Why does TalkBass love the P Bass so much?

[Gervais Cote]

I own some Ps and some Js so I would be supposed to be unbiased…….…….but I prefer the P most of the time, especially when playing with others or very loud.

The thing that I love about the precision is that I never get lost behind any drummer, we just "reinforce" each other when hitting hard both at the same time. A p bass is a rhythm machine for me.

A friend of mine that’s been a professional tour and studio bass player for 50 years comes to the same conclusion and from my lot, is favorite is the one as per my avatar picture on the left : Squier body, Warmoth jazz neck, Fender pure vintage 63 pickups and Fender flats.

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

Leo Gorcey?

"Gawann, git outta here before I moydalize ya!"

 

[Barticus]

TalkBass is full of old men.

^^THIS^^


And no, I don’t own one.
I get why others do, but just not for me.

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

If you have to ask, you’ll never know. If you know, you need only ask.

Why would I ask if I already know?

 

[KenSmithFan]

Why does TalkBass live the best selling guitar if all time? Odd question.

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

Why does TalkBass live the best selling guitar if all time? Odd question.

"Why does TalkBass live the best selling guitar if all time?" An odd question indeed.

 

[Rib 13]

My gray goatee. Got a black strip down the middle, which is getting grayer every year.

I only color mine because my eyebrows are still dark ....considering my age, Im actually surprised my eyebrows are still dark

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

TalkBass is full of old men.

^^THIS^^
And no, I don’t own one.
I get why others do, but just not for me.

You don't own an old man? You should try one, they're not bad, according to old ladies.

 

[prndltech]

Are we really gonna do this? 10 pages? 15?

And we gonna do it again next month.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

I was not into P basses (or Fender, for that matter), for 48 of my 50 years of bass playing. But in the last year, I've found that I just like the way they sound and feel. Same with Jazz basses. So, yeah, I may be old, but this has nothing to do with convention or habit with me. I broke my habits to get here. As for the rest of the TB jokers? Who knows?

 

[prndltech]

Also, cuz pino.

 

[J Wilson]

There's a lot of reasons of which many have already been mentioned.

For me, it's simply elemental, a Rosetta stone, the elegantly simple irreducible minimum.

I played many basses over the years since the 70's. When I came along, I could never find a Precision that didn't have a Louisville Slugger neck. So I went to BB1200 Yamahas (which had a still meaty neck) and many other basses over the years.

So I never owned or played a Precision until several years ago, a Squier P5. Well. . .

I got it. Single pickup, a gain and a tone. That's it bub, and the rest of it is up to me. There's an elegant simplicity that this axe just gets out of the way. No pickup blend. No fidgety active EQ I'm always chasing. But I get big tone swings where I pick. Not neck heavy. Solid. Easy to live with. And you really have to work at it to make a PBass sound bad, whereas I've had other basses that could get thin or crazy way too easily.

It's not the Industry Standard for nothing, even all these years later.

 

[5StringBlues]

. Head full of dark hair, dark eyebrows, every facial hair? Gray as can be. yup

I only color mine because my eyebrows are still dark ....considering my age, Im actually surprised my eyebrows are still dark

 

[Rib 13]

. Head full of dark hair, dark eyebrows, every facial hair? Gray as can be. yup

Braggin?

 

[Barticus]

You don't own an old man? You should try one, they're not bad, according to old ladies.

 

[JRA]

TalkBass is full of old men.

can you speak up? --- can't hear ya...

TalkBass is full of old men.

boy, you can say that again!

TalkBass is full of old men.

PJ=spork

per the discussion: IME/IMO = P-basses are pretty limited, they're not capable of variety. however, of all P-basses = mine are probably better than yours. so, even though i don't care for them so much, i'm glad i have my P-basses and not yours.



and there you have it.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

can you speak up? --- can't hear ya...

boy, you can say that again!








per the discussion: IME/IMO = P-basses are pretty limited, they're not capable of variety. however, of all P-basses = mine are probably better than yours. so, even though i don't care for them so much, i'm glad i have my P-basses and not yours.



and there you have it.

TERRIBLE food and such small portions, too ...

 

[fhm555]

Load a Jazz with split coil humbuckers, (stacked coil humbuckers won’t get you there), then solo the neck and play with your thumb resting on the neck heel. While all splits will get you there to a degree, from actual test, DiMarzio Model J is your huckleberry if you want to get close enough to a P that on recordings it is routinely mistaken for a P. If you want more versatility, go for DiMarzio Ultra J pickups. They are not as close as Model Js, but they are so close only a handful will not be fooled, but they give you a lot more range than do the Model J set if you need/want to venture beyond the one trick pony aspect.

 

[Whale guy]

I don't know. Why does my wife like cats so much?

Anyway,
There's just something authentic about it. And talk about consistency...like they say, it just works.

Most basses play better, most basses are more versatile, but a P is in a class of its own.

 

[direktor]

I feel on a long enough timeline, most of us go though a P phase, if one plays enough.

I’m just recently “getting it”, and even if eventually go back to playing 100 or 90% NS-shape, I’ll continue to “get it” and keep one around and appreciate it for what it is. 16 years ago when I joined TB, I could have asked the same question. In context, that was after 16 years of playing on and off. Now it’s been 30 years of playing.

I spent my entire life almost hating the precision shape and look, because of its ubiquity and basic pumkin spice vibe, but slowly started realizing I prefer the sound (in its numerous variations).