SH73 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Silly thing to put a tug bar on modern p basses. Why not thumb rest when most people use fingers or pick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I don't understand what a tug bar is for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH73 Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1485950525' post='3227908'] I don't understand what a tug bar is for? [/quote] Thumb rest is above the strings,tug bag is under the strings. Same thing slightly different purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 My CIJ mustang didn't come with one, but I added one as I like the vintage look. I don't really use it, but it is good for getting a deep wooly tone - particularly if you have some length on the nails of the right hand (eg for playing ukulele) where playing fingerstyle could have too bright an attack. Even if you don't use it, it doesn't get in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisK1975 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1485950525' post='3227908'] I don't understand what a tug bar is for? [/quote] The idea was to hold the tug bar with your fingers and play the bass near the neck with your thumb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markstuk Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) [quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1485950926' post='3227914'] The idea was to hold the tug bar with your fingers and play the bass near the neck with your thumb. [/quote] Sure, when it was below the strings :-) But it's migrated above the strings now.. Edited February 1, 2017 by markstuk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 And changed it's name to Thumb Rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisK1975 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1485951126' post='3227916'] Sure, when it was below the strings :-) But it's migrated above the strings now.. [/quote] When above the strings, it's a thumb rest, for finger playing. When below the strings, it's a tug bar, for thumb playing. That's the general way it's explained, I think! YMMV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markstuk Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) [quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1485951382' post='3227922'] When above the strings, it's a thumb rest, for finger playing. When below the strings, it's a tug bar, for thumb playing. That's the general way it's explained, I think! YMMV! [/quote] Spot on.. Though as a thumb rest it sort of locks you into a single playing position... I seem to recall Leo assumed that bass players would primarily want to use their thumbs... Edited February 1, 2017 by markstuk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Leo thought that double bass players would play it with the thumb apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 So he didn't get [i]everything[/i] right first time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1485951823' post='3227927'] So he didn't get [i]everything[/i] right first time! [/quote] Nah, he peaked in the mid 70's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 There was a you tube video of a Beach Boys concert featuring Brian Wilson using the tugbar on a 1960's P Bass posted on here a while ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1485950926' post='3227914'] The idea was to hold the tug bar with your fingers and play the bass near the neck with your thumb. [/quote] Hmmmm wouldn't be my preference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1485950525' post='3227908'] I don't understand what a tug bar is for? [/quote] This is the 1962 P Bass used by Greg Lake. Note the tugbar under the G string. Bassists back in the day used to grip with the index and middle fingers while plucking the strings with the thumb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 i like the look of both and I do occasionally play with my thumb so it is useful when doing that. take it off if you don't like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Who T F made Leo the boss of bass anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SICbass Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1485964614' post='3228085'] Who T F made Leo the boss of bass anyway? [/quote] Blasphemy! 😛 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1485964614' post='3228085'] Who T F made Leo the boss of bass anyway? [/quote] Go and stand in the corner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1485965317' post='3228094'] Blasphemy! [/quote] [quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1485965690' post='3228097'] Go and stand in the corner! [/quote] Harharharharharhar. Who do you think I am? Jack Horner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1485966761' post='3228110'] Harharharharharhar. Who do you think I am? Jack Horner? [/quote] Jack Hohner? Not a tug bar in sight anyway! 😋 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 No. Jack Horner married one of the Spice Girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) Heeheehee - carry on tugging. Edited February 1, 2017 by SpondonBassed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1485954545' post='3227962'] This is the 1962 P Bass used by Greg Lake. Note the tugbar under the G string. Bassists back in the day used to grip with the index and middle fingers while plucking the strings with the thumb. [/quote] Amazing - I'm PBFS he used a Fender Jazz when I saw him with Emerson Lake and Palmer back in the 70s and also with KC before that? He also played rather nice acoustic guitar as well - I hadn't appreciated he'd gone back to the 1959 rudiments at some stage 🤔 With regard to the tug bar, back in the late 60s when I got interested in these things, unless you played with your fingers bass players were rather thought of as dabbling guitarists or worse still, those clicky plectrum things on the 'bubblegum' pop music of the day, as opposed to proper progressive music (or jazz/R and B ) so it was really an anachronism from the late 50s. As is often the case with Messrs Fender and timely (or not usually) response to customer practice and need, they moved the tug bar to the top to facilitate 'proper' finger style bass playing in the early 70s just at a time when slap bass was taking off in R and B, and thus rendering it virtually impossible on a standard Precision without removing said tug bar. Of course, parking your plucking hand in one place by using the tug bar rather limits the change in sound you can get by varying somewhere between the bridge and the neck. But so do the chrome covers (even more so on a Jazz). All that said, a Fender without a tug bar in the traditional place for the era (and chrome covers) just doesn't look right to me but that's just me being OCD probably 😉 Edited February 1, 2017 by drTStingray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 [quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1485967291' post='3228120'] No. Jack Horner married one of the Spice Girls. [/quote] Lucky chap!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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