Hot answers tagged bass-guitar
11
It's a trick that's been around for ages, with many variations - I've even heard that the use of certain bodily fluids gives good results, but it isn't something I'm about to try.
The main reason to do this is to save money, but you should ask yourself whether the savings are worth it. It's generally a better idea to keep your strings in good shape - wiping ...
10
Sure, of course you can. But getting it to playable condition won't be quite so simple. You'll have to re-adjust the bridge to account for the fact that the thickest string is now located where the thinnest string was, and vice-versa. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself (although it's pretty easy), any competent guitar tech will do it for ...
9
Try playings some new styles of music; like funk or jazz or some other area you haven't spent a lot of time in; listen to some new music, groove along to it, Jazz in particular is awesome for this especially for bass. Try mixing up your playing a bit, listen to chords, outline them with arpeggios if possible, all of these things will help.
9
When converting a fretted instrument to fret less you have a couple of options if you want to DIY:
Modify the current fingerboard in some way. This includes purchasing a fret-puller like @ekaj suggests, pulling out all the fretwires, and filling in all the fret slots with wood putty. Unfortunately you will suffer from the issues that @Alex mentions in that ...
9
I change my strings when they start to sound stale, about every 4-6 months. As a gauge, I play about 5 hours a week in my church, plus an additional hour or two of practice on top of that. When I used DR coated strings, they would last a bit longer than that, but even with the extra life I had a hard time justifying the extra cost.
9
Be very, very careful. You're worrying about the string snapping. You should also be worrying about damaging the neck of your instrument.
A bass string will go very tight without snapping. If it does snap, you risk injury. I've had a nasty cut just from a guitar string! If the instrument breaks, you also risk injury -- and you've broken your instrument.
...
8
Tapewound strings are similar in construction to other wound bass strings; the difference is that they have a length (or 'tape') of nylon wrapped around a metal core.
This makes them feel less tough on fingers, and the tone they produce does not quickly degrade in time, as standard round/flatwound strings will.
The Sound they produce is different as well. ...
8
When we play as our alter ego band Acoustech (we play folk and acoustic blues arrangements of our metal songs :-) , I use a 12 string, my rhythm guitarist has a fairly loud acoustic guitar, but our bassist is easily loud enough to work without amplification. He has a fretless acoustic bass, custom made for him, but the only key point for volume seemed to be ...
7
In order to sweep-pick, you need to have both an up- and a down-stroke. Fingerstyle bass really only has upstrokes (with the fingers). I think the closest you could get to actual sweep picking on bass would be to imitate Victor Wooten's double-thumb slap technique.
In this technique, he uses his thumb sort of like a pick. He slaps the string in a ...
7
I used to do this with bass strings, and it does make a difference. They'll brighten up and sound like new, but not for as long as they did right out of the package. It's a bit of a pain, though, because of course to remove the strings, you have to fully unwind them rather than simply cut them, so it takes longer.
I wouldn't try this with guitar strings, ...
7
I'm pretty sure you have to tune your bass to standard tuning. EADG so in order to play the notes in tune you'd have to put your finger on your left hand at the fret bar. If you wanted to play the notes at the center of the fret you would have to tune your bass accordingly, not a good idea IMO.
On a standard bass even though you put your finger in between ...
7
This is somewhat of a shot in the dark, but...
Take a look at a Guitarrón mexicano. I frequented a mexican restaurant that had a strolling mariachi band and it was clearly and cleanly audible. The secondary bassist played an el cheapo you'd find on the wall in guitar center and it was not always clean, clear and audible. One big drawback here is that the ...
7
Welcome to the wonderful world of non-standard intonation. You will like it here.
I have answered here on instruments where you have to dictate the intonation: slide and steel guitar and theremin. I haven't mentioned violin/fiddle, because by the time you're good enough for it to be worthwhile to ask questions in this sort of forum, you've already learned ...
6
Maybe checking out some songs with more exotic rythm patterns could be useful. Pretty much anything from a progressive metal band like Dream Theater or Symphony X will do.
