nagasaki45

It's a Yamaha BB414, so yes, the J pickup is real 😄 The "get a PJ bass" suggestion actually made me think, maybe without the J it will be less comfortable to play over the J pickup, so I will stay over the P 🤔 I always play standing. Didn't think about changing the strap length. Will try! BTW, yesterday and today I tried to notice a bit more what's going on while playing, and I can say that my thumb rests on the E string way more often than I initially thought. I would say, whenever I don't play the E string, the thumb is on it, or on the A string. It moves to the A string when there's a section that is only on D and G strings. From the moment I'm on the E string it's easier to move towards the bridge without noticing. As everyone says, it's mainly breaking an old habit. I will try the suggestions here, or just slow down what I'm playing to concentrate more on my right hand until it will feel natural to stay where I want to stay.

Thanks for the comments! Doing that already, but when moving to D or G strings my thumb goes up to the E string and from there I start to shift towards the bridge. To be honest, I think that what happens. When I concentrate on this I stay over the P pickup but when trying to follow a score or play something fast I suddenly find myself over the J pickup and not sure how I got there. Maybe I should video myself and see how this happens. Nope. The thumb is always resting somewhere. Either the P pickup or the E string. Maybe even the A string. Interesting idea! Will give it a shot. I've been trying to soften my touch in the past few months, to see if it improves my technique, not only for the issue in this thread, also for plucking hand speed. To be honest, I'm not sure I like the tone I get, and I don't think it made me faster. Will keep trying though. You all suggested it's more of a habit / technique thing than a setup thing. That's good to know. Will try to improve this by practicing then. BTW, maybe the thread can be moved to the technique sub-forum? Thanks again for your help! Tom

Hi Basschat! Long time lurker first time poster. Really enjoy reading and learning here. So thanks for that! As the title says, I'm struggling to keep plucking, fingerstyle, over the P pickup. When concentrated on my tone while playing I usually like to stay over the P pickup as I find the sound more aggressive / gnarly as I like. But often while playing (exercises from a method book, for example) I find my plucking hand shifting towards the bridge to play over the bridge J pickup. A few possible reasons why: - The sound of plucking over the bridge J pickup is tighter, so the better definition helps me hearing what's going on while playing exercises etc. - It's a habit. I think I'm used to play over the bridge J pickup most of my life. This preference towards a more aggressive tone that I get over the P pickup is relatively new. Maybe I just need to re-wire my brain, e.g. maybe it's just practice. - Third option, which is what I suspect: the string tension is easier for me to play over the bridge J pickup. The strings feel much tighter there under the plucking hand, which I find easier to play. So maybe it's not just a technique / practice thing, but something in my setup that pushes me to play in a sub-optimal position (for me). I'm not sure which of these are the reason for making it hard to keep my hand planted over the P pickup. I guess it's a mixture of them. I would love to hear your advice, especially regarding the 3rd point, if you think it's a setup issue more than a technique issue. I was thinking, either to raise the action (it's quite low at the moment), or change strings from the nickel hybrid slinkies to heavier gauge (50-110) or to higher tension. Do you think something like that would help? Hope this messy question makes any sense 🙂 Thanks, Tom