It's often said on bass forums that the Precision might not be the best tool for the job, but it's never the wrong one. Do you believe that to be the case? Can you think of an instance where the Precision is the wrong tool for the job?
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When is the Precision the wrong tool for the job?
- Thread starter Just Wrong
- Start date
I believe that to be the case with any bass. A P, a J, a Beatles bass, a 7 string multiscale doubleneck tripleactive Dingsuperwall... they all play the same twelve notes.
A P is great when you want the thick lower mid sledgehammer tone that comes with a neck pickup soloed. When you are playing tunes that want something less heavy - still with decent low end, but favoring the ear candy "clink and clank" up higher in the spectrum, a P is definitely the wrong tool for the job. For that you need the scoop that comes from spaced pickups that are both on - that setup removes a lot of what a P features, and that is sometimes just the ticket.
The gig I'm playing this coming weekend, the main tunes where the bass part is driving things....definitely are not P territory. Last weekend, I played a bass that isn't a P, but with the neck pickup soloed, it's in that territory, and it was the right tool. A P would have been fine, but that bass has a second pickup, and some special circuitry to combine them in a rather "unique" way - it has tonal options that a P simply doesn't. As I have a couple basses like that, I no longer have a "true" P in my arsenal - a bass that can cover that territory, but can go elsewhere as well is much more valuable that a straight P to me. I try to have as much sonic diversity as I can in a small number of basses (small by TB standards at least). A regular P doesn't help me with that.
We're artists - sonic artists to be more specific. If we were painters, I wonder if we'd be asking if a 3 inch wide straight brush is ever the wrong tool - Of course it is! Most painters use more than 1 brush - different tools for different jobs. Same with music.
The gig I'm playing this coming weekend, the main tunes where the bass part is driving things....definitely are not P territory. Last weekend, I played a bass that isn't a P, but with the neck pickup soloed, it's in that territory, and it was the right tool. A P would have been fine, but that bass has a second pickup, and some special circuitry to combine them in a rather "unique" way - it has tonal options that a P simply doesn't. As I have a couple basses like that, I no longer have a "true" P in my arsenal - a bass that can cover that territory, but can go elsewhere as well is much more valuable that a straight P to me. I try to have as much sonic diversity as I can in a small number of basses (small by TB standards at least). A regular P doesn't help me with that.
We're artists - sonic artists to be more specific. If we were painters, I wonder if we'd be asking if a 3 inch wide straight brush is ever the wrong tool - Of course it is! Most painters use more than 1 brush - different tools for different jobs. Same with music.
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I’ve never really had issues with playing a Precision on any job. It just fits with Motown, Stax, and Muscle Shoals tunes better.
As music moved on the Jazz Bass and Musicman style basses fit better. just my take.
As music moved on the Jazz Bass and Musicman style basses fit better. just my take.
in general, no, but as @Micha84 said, that would be "the case with any bass."
i would pick my favorite P-bass over all others if i wanted to play an uber lightweight ax. i would pick any other (my axes) if i wanted more versatility (sounds). but all of them are very capable and none of them are "wrong."
i'm not the P-bass fanboy that some are, but i voted "never."
Not to be mean spirited but I think: "when are you the wrong player for the job"
Let's talk early Sir Paul, Jaco, and JPJ. Them brothers only had but one bass and got it done!
Let's talk early Sir Paul, Jaco, and JPJ. Them brothers only had but one bass and got it done!
I played a musical theater show for which I needed a five, and active was better than passive. So, in that case, a Precision would have been much less than optimal. My G&L M-2500, on the other hand, was fantastic.
I also subbed in an original band with a (very cool) track that required the high E at fret 21 on the G string--not exactly the forte of a traditional Precision. When I tried to learn the track I was playing my P, and I simply ran out of fretboard. Luckily I had a DiPinto semi-hollow with 24 frets.
But, the vast majority of my playing could easily be covered by a Precision. I usually prefer my J-basses and M-2500, but would a P work just fine? Sure.
