Pickup cover on a P bass question.

[devnulljp]

Right hand thumb rests on the cover, fingers generally play just behind it unless there's a need for tight trebly picking up by the bridge or playing more up by the neck. Works great. Only issue I've ever had was trying to reach some of the artificial harmonics on Portrait of Tracy as they lie under the cover.

 

[Killing Floor]

The main problem that everyone is skirting around is that the pickup cover obscures some of the Tort. Blasphemy I say!

That's a good point. I think Leo intended for the chrome to reflect the tort. But that was back when the plating technology was less developed. Has anyone considered tort pickup covers?

 

[roller]

I'm not a fan of the covers myself... but I suppose it's all in what you're accustomed to. I received one with a recent purchase... and while they look cool, I'm simply too used to locking my thumb in on the actual P pickup. I just can't get around it... it feels foreign and awkward for me to play a Fender-style bass with a pickup cover.

But to each their own -- Will Lee seems to love having a neck pickup cover on his Sadowsky basses!

How cumbersome are they to play with on a P bass?

 

[Jason151]

Right hand thumb rests on the cover, fingers generally play just behind it unless there's a need for tight trebly picking up by the bridge or playing more up by the neck. Works great. Only issue I've ever had was trying to reach some of the artificial harmonics on Portrait of Tracy as they lie under the cover.

View attachment 4236607

Did you remove the bridge cover because you felt it got too in the way?

 

[msb]

Yup , I don't seem to use Fender's much these days but I have three Pbasses . My old original 72 (no covers) , a 51 reissue (love the rockets on it) , and a more recent American one (with covers) .
So I've found it doesn't really matter . You get used to them . And it doesn't take long .

 

[Ghastly]

Do you remember having any troublesome issues playing it for the first time?

No. Honestly.

 

[dkelley]

I would think that playing slap style might find the pickup cover useful but apparently many can easily manage without it.

More like everyone. I couldn't imagine slapping with a pickup cover on there. Your hand is off the strings when you slap and your wrist rotates, so I think it would rub and add friction in a bad way to have it touching the pickup cover. Just thought that was worth noting, although I like your post overall. Very well thought out.

Also, isn't it interesting that the example the OP has is Elvis presley playing a fender precision? Like.... I mean, he was a musician, and he could play a handful of guitar chords ok ish... but a bassist he was not.

 

[Jason151]

More like everyone. I couldn't imagine slapping with a pickup cover on there. Your hand is off the strings when you slap and your wrist rotates, so I think it would rub and add friction in a bad way to have it touching the pickup cover. Just thought that was worth noting, although I like your post overall. Very well thought out.

Also, isn't it interesting that the example the OP has is Elvis presley playing a fender precision? Like.... I mean, he was a musician, and he could play a handful of guitar chords ok ish... but a bassist he was not.

yeah I included the photo of Elvis more as a novelty thing. Like, here's Elvis playing an instrument you probably never picture him playing. That and again, the white one he's holding is pretty similar to mine. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to share in common with.

 

[bmusic]

I have tried and tried and tried to love the pickup covers. I cannot.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

...but a bassist he was not.

Elvis actually played Bill Black's Fender Precision Bass on this track. Apparently Bill was having problems playing the signature lick heard in the intro/outro as the electric bass was still new to him.

- Steve

 

[dkelley]

yeah I included the photo of Elvis more as a novelty thing. Like, here's Elvis playing an instrument you probably never picture him playing. That and again, the white one he's holding is pretty similar to mine. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to share in common with.

Oh totally, I just thought it was interesting, because it shows how hard it is to find example of this from someone well known. I know there used to be photos of folks with pickup covers, but it's certainly something from the days of old rather than something you see normally these days.

Very very rare choice, now. Albeit, one that looks kinda classy and cool

 

[chazsundance]

Here is something I never realized until I order this years new Fender Custom Shop 1961 Precision bass Relic. Got the bass and it had the cover on it, I rehearse in a nice recording studio so we listened to it right out of the case. Then I took the cover off and WHOA the tone changed drastically. It got mellower and more rounded, we slapped the cover back on and it was bright and metallic sounding. I don't know if I've ever noticed that on other basses. Try it out and let me know

 

[dkelley]

Elvis actually played Bill Black's Fender Precision Bass on this track. Apparently Bill was having problems playing the signature lick heard in the intro/outro as the electric bass was still new to him.

- Steve

cool trivia! I can imagine that being true... it's played about how it looks like elvis would play the bass. I remember watching him play guitar, it was his own unique sound, that's for sure, but it worked when needed to do it

 

[devnulljp]

Did you remove the bridge cover because you felt it got too in the way?

