Where is your right hand? Neck pickup or bridge?

[Parabolic Box]

Geddy Lee's right hand is all over the place for some songs. Usually, it looks like it's just forward of the neck pickup.

 

[Midianez]

For my warwick-like exotic wood bass its like:
At the neck = 75% of the time (walking bass/most of grooves)
At the neck pickup = 25% (faster, 16th grooves)

 

[Bass_masta16]

I float..

(If that even really is a technique)

 

[DaneB]

I find that my hand naturally falls close to the bridge pickup, and that's comfortable to play both in terms of position and string tension, as the TI flats are fairly low tension. I try to play more over the neck pickup though, as the fat roundness is nice.

 

[51m0n]

Anchored on the Bridge pup 75%
Muting with the palm, plucking with thumb 10%
Slapping 5%
The rest of the time (10%) is anywhere from the neck to between the pups, depending on the tone I want for that note....

 

[bigblondeafro87]

Lately I've been checking out moving to different places in the song. In vamps and repetitive grooves you can place accents by playing with a beefy, aggressive tone closer to the bridge pickup and drop some low notes while plucking closer to the neck for some added depth.

Or playing a reggae or afro cuban type groove play closer to the neck for smooth, fat bass tones and pluck with a finger nail in between the bridge and neck pickup for an unexpected p-bass sounding note (hammer ons and as a pickup to a heavy beat is where it fits best).

A bass is like a drum set and each beat can have a variety of different tones, which when combined formed a textured sentence. Sometimes the sentence sounds best with all one tone, but other can be thrown in and used along with note choice and rhythymic choice to form a song

 

[Brad Maestas]

Usually neck pickup but just as often on the end of the fingerboard or the low string.
I make my way to the bridge pickup once every full moon.

 

[Ampeg SVT]

Bridge pickup area (my p doesnt have a bridge pickup, but the Peavey Im getting does), I love how when you dig in the strings dont get super clacky like when you dig in at the neck.

 

[willg95]

where I usually am for the given genre on my p bass...
jazz - slighty above the pickups
funk - when not playing slap, about an 2.5 inches from the bridge
rock - pick about where the pickups are, fingers close to bridge

that's just what I do for hand location

 

[matala]

No matter what bass I´ve had, most of the time it has been on the neck pickup or on the B string. I´ve never thought I would try any other places but after reading this topic, but I´m going to give a try in next rehearsals..

 

[CascadeBass]

A bass is like a drum set and each beat can have a variety of different tones, which when combined formed a textured sentence.

Very nicely put.

 

[HaVIC5]

Gary Willis likes to talk about the "sweet spot" on the bass, which is between the neck and the neck pickup on most instruments (this is why the ramp was designed). Upright bass players are accustomed with this concept with where they pluck along the fingerboard depending on where their left hand is stopping the note. Usually it's about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way from where you fret the note, and in the bottom positions, this is about between the neck and the neck pickup (as you go further up the bass, this area goes further and further back to the bridge) It's basically the place that, supposedly, the "biggest" tone can be achieved with the most definition. Of course, its subjective, and some people don't necessarily like that "wide" tone, but it's a nice thing to shoot for for a lot of music.

And like people have said, having a large palette of tones is always desirable. But like a painter with colors, it's not advisable to use all of them all the time.

 

[doctorjazz]

I usually chill just in front of the bridge pup. I move a little closer to the bridge if I'm doing Jaco stuff, and I go up between the neck and neck pup, sometimes over the end of the board if I want to do really lyrical stuff with lots of mwah or an upright imitation.

 

[Halxbass]

I have a 35" scale 24 frets bass and I like to walk over my 18th fret to get a REAL wooden sound. Of course you have to be careful with your RH technique not to hit the strings against the frets. It also works wonder on my frettless for long fat wooden notes...

 

[Tylos]

Mostly around the neck.

 

[UncleBalsamic]

Bridge most of the time on my violin bass.

 

[CatfishStudios]

Depends on the tone im after....Im new to bass..but I tend to rest my thumb on the rear or front pickup and move my fingers forward or backwards to get the sweet spots....I slap almost on the fretboard.

 

[Way Off Bass]

near the neck, usually at the very bottom of the fretboard: not only for tone, but also I like the tension/feel of the strings at this point

 

[winstonthecat]

I stay closer to the neck pup. I use my tone control to adjust the punchiness. I should experiment more with different positions, just to get used to them.

I only play with a pick once in a while, and I tend to play closer to the bridge with a pick.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I always anchor my right hand thumb on the bridge pickup. I have done this for so long it has become a part of me. Personally I have low to med action and I dig in pretty hard playing up by the bridge gives me a smooth clean tone that I really like.