Where do you pluck?

[boombloom]

That's a very personal question...

 

[MichelD]

Rest my thumb on the bottom end of the neck where it meets the body.

 

[vvvmmm]

Rest my thumb on the bottom end of the neck where it meets the body.

So, the collar bone ...

 

[ToddB1963]

Ears and eyebrows, never the nose.

 

[ToddB1963]

So, the collar bone ...

two for two LOL

 

[Zak TMD]

 

[Jefenator]

There is a case to be made IMHO for finger picking near whichever pickup is on - or between if both. (But I'll also go all the way up onto the fretboard to approximate the upright for walking jazz.)
With the pick, I am pretty hooked on muting near the bridge with my palm. Things get way too floppy for me up near the neck. YMMV.

 

[MichelD]

That's kind of a personal question isn't it?

 

[logdrum]

I was going to vote it depends but 95% of the time I pluck over the bridge pickup or behind the P pickup if using a P-bass. For rounder tone and slower passages - I mostly thumb now and I think that is because I play mostly the hybrid bass + guitar

But I just cannot resist because of how you phrased the question:

 

[LeonineAlpha]

Ive recently discovered how you can change the timbre even darker by plucking over the fretboard, even above the 12th fret!

I find this a bit tricky on my J with rounds, and easy on my flats Ibanez Sr 5, though I find that weird cause the Sr takes slightly lower action (and both are set what I would call medium action cause I sometimes try to pick hard, and like to dig in often).

Wherever I start plucking, also became aware that for some tight passages, as I move down to lower strings, I should drift bridgeward for consistent timbre and string tension. So if I drop down to E or B string, I may end up at the bridge, but at G I seldom like being below bridge pickup.

Floating thumb...