Let's talk about bass techniques!

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Maggieo
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Re: Let's talk about bass techniques!

Post by Maggieo » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:07 pm

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Sat Aug 31, 2019 1:18 am
Maggieo wrote:
Fri Aug 30, 2019 1:17 pm
James Jameson (Motown) and Carol Kaye (Thr Wrecking Crew) both put foam rubber under the strings, back by the bridge.
I always thought Jamerson stuffed a folded piece of felt underneath the bridge cover, but I could be wrong.
I could be wrong, too.
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jorri
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Re: Let's talk about bass techniques!

Post by jorri » Sat Sep 21, 2019 4:11 pm

Lets see... You can mute it, you can do that with your hand or even place foam near the bridge. You can play with flats and use drive for growl. You can use rtape wound strings which are a bit different, having some roundwound qualities. And of course the tone knob.

Bass vi. Well i mainly use as a baritone... Unless i want to sound like the cure or spagetti westerns i guess. 3 pickups on and tone on half isnt that far from a jazz bass though, it just requires pick, and nothing too funky or syncopated imo. It lacks the kind of resistance and spacing for those grooves.

Polyphony..... I either would play doomy two note 5th chords or slinty slowcorey 10th (3rd plus octave) or 'pedal note' an open string with more peter hook leads.

I used to play a 5 string. Makes for a good thumb rest, still miss that, but i have my 4 string tuned to C.

What else, you didnt mention bowing it, or harmonics lol.

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Re: Let's talk about bass techniques!

Post by Zork » Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:03 am

I split my signal for a wet dry setup but run both signals through the same amp. Dry signal goes through a boss equalizer so i can set the level, cut the highs and boost the bass. It makes a very balanced sound and I never loose the bottom end no matter what pedals are used in the wet path.

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Shadoweclipse13
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Re: Let's talk about bass techniques!

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Sep 23, 2019 11:01 am

Zork wrote:
Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:03 am
I split my signal for a wet dry setup but run both signals through the same amp. Dry signal goes through a boss equalizer so i can set the level, cut the highs and boost the bass. It makes a very balanced sound and I never loose the bottom end no matter what pedals are used in the wet path.
That's interesting. I've never heard of anyone doing a wet-dry signal path on bass, even though it makes more sense on bass.
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Re: Let's talk about bass techniques!

Post by somanytoys » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:42 pm

It would seem to me that the 2 signals would fight a bit over the available frequency bandwidth of the speaker(s), but apparently it does fine for you. I’ll have to try that out. I’ve always used 2 separate rigs.

Except for just starting out, and playing with a metal pick sometimes more recently, I’ve always played with my fingers and roundwounds. It’s pretty amazing the range of sounds you can get depending on where you play, and the angle of your fingers on the strings. From fingers choked up right up where the strings come off of the bridge for more of a Ric type sound, all the way to playing over the neck for more Motown or harmonic overtones type sounds.

I learned to slap n pop pretty well, because it was the ‘80s, but I don’t do it much anymore.

I use a thick metal pick to get more of an aluminum bass or neck sound, because the guy I play with usually plays one of his aluminum guitars, and they sound pretty cool together.

I also play in a classical manner, which made it easier for me to play the classical, although I don’t play it correctly.

The other way is to strike the strings with my fingertips, openhanded, like Geddy Lee sometimes did and Les Claypool did a lot.

I’ve seen Pinback a couple of times, years ago, during the Blue Screen era and I think Seraph or whatever the name of that album was. Their music is cool to listen to, but watching them weave the guitar & bass parts and their vocal harmonies is pretty amazing. They’re very talented.

Edit: Also, thanks for that video link.

I forgot that he also uses the open hand slap a lot, but he kind of does everything.
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It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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