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Jan- it could be that your fingernail is hitting the strings when you use your middle finger. You could either find a way to pluck the strings without hitting them with your fingernail, or simple cut/file your nails. Though a good way I've found to strum chords is to rake the strings fast with your nails (kinda like a Flamenco player) so don't cut your nails too much. Also if you want to spice up your playing, try using your other 3 fingers on your right hand, you might like the way it sounds.
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Aug 31, 2008 04:32
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So I've been tinkering with the idea of getting a bass for home recording (metal, punk, etc and will be played DI into a computer) and since I play guitars in B standard and E standard I reluctantly admitted that my best bet is a 5 string. I used to have a bass, but I gave it to a friend after graduating from college. I'm looking for something inexpensive that I can modify or tweak to play how I like it. Also current buzz is that the squiers are a lot better than they used to be, and I don't give a poo poo about the name on the guitar. So I'm thinking of getting this thing: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/squier-deluxe-jazz-bass-active-v-5-string-electric-bass-guitar And replacing the pickups with EMGs at some point. Also I'm probably going to use the DR Marcus Miller 5 string steel set since I loved the way those felt and sounded when I would tune my old bass down to C or B. You guys know of anything bad about this idea for what I want to do with it?
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Sep 22, 2015 13:51
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H13 posted:Bass Players! Teach a guitar player to be a better bass player! Boost mids, never palm mute unless in certain circumstances, follow the bass drum. If the bass drum hits and you don't hit at the same time, you hosed up. You can add more notes than the bass drum but that's the idea. Here's a good tone and bass style that you should treat as the standard in heavy bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhll12Zngow Edit: Rugoberta Munchu posted:The only thing that makes me cringe is a guitar player telling me what I do is easier. Bass tends to use far fewer effects (although I recommend a compressor if nothing else) so your hands will have a greater role in your tone. I suggest recording yourself playing different ways and listening to them later to find what sounds best for the song. Metal definitely showcases guitar much more, but Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Mudvayne all have distinctive bass playing styles that fit their respective songs. My absolute favorite heavy guitar tones were all due to the bass being high in the mix and prominent in the song. Turn that poo poo up.
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Nov 6, 2015 00:31
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organburner posted:I am absolutely incapable of getting my pinkie up there on the E string if I do one finger per fret Where do you put your thumb on the neck when you're doing this?
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Dec 17, 2015 18:30
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Of the two first pictures, what are you talking about? http://www.tempomusicards.com/articles/top-5-bad-habits-to-avoid-when-learning-guitar/
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Dec 17, 2015 18:49
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Thought so. Now, while that hand position is not the one you should be learning with, know that it's not completely bad to do sometimes. It's useful in muting the low e string while playing but on bass those times are few in far between. So for now, put your bass on your left leg and put your thumb in the middle of the neck while you build up strength in your hands. Use that pinky!
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Dec 17, 2015 19:02
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EvilChameleon posted:Do you guys use hand/finger exerciser devices? I thought I read they were worthless re: bass/guitar playing, but I saw somewhere mentioning them again so I figured I'd ask here. I used to use one of these (don't remember the tension strength) and just played with it while watching movies. It's not the single source of getting better but it helps a decent bit with fatigue while playing. Just make sure to press down with your fingertips like how you would on a guitar or bass.
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Dec 27, 2015 14:34
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Philip Rivers posted:I got my first bass for Christmas! and?
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Dec 28, 2015 03:48
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tarlibone posted:What do you mean, "and?"? I dunno, maybe like a "Oh cool, what kinda stuff are you going to start learning?" would have been better from me but a blank statement of "I HAVE THING" is kinda closed ended for conversation. So for example, I bought a bass with my christmas bonus and have been having a blast with it. I used to play bass a lot a long time ago but sold my old one to my friend so it's been almost 5 years since I last owned one. I would always be switching from baritone tuning (b standard) to E standard so I thought a five string would be useful, no matter how dorky it looks, so I can play with baritone tuned guitars and stuff in standard tuning. I went to guitar center and started playing a squier vintage modified jazz 5 and had a ton of fun with it playing some old iron maiden songs I remembered and just riffing around with chords, so that's the one I picked up (in the natural finish, I also love maple fretboards). The low B is kinda flubby feeling so I picked up some of the steel strings I would use when in baritone tuning to see if that would help. The bass is already set up pretty decently but I'll probably tweak some stuff once I get those strings on it. The stock pickups are decent but I'll likely be changing them out, same with the bridge. Anyone have any recommendations for high mass bridges that go on fender five strings? I'm mainly going to be using the bass for home recording so I didn't get an amp as I use modelling software through a DAW on my computer so I can kinda make up for the tepid output of the pickups by modelling some fancy amps. Maybe one day I'll get a cheapy amp and a decent pre-amp pedal so I can play with other people again but that can wait.
