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Gorgar posted:Always run the neck pickup clean, distortion on the bridge. How does that even work?
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Jun 18, 2020 03:55
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BonHair posted:Always get a clean blend for your bass distortion. Not necessarily. I purchased a VT Bass way back when because it was a distortion pedal that didn't really need a blend, in my opinion, keeping enough bottom end after compression. It's now my "always-on" pedal, whereas the MXR Bass Fuzz certainly benefits from having a blend because its Tonebender circuit is so drat tinny without it. I barely use a hair of that on top of the signal anyway, so having the blend is a godsend there.
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Jun 18, 2020 05:01
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Cru Jones posted:How does that even work? Ric-O-sound on a Rickenbacker or the double outputs Billy Sheehan has on his basses.
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Jun 18, 2020 09:56
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Jeff Goldblum posted:Not necessarily. I purchased a VT Bass way back when because it was a distortion pedal that didn't really need a blend, in my opinion, keeping enough bottom end after compression. It's now my "always-on" pedal, whereas the MXR Bass Fuzz certainly benefits from having a blend because its Tonebender circuit is so drat tinny without it. I barely use a hair of that on top of the signal anyway, so having the blend is a godsend there.  for always on. I went so far as to bypass my amps pre, running the VT Bass directly into the power section because it sounds so drat good.
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Jun 18, 2020 16:52
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John Taylor, the bass player from Duran Duran, started posting videos breaking songs from his perspective. Other than they being shot in portrait mode, I really do enjoy it. Here's his latest where he talks about "A View to a Kill": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a5TpHCWjr4
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Jun 19, 2020 05:40
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Yeah I saw his video for Rio, fantastic player.
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Jun 19, 2020 14:04
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Rio is one of my favorite songs to cover and absolutely rips the entire way through. Crowd pleaser, too.
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Jun 19, 2020 14:06
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What are some of your favorite books about bass that are not a theory or method, but just about bass (and whatever aspect of it)? I've read Wooten's book (which isn't about bass per say but music in general) and I have to admit it was a disappointment. Possibly because of how hyped the book is. I just thought his prose and a few of the musical aspects of it to be eh.
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Jun 19, 2020 14:07
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I thought the book was bad because he seemed really impressed with his bargain zen philosophy. I think I would nominate the "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" book. Yeah it has transcriptions and method but the stories about James Jamerson and the Motown crew are fantastic and gives the book a humanity that would be absent if it were just a bunch of transcriptions.
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Jun 19, 2020 14:12
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Seventh Arrow posted:I thought the book was bad because he seemed really impressed with his bargain zen philosophy. Yeah his "zen" philosophy is pretty ummm... how to put it.... new age-y in the worst sense. I keep hearing about that Motown book but I haven't picked it up myself.
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Jun 19, 2020 14:16
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Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass looks great, I haven't picked one up yet but it's essentially Geddy gushing over bass history with a ton of photographs.
The Science Goy fucked around with this message at 15:08 on Jun 19, 2020 |
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Jun 19, 2020 15:06
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I believe the Geddy Lee book is an expensive coffee table type book. There's always Tony Levin's (session player known for playing with Peter Gabriel) book beyond the bass clef, which is a collection of anecdotes that mostly are music related (like his chapter about leading or lagging on a beat).
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Jun 19, 2020 15:33
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Does he talk about playing with Fripp/King Crimson?
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Jun 19, 2020 15:40
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Jeebus I can only find the Levin book second hand for like 60 euros! That said, his poetry book was actually quite fun and light hearted.
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Jun 19, 2020 15:43
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The Geddy book is totally a coffee table book, but it's a bass book (picture book with extended captions) that isn't focused on method or theory or exercises. If Leland Sklar would write a memoir, that would be a 100% recommendation. His Youtube channel during covid has been excellent and entertaining, full of stories.
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Jun 19, 2020 16:22
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Elissimpark posted:Ric-O-sound on a Rickenbacker or the double outputs Billy Sheehan has on his basses. Yeah, got used to it on my 4003, had a couple other basses wired that way. It’s a different sound that just using a crossover and it’s nice to be able to dial the dirt up and down with bridge volume, and make it more or less cutting with bridge tone.
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Jun 19, 2020 16:46
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abske_fides posted:What are some of your favorite books about bass that are not a theory or method, but just about bass (and whatever aspect of it)? Wooten? Over-hyped? Nooooo...
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Jun 19, 2020 21:53
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Seventh Arrow posted:Does he talk about playing with Fripp/King Crimson? Honestly I don't remember. It was >15 years ago when I borrowed it from a teacher. I think he did, but I wasn't into King Crimson then as much as I am now so maybe it didn't stick with me. I remember a story about him being mad that a cop pulled him over for having headphones on (he just finished a new album and really wanted to listen on his way home), a random story about drug addled Jaco in New York, crying because he got into a bicycle accident and broke many ribs, how his barn/music studio caught fire and he only salvaged one charcoal music man bass, how he started one of the first blogs, and how he played on John Lennon's last album. Oh and making funk fingers. It's very scattered, but entertaining. Although I think the first chapter was a bit cringe worthy as he talks about how God is a bass player. Also at first I thought you were referring to John Taylor of Duran Duran.
