Preferred Slap Bass Guitar?

[Diminished Triad]

A bass player/instructor mentioned yesterday that he preferred (and recommended) a Fender Jazz bass over a P bass if someone wanted to sound better using slap bass techniques. Is this your same experience (jazz bass over precision bass for slap sound/effect)? He explained the differences in the pickups result in more articulate "slap" if using jazz pickups instead of P bass pups.
Thanks for any experience you can share!

 

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Preferred Slap Bass Guitar?

I'm sure for every type of bass out there, you can find easily a number of professional bassists that have killer slap tones with them. The guys that really make great slap tone focus on the technique itself, and know their instrument well enough to get the desired sound and feel for the task at hand.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Preferred Slap Bass Guitar?

Jazz pickups are a little more articulate, so I imagine they'd be better at slapping. The old single humbucker Musicmans were big with the slappers too. I'm pretty sure you'll hear the Gibson/Epiphone EB3s aren't very good for it, but I've had no real problems with it, and the minihum in the bridge position likes it fine.

 

[threechordcharlie]

Re: Preferred Slap Bass Guitar?

I'm sure for every type of bass out there, you can find easily a number of professional bassists that have killer slap tones with them. The guys that really make great slap tone focus on the technique itself, and know their instrument well enough to get the desired sound and feel for the task at hand.

This!
I've done it on both. You do have to adjust your technique, but that's why they call it a technique.
OBTW: I play a P currently and I chose it over the J. But that's just my preference.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Preferred Slap Bass Guitar?

The one advantage that a J bass might have over a P is the second pickup, closer to the bridge. With individual volume controls, it is possible to set up some interesting notch filtering effects to add "honk" to the overall bass guitar sound.