Yes, I like the look, but I don't like to play with it on. For the soul gigs, I stick a piece of foam under the strings and it's good enough.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I get that it restricts access to the strings from the middle so I might not get that middle "register" sound from it (even though p basses are full of that already).
That's part of the charm of the p bass in its simplicity, isn't it? Depending on where you pluck the strings, you can get different tones from it. So would I be limited to playing only near the bridge (highs) or by the neck (lows)?

Also, did you have to play it dramatically different from before? I usually rest my thumb on the side of the pickup, would I be able to play it similarly if I rest my thumb on the cover?

I've heard complaints about the bridge+pickup covers on a Jazz bass and I can kind of see why. The bridge cover for that is way bigger than on the P. Throw in the pickup cover as well and there's even less space to pluck.

How cumbersome are they to play with on a P bass?

Here's a photo Elvis Presley playing a P bass:
View attachment 4236417

Mine kind of looks like the white one minus the pickup cover.

Yes, you'll be restricted to playing where the cover isn't. Can't pluck strings where a metal plate covers them. Will it bother you? That depends on if you play right over the pickup or not. I tend to play just about over the DG side. So, about an inch behind the EA half. Would it bother me? Yes. Yes it would.

 

[iiipopes]

Here's a photo Elvis Presley playing a P bass:

Hmpf. Forgive my scepticism, because he did play a couple of chords on his Martin guitar, but I will only concede to, "Here's a photo of Elvis Presley posing with a P bass."

 

[bobyoung53]

I get that it restricts access to the strings from the middle so I might not get that middle "register" sound from it (even though p basses are full of that already).
That's part of the charm of the p bass in its simplicity, isn't it? Depending on where you pluck the strings, you can get different tones from it. So would I be limited to playing only near the bridge (highs) or by the neck (lows)?

Also, did you have to play it dramatically different from before? I usually rest my thumb on the side of the pickup, would I be able to play it similarly if I rest my thumb on the cover?

I've heard complaints about the bridge+pickup covers on a Jazz bass and I can kind of see why. The bridge cover for that is way bigger than on the P. Throw in the pickup cover as well and there's even less space to pluck.

How cumbersome are they to play with on a P bass?

Here's a photo Elvis Presley playing a P bass:
View attachment 4236417

Mine kind of looks like the white one minus the pickup cover.

The first thing I've done with any bass that came with a cover was take it off and put it someplace usually never to be seen again, they get in the way and severely restrict the sounds you can get out of a P bass. Same with a Ric or a Jazz. I pluck anywhere from right next to the bridge to someplace over the pickup on a P bass and the cover covers up part of that area.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Hmpf. Forgive my scepticism, because he did play a couple of chords on his Martin guitar, but I will only concede to, "Here's a photo of Elvis Presley posing with a P bass."

Yup, posing. With people around watching him. And posing. On his couch. With his fingers plucking strings. Guitar players could never actually play bass guitar. They'd explode.

 

[Jason151]

Hmpf. Forgive my scepticism, because he did play a couple of chords on his Martin guitar, but I will only concede to, "Here's a photo of Elvis Presley posing with a P bass."

He apparently played the bass for the song "Baby I don't care". That might be the only example of hearing him actually play it.

 

[dkelley]

Yup, posing. With people around watching him. And posing. On his couch. With his fingers plucking strings. Guitar players could never actually play bass guitar. They'd explode.

He wasn't really a guitar player. He was barely passable on a 3 chord song. Hence the skepticism from most.

EDIT: I just watched a video of him playing passably... I would still not call him a guitar player... he was a gifted musician who could make music on a guitar. His technique was very basic, but of course the man oozed raw talent, and had played a guitar (albeit not with the guidance he probably should have had to become proficient at it) since he was just a kid.

So he COULD play, but wasn't really great. Like I just watched his, I think 68? show, where he sat in a circle with his band unplugged with the crowd around them, and he did the main guitar playing. It's super repetitive, and never once does he veer even slightly from a very very well practiced performance on guitar, but it's perfectly serviceable playing. And because it's him, with that wry smile and face and movement and voice, one tends to think he's better on guitar than he is.

It was, musically speaking, perfectly correct and very accurate. Rhythm was flawless, and no muffed notes at all.

But soooooo awkward to watch as a guitarist: 100% downstrokes no matter how fast he was playing, moving his left hand up and down in position for every single note he played play even when he was doing the single note blues fills.... but still, it was perfectly fine.

Can't criticize the end result, even if I am criticizing the technique. There are plenty of punk players who do exactly the same technique and ARE just the guitar players in their bands. Also, that's not a criticism of punk.. just an observation of technique requirements to pass as a guitar player.

His singing, on the other hand - I mean, why would he bother working on improving his guitar playing when he was SUCH an ( a ) insanely good looking and charismatic guy, ( b ) insanely brilliant singer, and ( c ) amazingly huge success without having needed to improve on guitar significantly since he was young?