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Dec 28, 2015 14:16
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Honestly this thing looks pretty sick: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SCR-DI
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Dec 28, 2015 19:17
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AlphaDog posted:I don't like this either. How do I stop doing it? Lift your fingers more when changing positions. Or flatwounds. Unrelated, a new set of strings sounds amazing. I have no idea why people never change bass strings. Steel strings are also awesome, it cured the flabby sounding B string.
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Dec 29, 2015 12:23
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Steel strings, every knob all the way up, frowny face eq. No fucks given
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Dec 29, 2015 20:02
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Clank all day every day.
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Dec 29, 2015 22:13
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Southern Heel posted:I'm actually trying that Alex Webster clacky attack and it sounds like garbage. Please distill 20 years of death metal bass technique into one or two sentences of advice. I only know the method of getting the clank: pluck down and forcefully so the strings hit some frets but not the pickup. Also compression.
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Dec 29, 2015 22:41
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Dyna Soar posted:otherwise it was good advice but that one would just be a huge waste of money. honestly it's gonna sound like poo poo on a tiny roland practise amp anyway, so changing strings every 6 months is way overkill. Fresh strings feel better. That's not really a decent measuring standard but you get the idea.
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Dec 31, 2015 03:55
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Southern Heel posted:Realistically speaking, is BEAD a worthwhile tuning or a compromise where nobody wins? Uh, I used to do that in an old band because I didn't have a 5 string. It works.
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Jan 7, 2016 20:58
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Metronomes are good for getting rock solid timing but being able to adapt to a bad drummer is a very useful skill that a metronome can't really teach you.
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Jan 8, 2016 21:42
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Shugojin posted:I'll be absolutely stunned if there isn't a metronome app you can set to slightly change the time with no user input or warning. Or you suddenly hear the cymbals stop and look over to see the metronome texting it's girlfriend with one hand while keeping up with the beat.
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Jan 8, 2016 23:46
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Seventh Arrow posted:So sometimes I see basses with metal pickup covers, like this: Maybe it acts like a Farraday cage?
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Feb 28, 2016 04:58
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Question for the few metal guys here: when there's a blast beat do you play every single time the kick drum hits? (Same for double bass) One of the few founding tenets of bass playing I learned was "always strike a note when the bass drum hits" and holy moly is it exhausting to do so at high speeds and also it can sound kinda flubby and farty.
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Mar 18, 2016 22:06
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NarkyBark posted:When the bass drum starts hitting 16+ hits a second, there's no way you'll keep up with it. Don't worry about that, instead focus on what the beat feel is of the song, what rhythms the guitars are doing. My rule of thumb is to play enough that it sounds good, but not so much that I keep loving up or ruining the tight feel. If that means you need to play half of that blistering tempo, so be it. You know what? It usually still sounds good. If you have the kind of tone that blends in and doesn't emphasize pick/pluck sounds, no one will even notice you're doing half-time. If you do have a clear attack sound (my preferred sound), tightness is even more important, and you'll probably want to keep it under control anyway. At 240bpm 16ths are easily doable for me with a pick but its fatiguing to do so for more than a minute or so, and I'm not quite good enough to fingerpick that fast even with the alex webster three finger technique that I'm still working on. I was thinking of doing half time but it seems like I'm just going to have to practice bass a lot more. And here I thought I could just not play it for years and come back to it and be a master. Edit: also that video kinda says what you guys are saying with "yeah follow the bass drum but honestly just wing it and go with what you feel is right" Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Mar 19, 2016 |
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Mar 19, 2016 03:04
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Dyna Soar posted:i play a p-bass because gently caress all those useless eq's Same but a J since I like the feel of the necks better. Also because rolling off the treble pickup a tiny bit thickens it up a lot and gets this awesome chunking sound when you pluck forcefully.
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Mar 25, 2016 20:44
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Thom ZombieForm posted:My bass bridge screws have all come loose after a month ~ of use - with every string at unintended heights, all vibrating against the fret board. Is this to be expected with a month of use or a sign of something more serious? or should I just find + buy whatever tiny rear end hex tool fits the screws and adjust them regularly? If you're going to replace it anyway could always just loctite those screws in place in the meantime.
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Apr 24, 2016 18:53
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DR Fat Beams
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Apr 30, 2016 12:31
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AlphaDog posted:That markbass combo looks awesome. Keeping screws from coming loose because of vibrations is what loctite is made for: http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Medium-Strength-Threadlocker-Bottle/dp/B000132VDA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1462279614&sr=8-9&keywords=loctite That would only work if it's metal to metal so metal to wood contact (like most amps) I would suggest a drop of gorilla wood glue or something on the tip of the screw right before putting it back in.
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May 3, 2016 13:54
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For the love of god bring a tuner.
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May 9, 2016 21:55
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Actually replace that statement with "all the guitar/bass players should have the same kind of tuner" or "tune your poo poo up with the same tuner before you go on."
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May 9, 2016 22:20
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Strum the string you're tuning with the same force as you would play it normally.