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Jun 20, 2020 03:37
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Rifter17 posted:Although I think the first chapter was a bit cringe worthy as he talks about how God is a bass player. Maybe, but it would be pretty awesome if that's how the walls of Jericho fell. KRRAAANNGG!
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Jun 20, 2020 05:10
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I'm pretty sure this is it:Tony Levin posted:IN THE BEGINNING.
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Jun 20, 2020 06:39
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I remember that being printed out and posted on my bass teacher’s door.
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Jun 20, 2020 15:28
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I honestly really like the chunk of Wooten’s book I read. It’s very weoooooeoooeoeoooeooeoo new agey but he’s passing on very helpful things imo. Zen Guitar is an all time favorite of mine in the non technical more spiritual whatever field of music books. It’s something I plan to read once a year, it really helped me to figure out why I make music and how to balance everything surrounding being a musician.
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Jun 20, 2020 15:47
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Hey goons, I just joined a local group that plays a lot of pop country. A number of the songs are tuned down a half step (some are recorded this way, some are adjusted to save the singer's voice throughout the night). These adjustments are creating some headaches for me because the guitarists are just adjusting a capo or tapping a pedal but I'm stuck with weird transpositions. My question: do y'all know of a good bass pedal that will allow me to adjust a half step on the fly? I don't care if it sounds somewhat like rear end as long as it jives with the guitars. Otherwise it looks like I have to memorize these unnatural (to me) fingerings, tune my strings down a half step between songs on stage, or have an extra one to two basses on stage pre-tuned to accommodate (we are not good enough for me to justify this look, haha). Thanks! Wanh fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jun 24, 2020 |
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Jun 24, 2020 20:42
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Digitech drop would do the trick, I think, but a second bass might be cheaper.
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Jun 24, 2020 20:48
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The Drop does exactly what you want, but why not just use a capo like the guitarists? Are you playing a lot of open strings since you can't just tune down and play one fret up?
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Jun 24, 2020 21:12
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Two basses, one either a 5 string or dropped a half step, is the way to go. Especially if one guitar goes down.
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Jun 24, 2020 21:12
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Wanh posted:Hey goons, I just joined a local group that plays a lot of pop country. A number of the songs are tuned down a half step (some are recorded this way, some are adjusted to save the singer's voice throughout the night). These adjustments are creating some headaches for me because the guitarists are just adjusting a capo or tapping a pedal but I'm stuck with weird transpositions. You could get 4 hipshot xtenders but it would cost over $400 and I'm not sure if most headstocks even have the space
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Jun 24, 2020 21:19
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if you're not bouncing on the open strings a lot, or you don't need the Eb, could you learn the songs in the new key? I know it's more work if you're not already conscious of what you're playing, but one of the nice things about (usually) only playing single notes is you can focus on what you're actually doing musically obviously guitarists can too, but a lot of them (*cough* me) learned to play by memorising shapes and fret numbers, and end up pretty lost if they have to do things like shifting to another key. Capos and downtuning are obviously useful but they can be a crutch too, where it all Just Works and you don't need to think about anything and a big part of bass is knowing what chords you're playing over and which money notes to hit and when, so a general awareness of what's going on is good! Honestly I'd take it as an opportunity to learn and maybe get a 5-string  more places to play them notes
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Jun 24, 2020 22:35
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Chunderbucket posted:Digitech drop would do the trick, I think, but a second bass might be cheaper. BonHair posted:The Drop does exactly what you want, but why not just use a capo like the guitarists? Are you playing a lot of open strings since you can't just tune down and play one fret up? Thanks. I'm new to a lot of these technologies. This guy seems to sound pretty good on bass from what I just heard on YouTube. Schwza posted:Two basses, one either a 5 string or dropped a half step, is the way to go. Especially if one guitar goes down. I actually like this idea a lot. Coming from a double bass background, I didn't even register the option of the low B. Of course, that would require a new instrument purchase that would be more costly than the drop pedal (~$200 if I Googled correctly?). Do most of you guys have 5 string basses? baka kaba posted:if you're not bouncing on the open strings a lot, or you don't need the Eb, could you learn the songs in the new key? I know it's more work if you're not already conscious of what you're playing, but one of the nice things about (usually) only playing single notes is you can focus on what you're actually doing musically So a little back story - this band gave me a list of 15 songs to learn for an audition. I obtained the piano charts for most of them and focused/memorized the chord changes, took a look at the left hand, and came up with some basic bass lines. When I showed up to play, they sprung a lot of "oh yeah, we decided play this a half step down, sorry forgot to tell you." Most of the songs in those cases require the E flat. I don't really want to learn those songs in a new key if I can just do a quick fix because I'm now trying to work my way through a setlist of 30 songs. Additionally, I really like practicing along with the original recorded version with the aux in on my little pocket amp and headphones. Also Jason Aldean requires lots of low E and D flats  . The Wiggly Wizard posted:You could get 4 hipshot xtenders but it would cost over $400 and I'm not sure if most headstocks even have the space 
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Jun 24, 2020 23:13
