The joy of the J

[4000]

Physically, for me, they’re now one of the most uncomfortable basses out there. Which is a shame, because I would quite like one with flats for that Gary Thain vibe. 

[nikon F]

3 hours ago, 4000 said:

Physically, for me, they’re now one of the most uncomfortable basses out there. Which is a shame, because I would quite like one with flats for that Gary Thain vibe. 

love Thains playing on the heep albums ,,,on the earlier keef hartley records you could hear him leading up to what he did with them.  he also played a P towards the end of his time with heep 

[4000]

2 hours ago, nikon F said:

love Thains playing on the heep albums ,,,on the earlier keef hartley records you could hear him leading up to what he did with them.  he also played a P towards the end of his time with heep 

He did indeed, but I like his sound on Demons & Wizards and Magicians Birthday best. So sweet & plummy. Love Gary, one of my favourites. 
 

 

[Nicko]

On 27/05/2022 at 11:21, Supernaut said:

It's like a P but easier to play. 
 

Also, more EQ options. 😁

Personally I find the neck on a J a bit too narrow when I pick one up.  That's only because I'm used to a bit more space between the strings because I've been playing a P for years.  My first proper bass was a Peavey Cirrus which was really narrow so I suspect I could learn to love  a narrow neck again.

[ubit]

 

[pfretrock]

On 28/05/2022 at 12:16, chris_b said:

I'd question that a Jazz is an "easier" bass to play than a Precision.

 

If anyone finds a Precision more difficult, they need to work harder on their technique.

P was my first bass. Can't play a J, not sure why, P is easier.

[Supernaut]

I guess I'm in the minority then for bass players with slender fingers!

[Graham]

Love a jazz bass, my main is a Lakland DJ5, I find the 70s pickup spacing works really well for me

 

Also, my favourite recorded bass sound is a jazz

 

 

[Supernaut]

The whole Evil Empire record has great Jazz tones. 

[bubinga5]

I love jazz basses. I find the tone much more interesting than any other bass tbh. More versatile. The 70's jazz bass for me just has that tone.. My only negative is they can sound thin. I used to own a Suhr custom 70's jazz below. I A\B ,d it with a Fender Original 74 and the Fender sounded huge. Obviously the pickup wind. You can also have a jazz with single coils with no hum. The Suhr had single coils with no hum at all. Amazing sounding and feeling instrument. Probably the best Jazz bass I've ever played.

[FinnDave]

I currently have two Jazzes and three (soon to be four) Precisions. I play in two bands and had formed the idea that one (blues/rock) was better suited to the Precision, and the other (Grateful Dead covers) was more Jazz bass territory, but I played two gigs in the last couple of days with the GD band and used a different Precision for each gig….and they sounded great. Not that my Jazz basses are going anywhere!

Edited June 4, 2022 by FinnDave

[dub_junkie]

I like Jazz basses. Always have done.
On a G&L I always preferred the #8 (1.5” nut)  jazz profile neck and it’s the same with MusicMan in that the USA Sterling has my favourite neck shape in their range. 
 

right now I have a Valenti, two G&L JB2s and two Sire V3s

 

 

[Bagman]

Lightweight 70’s model is a good gigging instrument, add in a Sadowsky BP1 and a lot of options

 

Looks cool

 

SS Rounds or Flats, both work

 

 

 

[Marvin]

As I wrote in the P bass thread, I really like the simplicity of a P bass and its tone. However, the bass I use most is a Jazz style bass. It's a Sire V7. It maybe just this bass, but I find the neck about the best and most com I've ever played. The only negative is the inevitable hum if you only use one pick up. It's never a problem if I'm not going through a PA, but does rear its head whenever going direct to a desk. 

 

I don't tend to use the active tone controls, but they're there if I want them. 

 

Tone wise, I was actually very surprised when my wife recorded me at a gig to find out what I sounded like. The intro to one song was just me, and I sounded really woody and upright bass...I was using flatwounds which helped.

 

Perhaps it's just this Jazz bass, but versatile and just feels right.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

On 28/05/2022 at 12:16, chris_b said:

I'd question that a Jazz is an "easier" bass to play than a Precision.

 

If anyone finds a Precision more difficult, they need to work harder on their technique.

I don't think it has much to do with technique. I just prefer my bass necks not to feel like the thick end of a baseball bat sliced in two.

[gjones]

I suggest, to make it perfect, get a new wiring loom to switch controls to master volume, blend, tone.

[Woodinblack]

On 28/05/2022 at 12:16, chris_b said:

If anyone finds a Precision more difficult, they need to work harder on their technique.

 

That makes no sense at all. Are you saying that objectively the P is easier to play for everyone than a J, or a J is fundamentally hard to play?

 

I find the P harder to play than the J, but I find them both harder to play than any of my ibanezes. In that I can play them all, but I can't do faster stuff on a P.

[Reggaebass]

27 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

but I can't do faster stuff on a P

I can’t do fast stuff on anything 😁

[chris_b]

30 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

That makes no sense at all. Are you saying that objectively the P is easier to play for everyone than a J, or a J is fundamentally hard to play?

 

I didn't say either of those things!!

 

I said that if your technique is good one bass shouldn't be more "difficult" to play than the other.

[Woodinblack]

11 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I said that if your technique is good one bass shouldn't be more "difficult" to play than the other.

 

ok, so the top of the range fodera bass is no easier to play than a woolworths bass you got out of a skip with an action you can drive a truck under. Gotcha.

 

So all that effort getting short / long scale, string spacing, weight etc is just for no reason.

 

 

[chris_b]

29 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

ok, so the top of the range fodera bass is no easier to play than a woolworths bass you got out of a skip with an action you can drive a truck under. Gotcha.

 

So all that effort getting short / long scale, string spacing, weight etc is just for no reason.

 

That is not what I said or meant. Why be so aggressive?

[Linus27]

I've pretty much played Jazz all my playing days, I've always gravitated towards them. I do love a P-Bass and do have one that I play, I just seem to be more comfortable and suit playing a Jazz way more. 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

Why be so aggressive?

Possibly cos what you said was a bit daft 🤷‍♂️

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

 

That is not what I said or meant. Why be so aggressive?

 

I am not being aggressive, I really don't understand what you are talking about. You said "if your technique is good one bass shouldn't be more "difficult" to play than the other.", ie, you appear to be saying that the only thing that makes something easier or more difficult to play is entirely your technique, which would seem to imply the thing that you are playing has no part in how difficult it is to play. And that makes so little sense to me that I think I must be missing your point.

 

I have two musical keyboards here, one is harder to play than the other one, its heavier. I have 3 guitars next to me, One has quite heavy strings, which makes itt much harder to play than others, although I like the sound. One has a trem which I am not good with, which makes it harder to play than the other, although easier to trem, and one is very easy to play but it is a gibson so it goes out of tune a lot. I have 7 basses next to me, they vary from really easy to play to really hard, depending on what your doing. One is next to impossible to play, as no matter how good my techinque is, the fact that the nut has broken makes it very tricky.

 

I have two computer keyboards on my desk, one is harder to type on than the other.

All of these differences may be fractional, but every single thing I own has a different level of ease of use to every other thing.

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

I can’t do fast stuff on anything 😁

 

I use 'hit me with your rythmn stick' as a guage on ease of use as it is on the edge of what I can play. I can play it on my ibanezes, I could play it on a J I had, but not a P. I can play it on my shuker, it is a bit hard going on the spector.

If I get a bass its one of the first things I try. If I can't play it there is no point hanging onto the bass as I will eventually get fed up with it.

The wider the string spacing and the higher the action, the harder it gets.