I hang out near the end of the neck - sometimes over it, sometimes, between the neck and the neck pickup. I have thumb rests on all my basses - they go from the neck to the neck pickup. Plucking south of the neck pickup I just don't do. I like bass in my bass.
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Where do you pluck?
- Thread starter misterCRUSH
- Start date
all over, everywhere, whatever feels right for the tune/moment. depending on the part/notes/feel i'm trying to play, and the instrument i'm playing = could be anywhere between the ~octave on the fingerboard to the ~bridge. different tunes, or parts thereof: different locations.
i voted "varies depending on the tone I want," but i think it's as much a "feel" for me as it is a tone...they go together IME.
i voted "varies depending on the tone I want," but i think it's as much a "feel" for me as it is a tone...they go together IME.
I am always directly over the neck pickup.
I use the neck pickup as my "thumb rest".
It just feels more comfortable and natural to me.
My 2 pickups are wired in series.
I only ever play directly over the neck pickup.
I move around, but for a lot of the stuff I play (i.e., mellow grooves), I like to be up at the end of (or over) the fretboard. I’m not much of a rock player.
The typical TB answer for me: depends.
What tone for what song? Am I using one bass with flats or another with rounds? Which amp on a given day? Do I usually use my stingray with TI flats or did I swipe my daughter's Stingray with TI flats for the gig and it sounds different enough to need to pluck in a slightly different place than on mine for the same tone? Am I in a verse or chorus of a song?
Too many variables for me to stay in one place, even within a given song.
What tone for what song? Am I using one bass with flats or another with rounds? Which amp on a given day? Do I usually use my stingray with TI flats or did I swipe my daughter's Stingray with TI flats for the gig and it sounds different enough to need to pluck in a slightly different place than on mine for the same tone? Am I in a verse or chorus of a song?
Too many variables for me to stay in one place, even within a given song.
I voted “over the neck” but it’s actually “between the neck & the neck pickup” most of the time.
I play a PJ bass. My "home" position when I have both pickups on is right between the two. If I'm using just the P pickup, I pluck over the P pickup. I never use the bridge pickup soloed, but sometimes I will move down to the bridge end to pluck if I'm using the low V string - it's tighter and more clear when I play there. I also sometimes move all the way up to the base of the neck, if I want a really wooly upright-ish sound. It just depends on what the song I'm playing calls for.
I’ve done it at times, mainly just to play upper chords when it was a 3 pc.
I don't have a fixed place depending on the genre.
I believe I use It all even in a single jazz song that starts with mellow chords, continiues with hard syncopations at head and goes to swing at solos.
I have one pickup and a mute switch so I play from the 12th fret to the bridge saddles depending on what the song needs.
Like Leo intended for bass players to play: fingers on the rest and let the thumb do the talking.
Around my eyebrows, mostly. They get out of control so easily. 
Especially the P- Bass (and any bass with one pickup only) requires one to pluck or pick wherever required to get the desired tone. So anything from the neck to the bridge goes.
I remember a good excersise: take a rock song, say Paranoid, and try to play it:
- near the neck with focus on the metalic clicks
- in the mid with focus on precise time
- near the bridge with focus on consistent attack (first note of bar always accented)
Level 2: take a song, say Smoke on the water, and do the same excersise, but with the feeling 'I want it to sound real heavy.' Then another, which you want to sound soft, etc. The idea is to build a bank of 'plucking expressions' to choose from.
- near the neck with focus on the metalic clicks
- in the mid with focus on precise time
- near the bridge with focus on consistent attack (first note of bar always accented)
Level 2: take a song, say Smoke on the water, and do the same excersise, but with the feeling 'I want it to sound real heavy.' Then another, which you want to sound soft, etc. The idea is to build a bank of 'plucking expressions' to choose from.
Plucking feathers is not my thing, but finger style on bass is.
Me 90% bridge playing.
I like that tight feel and bridge tone.
Me 90% bridge playing.
I like that tight feel and bridge tone.
I feel like my starting point is between both pickups, a little closer to the neck. I used a floating thumb for muting so it can vary. For slap, I’m closer to the base of the neck. For palm-muting, the edge of my hand is sitting on the bridge…etc.