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I guess I mean kinda learn the songs like "it's in this key so I start in this particular position, the changes are I ii IV V7, these are the important scale degrees I need to hit on each" so a key change is more like "just play the same thing somewhere else" and it's all relative, rather than trying to learn a bunch of specific notes in specific places if you've already been playing double bass then you obviously don't screw around and I'm telling you stuff you already know! And yeah Eb is a troublemaker honestly I feel like a capo might not help - it still requires that mental adjustment where you need to play in a different place on the neck than you're used to. The benefit really is being able to move the open strings up too, if you're using them a lot - otherwise you could just keep your bass in D or whatever and just play everything 2 frets higher. Definitely worth playing around with if you can borrow one, see if it clicks for you and seems like a good solution though but yeah a 5 string might be good, it's not just about having access to lower notes, the extra string means you can shift across the strings instead of down the neck. I think most people probably don't have one though! (I don't)
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Jun 25, 2020 00:06
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bad poo poo goin down on the forums, folks the ppl in the guitar thread are gonna camp out here in case the worst happens https://discord.gg/5jCk5p wanna make sure our bass playing friends are with us
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Jun 25, 2020 02:08
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Wanh posted:So a little back story - this band gave me a list of 15 songs to learn for an audition. I obtained the piano charts for most of them and focused/memorized the chord changes, took a look at the left hand, and came up with some basic bass lines. When I showed up to play, they sprung a lot of "oh yeah, we decided play this a half step down, sorry forgot to tell you." Most of the songs in those cases require the E flat. I don't really want to learn those songs in a new key if I can just do a quick fix because I'm now trying to work my way through a setlist of 30 songs. Additionally, I really like practicing along with the original recorded version with the aux in on my little pocket amp and headphones. Also Jason Aldean requires lots of low E and D flats The drop pedal is a a bit of a cheat, you'll be better off just tuning down the half step and living in that world for a while. Get a capo if you have to have open notes in standard tuning for whatever reason, but you'll quickly adjust to not really needing it.
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Jun 25, 2020 03:06
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Learning to transpose on the spot is a really valuable skill. I can't tell you how many Sunday mornings my church group decided to do a song up or down a step, sometimes even a third.
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Jun 25, 2020 03:46
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baka kaba posted:I guess I mean kinda learn the songs like "it's in this key so I start in this particular position, the changes are I ii IV V7, these are the important scale degrees I need to hit on each" so a key change is more like "just play the same thing somewhere else" and it's all relative, rather than trying to learn a bunch of specific notes in specific places I appreciate your help! DrChu posted:If the band is playing the song in a different key, learn it in that key. There are programs that will change the pitch of a recording, or you could record your practice with the band and later play along to that. If you focus on the chords of the original recording rather than the relative chord changes at some point you're going to play the "real" notes rather than the correct ones for the key you're in. Thanks. I mean learning in the correct key without modification is ultimately the right answer but the guitarist is using a pedal and/or capo also. My bass chops aren't good enough to make those adjustments in real time without lots of practice. I'm just thinking the pedal will save me sometime on the front end without compromising my base understanding of how songs are written just because our singer can't sing at those higher ranges for three hours (he's not even here to defend himself). Seventh Arrow posted:Learning to transpose on the spot is a really valuable skill. I can't tell you how many Sunday mornings my church group decided to do a song up or down a step, sometimes even a third. No doubt! I'm not half bad at transposing when I have a chart in front of me. Not so good when I have to account for 30 songs in memory that are somewhat similar. I need to get better.
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Jun 25, 2020 19:33
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Helianthus Annuus posted:bad poo poo goin down on the forums, folks Expired.
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Jun 25, 2020 21:09
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silvergoose posted:Expired. I gotchu fam.
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Jun 25, 2020 21:53
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So Ive been playing lately with my thumbnail. Unsurprisingly, thats been ripping it up. Anyone here have any reccs towards something I could put over it? I think I saw another musician somehow use fiber glass but maybe Im mistaken.
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Jun 28, 2020 06:31
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abske_fides posted:What are some of your favorite books about bass that are not a theory or method, but just about bass (and whatever aspect of it)? Carol Kaye's book, which has a decent chunk for free on Google Books, is a pretty fun read from what I've gotten thru. Especially like her tips and tricks for when your bandmate had too much to drink.
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Jun 28, 2020 06:49
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Shageletic posted:So Ive been playing lately with my thumbnail. Unsurprisingly, thats been ripping it up. Varnishing of any kind usually helps. Gel, acrylics, essentially the kinds of things ladies use in manicures for crazy nails. A diet with higher amounts of keratin, vitaminds B-12 C and D, and calcium also helps. Generally, though, I would recommend using a proper thumbpick instead of the actual thumbnail. You have to change up the angle of your technique to compensate for the direction, but it was conceived to negate the wear and tear on your physical nails for classical and bluegrass guitar techniques and works just as well for bass.
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Jun 28, 2020 07:44
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It's "N"BD    The back is a really pretty piece of maple that wasn't quite large enough to fill the whole width.
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Jul 1, 2020 00:36
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