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May 9, 2016 23:16
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Scales, theory, writing your own songs. Figure out what your heroes are doing and imitate them. You'll never get it perfectly and that's the point. Also lessons.
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May 22, 2016 05:13
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Dyna Soar posted:or just learn a bunch of your favourite songs from tabs, start a band with a bunch of fun dudes and rock out every weekend until you're maybe ready for a gig. it doesn't have to be such a chore to learn how to play. Being good at your instrument helps with learning songs from tabs and jamming with others  .
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May 22, 2016 20:38
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May I suggest using a five string instead?
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May 25, 2016 03:24
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Is it common for each string to sound really different from each other or did I set my bass up wrong and the string height is all over the place? Also I know the pickups on the bass are pretty bad so I'm hoping it's them because that's an easy fix.
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Jun 17, 2016 00:46
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Their height is supposed to follow the radius of the fretboard so you measure them based on that, however I just eyeball poo poo when I don't care enough to do a good job and now it's bothering me so I'm starting to care enough now. Also this is way more noticeable when playing with a pick so maybe it's just that I'm hitting certain strings harder due to where I'm holding my hand. Edit: I also just switched from Hi-Beams to Fat Beams and it could just be that I liked Hi-Beams better. Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 01:38
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Thing is that they're brand new strings, but the change in voicing from the B to E is a huge and noticeable difference but from E to A it's not that bad. I checked the string height and apparently I eyeballed it right somehow so that makes me think it's the pickups because it's a squire classic vibe and these basses aren't known for having great electronics.
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Jun 17, 2016 02:49
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Well here's a recording of it on a work in progress song*, luckily I accidentally mixed the bass too high so it's perfect for a demo. The second fast riff does a lot on the E string and the riff right after does a lot on the low B, with the riff right after that using the B, E, and A strings. https://soundcloud.com/lfranco321/office-space-needs-better-drums/s-DV9fX It feels fine but compared to an old recording it just doesn't sound right to me and the only thing I changed were the strings so tomorrow I'm going out and getting some HI-Beams and seeing what that does. *The drums from about 3min onwards are just my template drums I use to write and I want to rerecord the entire bass part. Edit: at about 6:15 the bass gets in on the arpeggios and uses all the strings, and the top strings don't sound too far off but from the B to E there's a huge difference. Second Edit: huh ok I did some massaging on the settings in amplitube (read: went back to an old song and used those settings) and now it sounds good to me. Weird. https://soundcloud.com/lfranco321/office-space-needs-better-drums-but-bass-is-fixed Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 03:31
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NonzeroCircle posted:Compress a bit before it hits amplitube and then after (or in the rack). Perhaps a tube-style comp that colours the sound a bit at the front of the chain will make it more cohesive before it hits the amp sim. Its Reaper you use innit? Yeah amplitube in reaper. I'm using a tube compressor in the rack but I'll test one out front. poo poo I forget you can do stuff like that, that will help a lot. Edit: So I was just using a SVT-Pro and just now added a 59 Bassman in parallel to it and yeah that's a serious pair of cojones on that bass sound now. I also turned down the treble a bit on everything so the bass is still audible but not as "hey look at me I'm a pile of midrange right in your ears." Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 16:05
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ExplodingChef posted:I've been playing (badly) on and off for years, and am finally taking lessons to improve said bad playing. That being said, I'm in the market for a new bass. I've been banging around on an old lovely Squier Affinity p-bass. I really like the look, sound, and feel of the epiphone tbirds, but I'm confused as to which one to look into buying between the regular IV, the classic IV, and the classic pro. Have you ever thought about jazz basses? For active vs passive its all up to preference in tone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i6QVGDkKkw
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Jun 24, 2016 20:22
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I get bored doing scales on the bass (but not guitar for some reason) so I practice with songs. Go ahead and scoff but when I was a kid I practiced with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnvEyMdDkJA Then when I got older and starting getting down Iron Maiden songs I would use this riff to warm up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7zk4as9kzA&t=255s So maybe when you get bored of your millionth time doing coils of three up and down the neck in E Dorian, learn something new and out of your league (like To Tame a Land or Phantom of the Opera from Iron Maiden)(Steve Harris is God). Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Jul 28, 2016 |
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Jul 28, 2016 14:50
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Jeremy_X posted:Now this is the sort of thing I was looking for. Anyone know a good cello book? Steve Harris is a God, never heard of Anti-Flag. Just discovered Alex Webster on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuH6V3z-V6Y that speed and faster is what I need to get to. Any other speedsters? Genre doesn't matter, I'll play anything. Matt Freeman of Operation Ivy/Rancid fame is another absolutely incredible player: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llbW8VogyVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE1zgrMdxBE
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Jul 29, 2016 15:09
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FeloniousDrunk posted:What is the general opinion of the Geddy Lee Fender? And what would be a reasonable price? I played a MIJ one at a guitar store a long time ago and fell in love, it's such a nice bass.
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Jul 31, 2016 12:56
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