I also subbed in an original band with a (very cool) track that required the high E at fret 21 on the G string--not exactly the forte of a traditional Precision. When I tried to learn the track I was playing my P, and I simply ran out of fretboard. Luckily I had a DiPinto semi-hollow with 24 frets.
But, the vast majority of my playing could easily be covered by a Precision. I usually prefer my J-basses and M-2500, but would a P work just fine? Sure.
Tunes such as....?
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Any bass can work in any situation.
I remember the first time I joined a band with a full time soundman (who actually was a bassist). I was talking to him when I got the offer, expecting to have a detailed discussion about which bass and which strings to use. He told me to relax and play what I wanted, that as long as he got a clean signal, he would make it work.
I remember the first time I joined a band with a full time soundman (who actually was a bassist). I was talking to him when I got the offer, expecting to have a detailed discussion about which bass and which strings to use. He told me to relax and play what I wanted, that as long as he got a clean signal, he would make it work.
I tend to think a P is the wrong tool for the job when it’s a super high hifi slap sort of thing.
In my case, it's church gigs, so the tunes are ones that most are not familiar with. We are a multiracial church, so there's a wide variety of influences and styles in the music.
None of them played a P as their main axe. Paul had a Rickenbacker for a lot of the Beatles albums, so 2 basses in his case. Wait... they also had a Fender Bass VI that ended up on a lot of tracks, so 3. John Paul Jones played a couple other basses on Led Zeppelin tracks (a Gibson, a Fender Bass V), and Jaco had a couple fretted basses (though the fretless is the one he was know for).
Despite having multiple basses, I do agree they got it done. But not using a P bass.
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A Pbass is a wonderful tool. Yet it doesn't request that you adore it above all others. That fanaticism is unnecessary.
Each Fender iteration is a different flavor of great. Let it be.
Here is a place a P can't do the tone. Maybe for the music some of us play it is perfect. That can't mean I don't bring another tool to a session and leave the musicicans producers with less than they want or I hear.
I will concede that tort is the only pickguard choice. There. Satisfied?
Each Fender iteration is a different flavor of great. Let it be.
Here is a place a P can't do the tone. Maybe for the music some of us play it is perfect. That can't mean I don't bring another tool to a session and leave the musicicans producers with less than they want or I hear.
I will concede that tort is the only pickguard choice. There. Satisfied?
Precisions can't get the "Jaco tone" because for that you need a soloed Jazz Bass bridge pickup. For the same reason, it's much, much harder to get harmonics ("Portrait of Tracy") on a Precision.
It's never the best tool for the job IMHO. My 6 can sound like a P, like a Jazz and like a whole lot of other basses, all with a twist of a knob.
The P is a great tool.
It's not the only great tool.
Even in the Fender stable it's not the only tool.
How do I say this? In specific settings it may be perfect. Some of us hear it's limitations and choose other tools too.
Here another of the worldwide assortment of basses is more appropriate.
Please listen on something that reproduces everything and particularly low end better than laptop speakers or earbuds or the butt end of a phone.
It's not the only great tool.
Even in the Fender stable it's not the only tool.
How do I say this? In specific settings it may be perfect. Some of us hear it's limitations and choose other tools too.
Here another of the worldwide assortment of basses is more appropriate.
Please listen on something that reproduces everything and particularly low end better than laptop speakers or earbuds or the butt end of a phone.
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You can get Jaco tone with a Fender Deluxe or Ultra Precision with PJ pickups and added diversity of tone with passive or active pickups. I have both. I'd have to yank the frets out to get a little Jaco mwah!
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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I don't care what anyone says... there isn't a gig or a style of music that the Precision Bass doesn't fit. Flatwound or roundwound strings, played fingerstyle or with a pick, detuned, overdriven or clean, slapped, tapped, smacked, banged or beaten, it will work.
I would be more inclined going with the wrong player for the job.
