Where do you pluck your strings?

[DrThumpenstein]

It depends on the tone I'm going for. Near the bridge is a bit more taut and nasal, you can also play a little faster as there is more tension there. Near the neck is a bit more bassy and soft, but the strings feel a bit softer. Over the middle is kind of baseline, the tone everything else is compared to. I start there and then move depending on the sound I'm going for for a particular part or song.

#thread

 

[SteveCS]

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.

Hey Jimmy, is that string tension or tension in your hand caused by having to make more extreme angles to play with a pick back there?

 

[JimmyM]

Hey Jimmy, is that string tension or tension in your hand caused by having to make more extreme angles to play with a pick back there?

String tension mostly, Steve.

 

[pyrat56host]

Sometimes it's up by the 7th fret like Johnny Cash, sometimes down on top of the bridge like that Jaco fella or right in the middle like Goldilocks...I'm usually scheming or screaming and only notice when an ace photog clicks the button~

 

[Brandon Shea]

Currently: wherever sounds best. Really depends on the style of music.

When I started, I was coming from an orchestra (specifically cello) background, so I always anchored my thumb on the neck and plucked from there. When I got a P bass, I started anchoring on the pickup instead of the neck, and that sounded a lot better in most contexts. In the past couple years, I've really put more effort into plucking toward the bridge and using the floating thumb technique. 100% worth it, and it's so nice to be able to alter your tone without tweaking any knobs.

 

[ADHD librarian]

With flats I like the tone I get by having my thumb on the bottom of the neck, with rounds thumb on the pickup.
But it varies by bass, by string, by song, by pickup location...

 

[WI Short Scaler]

All of my basses are single pickup, positioned roughly in the middle. That's where I rest my thumb if playing fingers and with a pick pretty much the same spot.