseshoe bridge pick up, so I never picked up the habit... That '78 Fender is my first bass; it's just as I bought it 30 years ago. Can't even see the pickup, much less play over it... That '73 Jetglo 4001 is my go-to bass; both it and the 4003 have always had the bridge pick up cover on them. I can play over the pick up(s) on my 20 other basses, and I do - sometimes. But, old habits can be hard to break, and to be honest, I'm happy playing in front, behind, or (usually) in between them. And for the kind of music I like to play, that sounds just fine... But, lots of people like to play on top of a pick up; if that's how you want to play, and you get the sound you want? Then, play on, my friend; play on...;)
 
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#48
Go look at some of the old Fenders that had metal covers over the pickups. Obviously you weren't expected to pluck over the pickup on those, because it's physically impossible (unless you remove the covers).

When playing with fingers, I usually do what we see Tony Levin doing in the video earlier in this thread, or the guy with the sunburst Jazz a few comments above this one: I pluck near the end of the neck with my thumb anchored against the side of the neck.
 
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#50
It's not okay at all... in fact, if you choose that route, the police will confiscate said bass and destroy it abruptly.... :laugh:
on a (slightly) more serious note- play wherever it makes you comfortable, i generally play active 5 string basses with soapbar pickups, & almost always play directly over the neck pickup for a full bodied, fat tone. Do whatever you wish, we all have different preferences. In fact, when i started playing bass as a teenager around 1985, all the instructional books i found at the time teached that bass should only be played with 2 fingers & not the thumb.. i totally disregarded that because i'd already been using my thumb to pluck along with my fingers.. years later im so glad i started incorporating my thumb into my playing very early on.
 
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#51
villarddefender said:
In the picture above it's the new Fender Dimension bass with a simple H configuration but there's another version of that bass with an HH config. Now that I know that we're allowed to play anywhere what would be the advantage of the 2nd H pickup near the neck besides a little volume difference?
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter where you play: the pickups pick the vibration of the strings, not where your fingers are. However, the strings vibrate differently depending on where you pluck: THAT is where the difference you hear comes from.

Pluck closer to the bridge for a thinner more focused sound, pluck closer to the neck for a fatter sound. Experiment. There's a lot of different sounds you can get just by changing where you pluck.

Why two pickups? Because, again, the closer a pickup is to the bridge, the brighter and more focused its sound is... so the bridge pickup tends to have a lot of definition, but the neck pickup tends to sound a lot fatter. And when you combine both, you get certain cancellation especially over the midrange frequencies and that gives you a particular distinct tone. That's just from the pickups alone. Combine that with where you pluck, and your bass' tone control, and you have a huge range of sounds at your fingertips.
 
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#53
villarddefender said:
Sorry if there was another thread on this but is it okay to not play over the pickup

Let's say your bass only has a bridge pickup but you play near the neck: since there's no pickup under your fingers will the sound be "picked up" less?
View attachment 2845387
Click to expand...

Are these your artworks? They rock! I'd consider buying one if they're available ...

Oh, and play wherever you want along the strings.
 
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#54
villarddefender said:
Interesting so we can safely ignore the pickup(s) position(s) to get the desired tone
Click to expand...

nonono, the postition of your pickup(s) changes the tone as well as the place where you play!
your tone is the mixture of both. you could for example play close to the neck and use the bridge pickup as well as you could play close to the bridge and use the neck pickup. (I know, your bass has just one pickup) -just try and error! ;)
 
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#55
villarddefender said:
In the picture above it's the new Fender Dimension bass with a simple H configuration but there's another version of that bass with an HH config. Now that I know that we're allowed to play anywhere what would be the advantage of the 2nd H pickup near the neck besides a little volume difference?
Click to expand...
A two pickup bass has more tonal options. The neck pickup will "hear" a rounder, deeper, less snappy tone off of the string than the bridge pickup does.
 
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#56
I play very near the end of the fretboard (very much like the guy in post #45, above). A pickup is not a microphone ... it doesn't amplify sound waves, it reacts to changes in the magnetic field around it. As long as you set a string to moving, however or wherever, it'll pick it up. As others have said, you get different tone depending on where you strike the string.
 
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#57
I find it that two things help when varying your playing/plucking location = lighter touch + action that's not too low.

When you start playing more towards the neck, you may want to compensate for any (perceived) volume difference and play somewhat harder (depends on the context). To do that, you need enough clearance so that the strings don't hit the frets too much. Thus, you may need to adjust string height (or "action") at the bridge - this depends on where you have it now.

And then, depending on how hard you play now, it can help to lighten your touch (how hard you play) overall - it will allow more dynamics regardless of where you play, and allow you to move your hands more and still have a good tone.

There's a balance between touch and action, and you need to find that balance for yourself. IMO it's part of a learning curve of any bassist, though many probably don't pay attention to it.
 
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#60
villarddefender said:
Sorry if there was another thread on this but is it okay to not play over the pickup

Let's say your bass only has a bridge pickup but you play near the neck: since there's no pickup under your fingers will the sound be "picked up" less?
View attachment 2845387
Click to expand...
String players on the classical side of music have been playing anywhere between the bridge and up on the fingerboard hundreds of years before there were electric basses. True they don't have pickups on classical guitars, celli, violins and double basses but the motivation is the same: tonal variety. Markings in that music is usually sul ponticello (on or near the bridge) or sul tasto (over the fingerboard) Tone extraction from any instrument has no rules. Stravinsky and Bartok would use col legno or using the wooden part of the bow to hit the strings. Play where you find your spot for that passage.
 
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