Also, check out the work of some bass players with elaborate styles, like Billy Sheeran from Mr. Big, Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Victor Wooten or Jaco Pastorius.
Also, you could ...
6
Play slower.
If you are clanging and banging around it means you are playing something too fast.
Gotta practice it slower until it gets clean and quiet, THEN get it up to speed.
There might be some gear related issues, but if those are taken into account and you are still clanking away, slow down until you can play it without it.
6
When you fret a note make sure that your finger is as close to the edge of the fret as possible; literally right next to it; this will instantly give you a cleaner sound; the closer to the metal you get the purer the note, this applies to all fretted instruments and all styles of playing. (the edge towards the bridge, not the nut)
Do this consciously until ...
6
Index (1) Middle (2) Ring (3)
You should use at least two fingers.
When using two fingers it is very important to alternate the fingers. 1 2 1 2 1 2. Practice slowly and make sure they are alternating. Not alternating your fingers over tires one and slows your playing. It can become a tough habit to break
If you want to use three fingers the method is 1 2 ...
6
My advice is to learn the bass parts of songs for which you wish you had created that bass part instead of the player who actually did. For example, I spent a good part of my late teens pretty much learning every bass part on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, because I thought everything Flea played was awesome. After that, it was onto Sly & The Family Stone ...
6
If you are planning to be a really good player, you should be able to start on either finger. This depending on which string you are starting on and which string the next note is on as well as which brain cell you are using. That last part is a joke however you won't want to make conscious decisions about which finger you start with. This will all be ...
6
For windows:
The bare-bones way is to use the microphone or the line-in. I found the line-in to be a better choice, but either way, you need to reduce the amplifier volume to avoid clipping. This volume level will be pretty low, and it is specific to your equipment. After you adjust the amplifier volume, you can then adjust the overall volume on the ...
5
A bass player can easily be the timekeeper for a jazz combo without drums.
I'm a bit confused by your question, specifically--
Is it fairly easy to replace substantial portions with improvised walking-bass style lines and still retain the percussive properties of the bass sound?
The properties of the timbre are going to be up to your bassist, but on ...
5
As guitarist who plays bass occasionally, I can tell you that bass strings just seem to be pricier. But they also last much, much longer.
Of course after some time, they loose some brilliance but after that they usually keep the sound for a long time. The sweat-production of your hands also reduces the life of your strings. In general I'd say that ...
5
By and large, you play better (from a technical aspect) when the bass is up high enough that you cannot notice the position change when you go from sitting to standing (so either sitting position or standing, high position in your pictures above). This is why most instruction books recommend that you play with it up that high.
But once you have learned how ...
5
The order might vary, but usually it is arranged so you get the ones that you will use the most first, but it doesn't really matter. You can google pages and pages that have fingerings for these.
One benefit we have with a stringed instrument is that there are patterns and shapes that each scale makes. The shape you learn for one major scale is the same for ...
5
CADG is the most common way I've heard this term used for basses. It could also refer to the drop D tuning with a low C on the bottom according to Wikipedia, in guitar context: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_c_tuning
Incidentally orchestral basses fitted with a low C extention have the CADG tuning too, although with the extension no fingering changes are ...
4
If, by soft, you mean less bright, then flat wound strings might be for you. I'd recommend Thomastik Jazz Flats, a little expensive, but they last a very long time. They sound wonderful, with a kind of throaty, singing voice, with just the right amount of thump, and more sustain than any other brand I tried. They made my cheap accoustic fretless bass sound ...
4
The basic idea of a sweep picking is that you don't go past your next note. It's more like slow strumming. This allows you to pick much faster than with alternate picking, but it only is applicable if each picked note is on the next string (either up or down). Note that you can play multiple notes per string with hammer ons and pull offs.
To experiment ...
4
From my experience of playing faster bass, I have found changing the action to be the best option. What you want is a high action, so that when you fret the string does not come down and hit the fret as hard, reducing 'clunk.' Remember that you will need to check your intonation when you have changed the action, so that the bass stays in tune with itself.
If ...
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