Where do you pluck your strings?

[Passinwind]

Where is your hand mostly when you’re plucking? Is it conscious? Or do you deliberately place your hands?

Very deliberate, as I use forced harmonics and side of hand damping quite a bit. The 12th fret zone is one big favorite for "regular" playing, then often between the two pickups.

 

[FullumMusic]

A mix of the sound i'm going for + what makes it easiest/easier to play.

 

[getBAK]

I naturally play over the neck pickup, but will move hands around for specific sounds.

 

[TrevorR]

I was once having this discussion with a bass player chum. He’d genuinely never thought about right hand placement or how he attacked the strings. I went home that afternoon and worked out all the different placements and plucking I will regularly use for different tones and effects…

This was what I came up with… I don’t really do slap! I would guess that if I had a default it would probably be anchoring over the next pickup…

 

[Pilgrim]

Most often I pluck either with my thumb on the top pickup of a two-pickup instrument; on my P-bass I usually pluck with my thumb braced on the end of the neck. But I do not go for a bright sound; I play dead flats and I go for a much deeper, "classic 60's" bass sound.

If I want a slightly brighter sound, I may change the EQ or move my hand closer to the bridge.

 

[Mastermold]

My plucking hand usually goes here:

 

[mambo4]

I consciously and deliberately move my plucking hand to get the sound I want

 

[Ritter667]

Depends, but I really prefer the tone I get from plucking the strings just about where the pickup of a Stingray would be, that is relatively near the bridge.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

There ain't no tellin'... it really depends on what nuance is called for.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Where is your hand mostly when you’re plucking? Is it conscious? Or do you deliberately place your hands?

I have an '82 Jazz and my default position is in front of the neck pickup about 1½" to 2" below the heel of my neck. That just happens to be where my fingers fall when I'm resting my arm on the body of my bass. So I set all my EQ adjustments to sound good at that default position. I never have to check it because that's my finger's natural position.

If I need a darker/warmer sound I'll move my plucking position closer to, or even over the neck (a movement of 1" makes a noticeable difference in my sound). If I want a brighter sound with more attack, I'll move my hand towards the bridge pickup . If I need to do a bunch of galloping 16th note triplets, I'll move my hand back by the bridge pickup or behind it because the added tension of the string in that position makes it much easier to get those really quick triplet notes. If I want my Jazz to growl, I'll did into the notes right over the bridge pickup.

I should also mention that with my plucking fingers, I am plucking the strings with my fingers at an angle to the strings again because that's how my fingers naturally line up with my forearm resting on the body of my bass. If you were to look at your fingertip straight on, that would be between the 4 and 5 o'clock position. If you were looking at a compass that would be be in the Southeast direction from the center of the tip of our finger. If I need more attack, I will approach the pluck at about a 90° position with the tip of my finger. I also tend to use the tip of my plucking fingers when doing fast runs and runs above the 12th fret for better definition of the note

So I do have a default position but I guess you could say that I'm all over the place depending upon what the song needs at the time..

 

[atquinn]

Generally in the middle for fingerstyle. Basically, I anchor my hand around the neck-most pickup and pickup just to the bridge-ward side of it. So if is a 2 pickup bass (which all but one of my basses are), I end up plucking in between the pickups. I never play any closer to the bridge because it sounds like utter garbage when I do (hopefully, someday I'll figure that out). If I want to sound "uprighty", then I pluck right over the fingerboard (around the 20th-fret area). That happens most often on my fretless, but I do it on the fretted basses sometimes to. For pickup, my positioning a little more toward the bridge, even more so if I'm muting.

 

[Dust2Dust]

I anchor my thumb on the neck pickup and my fingers end up between the two pickups

 

[logdrum]

I watched and listened to too much Jaco LOL. I did answer all over, because very few bands can dig the burp all night

 

[bassfran]

Different basses? Different places.

 

[ajkula66]

I'd say that I'm right around the bridge 75% of the time, and the rest is split between all the other locations.

Deliberately at all times.

 

[Shenron]

Middle: instinctively, I anchor my thumb on the neck pickup (which is rather a mid pickup, not too close to the neck) so I pluck a couple cm below.

Sometimes I change depending on the wanted tone, but then I am not a fan of the tone I get from plucking near the bridge, and neither the feeling.

 

[pklima]

Instictively depending on what I feel is needed, but one aspect of that which it seems not all bassists do: plucking harder often means moving towards the bridge a bit. Not sure if that helps keep the sound clean or if it's just an unnecessary habit left over from DB where bowing closer to the bridge in louder dynamics is normal.

 

[Petethebassman]

99% of the time I'm playing over the neck pickup with a Jazz Bass, if I'm playing the Precision, I'm playing over the pickup. That has been the default technique for decades.

 

[Ritter667]

Instictively depending on what I feel is needed, but one aspect of that which it seems not all bassists do: plucking harder often means moving towards the bridge a bit. Not sure if that helps keep the sound clean or if it's just an unnecessary habit left over from DB where bowing closer to the bridge in louder dynamics is normal

The strings are relatively less flexible near the bridge, and the vibrations of the strings when plucking there won't vibrate as far in their extreme positions relatively to how hard you pluck, which does equate to less buzz, as the strings are less likely to brush off the frets/fretboard when vibrating than if you had picked with same strength further towards the neck.

So yes, at least in the theory, depending, plucking harder towards the bridge will result in a cleaner sound.

Same reason for why you bow for louder dynamics near the bridge on a double bass.

Though I personally prefer the tone I get when plucking near the bridge, just about above the bridge pickup (though I do not anchor on the pickup, I use floating thumb technique), so that is my home zone, and I got a fairly light touch.

I suppose you could argue that the actual resulting tone when plucking near the bridge is somewhat more poignant and aggressive when you as well, which may be better suited to underline loud dynamic passages.

 

[JimmyM]

With fingers, it depends on the mood of the tune. With a pick, I’ll go between the neck and the first pickup because the tension past that point causes me great pain within seconds.