Possible to play slap bass with pickup covers?

[jdjk7]

I've always loved the look of jazz pickup covers and I'm on the fence on whether to buy them or not. I'm new to basses and just started to learn slap bass. Will the pickup covers obstruct playing, like the palm or wrist hitting the covers? View attachment 5032986

It's not the hardest thing in the world. I tend to slap closer to or over the neck anyway, so it doesn't bother me. The only thing you might encounter is extraneous 'pinging' noises from the strings making contact with the pickup cover. Happens to me all. the. time.

 

[jdjk7]

You call yourself a bass player and don't know who Marcus Miller is? You got some homework to do.

 

[Killing Floor]

I stuck the covers on my J just a couple years ago to see if I could learn around it because they look cool. You can slap. Just play above the neck pickup. Doesn’t take long to get it.

 

[Killing Floor]

It's not the hardest thing in the world. I tend to slap closer to or over the neck anyway, so it doesn't bother me. The only thing you might encounter is extraneous 'pinging' noises from the strings making contact with the pickup cover. Happens to me all. the. time.

Funny and true. I also still tend to drag my pinky on the covers and it’s not amplified but I can still hear the ringing of the cover occasionally. It probably means I’m playing sloppy but most of my basses don’t have covers so it will never be perfect.

 

[vinylphile]

Fairly new bass player here (been at it for around 3 years after playing primarily guitar for decades). In my experience it really depends how you like to slap. If you slap like Flea - down thumb, lots of bouncing and AGGRESSIVE - then yes, I could see it maybe getting in the way. However more recently I’m trying to slap with parallel thumb and through the string - like Scott Devine was teaching on his Bass Accelerator course (highly recommended if you want to work on that technique). I actually find the pickup cover HELPS me anchor my palm and use proper technique when slapping through the string. In effect, it gets my right hand at a better angle to use that technique.

 

[akukulich]

I prefer having that front cover on for slapping, but find it gets in the way of other techniques. I found that out when I went to play the artificial harmonics for the intro to Birdland.

 

[Lava]

Yes

 

[Ronnie Thunders]

They just get in the way for me

 

[rockin3quarter]

I have studied slap in depth for the last decade. My favorite bass to slap on is my 77 Fender Jazz in Mocha, sporting its original pickup covers. They have been immensely helpful for me. The neck pickup cover is extremely helpful when figuring out initial positioning of the right hand. It provides a pivot point towards the bottom of your palm for standard Marcus style slap. I have done everything from Marcus to Victor Style slap on that bass with no problem. Now a day I even have my students play on that bass when they need help getting the foundation for slap position for their right hand. Having a thumb rest on the bass as well as the neck pickup cover kind of forces your hand into the correct position. I recommend them! Plus if you can learn to play with them on, you can easily transfer to almost any bass without them!

 

[elkkid2]

View attachment 5032989

'Nuff said right there! Lol!

 

[elkkid2]

Pick players also love resting their Palm on the pickup covers.
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[semiprohooker]

If you're just learning, then you won't know any better either way. Run with what you like and you'll learn how to make it do what you want it to do as you get better.

Some of us that already have entertained muscle memory might struggle slapping with a pickup cover. Some might struggle without one. Right now you're just forming your style so the world is your oyster.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I recently put both civets on all my vintage-repro Fender basses.
Didn’t do this in the Am. Ultra because the bridge one won’t fit the high-mass bridge, otherwise …

 

[tminus10]

I've always loved the look of jazz pickup covers and I'm on the fence on whether to buy them or not. I'm new to basses and just started to learn slap bass. Will the pickup covers obstruct playing, like the palm or wrist hitting the covers? View attachment 5032986

Ever heard of Marcus Miller? Practice how you want. This isn't rocket science.

 

[logdrum]

I would remove the tug bar .

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I have a similar (but slightly different) problem.

I have a P-Bass. I love the look with the pick-up cover on (and it always wears its "ashtray"), but I can't slap or play with a pick with the cover on.

 

[singlemalt]

You could maybe keep the neck pup cover, but the tug bar has to go.

I’d remove the cover too. Slapping, you can mix some palm muting in with your left hand muting techniques. I can’t see doing that with the cover.

I could see keeping the big ashtray cover over the bridge for some styles that use foam muting, but that’s not something usually seen with slap. I’d lose that at the first string change. There’s a reason they call it an ashtray.

There are plenty of YouTube videos on setting up your bass to make slap easier. Check out Mark’s free slap lessons on Talkingbass.com.

 

[bassbrad]

I came here to say Marcus Miller and Will Lee plus a bunch of other NYC bass players have the covers on their basses, it is a style of playing in my mind. The pickup cover is incorporated in that style of slap. It keeps you from touching the pickup pole pieces playing finger style when recording. I recall asking a NYC session player about that and he showed me the technique.
When I was doing sessions in NYC engineers would often as me to put the cover on my Precision bass to avoid that noise. I use gaffer tape on my current P style bass to cover the pole pieces. On a Jazz style pickup I use shims to drop the pole pieces below the top of the cover.

 

[devnulljp]

It's def possible to play slap bass with pickup covers. I'd think it inadvisable to play slap bass without knowing who Marcus Miller is though.

 

[JimmyM]

Well the messenger could have been nicer but Marcus is certainly one to check out if you want to slap. And this guy especially, although he has no pickup covers: