Absolutely this. When I first got to TB (shortly after the invention of electricity, if I remember aright) the P was definitely not the "it" bass it is now.
It was all about the J at that point.
GT
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Why does TalkBass love the P Bass so much?
- Thread starter GwennyT
- Start date
Absolutely this. When I first got to TB (shortly after the invention of electricity, if I remember aright) the P was definitely not the "it" bass it is now.
It was all about the J at that point.
GT
The P is the most widely used bass in hit songs in human history. So, the implication is obvious.
Agree IME; BUT most if not all refuse to understand that with fervor and believe the P bass 'they own' is ultimate P tone; also you must use their prefered Strings
Disclaimer: the above post contains my personal opinions/thoughts in a tongue-in-cheek manner most people miss completely. It's ok if you don't share them.
Why does TalkBass love the P Bass so much?
We can go beyond TalkBass. Why do so many bass players like the P Bass so much?.......... It sounds great!
Think of how many recordings over the decades where the bass is a P! More than any other bass.
Already been said, "plug and play". Simple. Great sound. Sounds the way a bass guitar should sound.
There are a lot of great basses out there but to be blunt, the P Bass is top of the list.
One trick pony? No it's not! Example, listen to John Entwistle's P Bass on Live At Leeds!!!!!!!!!!!! Scary!!!!!!!!!!!
"To each his/her own." Play whatever bass you like. Nobody is pushing a P on anyone. But, it's a great bass!
We can go beyond TalkBass. Why do so many bass players like the P Bass so much?.......... It sounds great!
Think of how many recordings over the decades where the bass is a P! More than any other bass.
Already been said, "plug and play". Simple. Great sound. Sounds the way a bass guitar should sound.
There are a lot of great basses out there but to be blunt, the P Bass is top of the list.
One trick pony? No it's not! Example, listen to John Entwistle's P Bass on Live At Leeds!!!!!!!!!!!! Scary!!!!!!!!!!!
"To each his/her own." Play whatever bass you like. Nobody is pushing a P on anyone. But, it's a great bass!
Oddly enough a nickel laid on a Pbass pickup withe E or G pressed on on the last fret is about the right pickup distance from the strings.I may be a dyed-in-the-wool Jazz bass diehard…not to mention a P/Jhereticfan, to boot…but there’s no denying the overwhelming popularity of a solid P-bass. Why is there so much love for it? Whatever the answer is, I’ll bet a nickel it lies somewhere between “functionality” and “tradition”. How much of each probably depends on the individual player.
You can adjust a few things on a P with spare change. Chinese coins or hole a nickle and you have string tree!
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Dont know about TB but....every time the other instruments take it down and the drummer and I get groovy, no one has ever left the dance floor. P bass, dead Chromes, light touch, Ampeg = slam and booty for days.
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The P bass is quite adaptable. My first bass was a POS Audition. My second bass was slightly better, a semi-hollow Aria "Danny Partridge" bass. Then I got a P bass, which was far better. By the time I was done with it, though, it was a lined fretless PJ with Barts and a Badass bridge (thanks to Mike Tobias' shop in Orlando). It was much better after the mods. The P bass out of the box is kind of a one-trick pony, but the basic design allows lots of additions and modifications. That shows what a great design platform the P-bass is.
TBr's are as likely to favor P Basses as they are to criticize FSOs for being FSOs
That's what I have seen
That's what I have seen
P basses have "sixteen times the detail" of jazz basses
Even in this thread, you’ll see people claiming that the J pickup’s magnetic pull affects the tone even when the pickup is off. I think that’s total hooey.
I gotta agree with some of the other posts here that the "obsession" (well, really the number of threads popularizing the P Bass) has increased over the last few years. I've been a member since 2008, and there was nowhere near the amount of discussions about P basses a decade ago that I can remember. That doesn't mean people weren't playing and loving them...but trends come and go in the bass world, like everywhere else, and right now there's a cyclical trend back to the P Bass (at least among actively posting members here on TB).
I think of the P Bass like a pickup truck. It'll get the job done in most situations and can be customizable for some different situations. Some people love their old pickup just the way they bought it and it's the only thing they'll ever drive, regardless of what other type of vehicle is available. Some people will put a more powerful drivetrain in their pickup, drop the tires, upgrade the suspension, paint it flashier colors, drop in headers, and make it into a hot rod, instead of buying a different type of vehicle. Other people prefer a sedan, a 2 door coupe, a production sports car like a Mustang or Corvette, an old beat up van, a restored Model T, etc.... and some people choose to drop the money on a handbuilt Ferrari. The bass world has versions of all of that, and just like those cars, the popularity and demand for each type changes over time.
I think of the P Bass like a pickup truck. It'll get the job done in most situations and can be customizable for some different situations. Some people love their old pickup just the way they bought it and it's the only thing they'll ever drive, regardless of what other type of vehicle is available. Some people will put a more powerful drivetrain in their pickup, drop the tires, upgrade the suspension, paint it flashier colors, drop in headers, and make it into a hot rod, instead of buying a different type of vehicle. Other people prefer a sedan, a 2 door coupe, a production sports car like a Mustang or Corvette, an old beat up van, a restored Model T, etc.... and some people choose to drop the money on a handbuilt Ferrari. The bass world has versions of all of that, and just like those cars, the popularity and demand for each type changes over time.
I’m a P bass player. Having said that, here’s my hot take.
If the Jazz or Stingray had been Leo’s initial bass invention, would the P bass ever have been invented?
If we had the “Fender bass” standard set as a two single coil pickup bass, and *that* was *the* sound of Motown, The Beach Boys, punk rock, classic rock, early metal, country music, etc. and maybe Leo came along later and invented the HH Stingray as the post-Fender “evolution” of the Jazz bass, would the split coil pickup ever have been invented? If it eventually had been, would people discard it since it only has one pickup? Would the original H stingray ever have been invented?
I would guess the split coil anyway would never have gained the popularity it has. For P bass players, it’s the sound of a bass because of all that history, it’s on so many recordings, and for many of us it or a knock off was our first bass even when we didn’t know enough to have any tastes one way or another.
At the end of the day, none of it matters, a bass guitar is a bass guitar. The tribalism some people insist upon on both sides of questions like this is ridiculous. Play what you like, so long as you play.
If the Jazz or Stingray had been Leo’s initial bass invention, would the P bass ever have been invented?
If we had the “Fender bass” standard set as a two single coil pickup bass, and *that* was *the* sound of Motown, The Beach Boys, punk rock, classic rock, early metal, country music, etc. and maybe Leo came along later and invented the HH Stingray as the post-Fender “evolution” of the Jazz bass, would the split coil pickup ever have been invented? If it eventually had been, would people discard it since it only has one pickup? Would the original H stingray ever have been invented?
I would guess the split coil anyway would never have gained the popularity it has. For P bass players, it’s the sound of a bass because of all that history, it’s on so many recordings, and for many of us it or a knock off was our first bass even when we didn’t know enough to have any tastes one way or another.
At the end of the day, none of it matters, a bass guitar is a bass guitar. The tribalism some people insist upon on both sides of questions like this is ridiculous. Play what you like, so long as you play.
Besides being versatile and having many useful tones, that's what everyone expects to see (band members, producers, audience, etc.).
