From: whale@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stephen Schmidt)
Subject: Re: help the newcomer!
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 20:42:58 GMT

In article <+-2zs1q@rpi.edu> manitp@sage4c.its.rpi.edu (Philip Joseph Manitta Jr.) writes:
>I pick.  And for some reason I have a REALLY difficult time playing
>legato (smoothly).  It almost sounds like I'm trying to turn arena rock
>pieces into funk.  Now- my timing is right, I can play along with a
>drummer or the album w/out missing a beat.  It just seems like no
>matter how hard I try, my right hand is always a split-second behind my
>left hand and there is some dead air between each note.  I've been
>using a medium pick, I recently switched to a thin pick and better
>results, but I don't really like the feel or sound from a thin pick.  Any
>suggestions?

Try playing the first note, and playing a second note while you let the
first one ring. You might trying fingering the A string at the 6th fret,
playing that note, and then playing the D string at the 5th fret without
letting go of the first note. This'll give you a two-note chord (major
third if you know what that is).
When you can get both notes to sound clearly, try playing them as two
different notes legato, by letting go of the first note _just_ after you
pick the second note.

This only works because you don't have to move your hand to get to the
second note. When you have to shift hand positions to reach a note, there
will inevitably be a small gap between the notes... such is life.
This is a good reason to develop as much reach as you can.

> [ hard question deleted] :)

>I also have what might be an assinine question for you guys, but I've
>never  been given an explanation.......  What are P's and J's and
>what's the difference???

This could be P and J basses or P and J pickups. You get the same answer
either way.

Back in the good old days (say, 1951 to 1965 or so) there was only one major
maker of electric basses, Leo Fender. (There were a couple minor ones, Gibson
and Hohner among them.) Most professional bass players used Fenders.
In 1951, Fender made only one model, the Precision or P-bass. Starting in
195(mumble) Fender started making a second model, the Jazz or J-bass. There
were two important differences between the two basses. First, the Jazz had
two pickups, while the Precision had only one. Second, the P-bass had a split-
coil pickup while the J-basses had bar pickups.
  When other companies started making basses, players wanted to know if they
were more like Precisions or more like Jazzes. Basses with two bar pickups
are known as "J-style" while basses with one split pickup are known as
"P-style". Basses with a bar pickup in the bridge position and a split-coil
in the neck position are known as "PJ-style" since their pickup combo is a
mix of what the P-bass and J-bass use.
  The bar pickup is known as a J pickup and the split-coil is know as a
P pickup. The third major kind of pickup is the "soapbar" which is the
big square kind which Gibson used to use, and which Bartollini seems to
favor.
-- 
Steve Schmidt			<><		   whale@leland.stanford.edu
I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist
indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist
conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!