Hot answers tagged electric-bass-guitar
11
First of all I would recommend buying a used one since you will get better value for the price. Also if you decide to stop playing you can still sell the bass for roughly the same as you bought it for.
The Knobs you are referring to are the tone and volume pots (which is short for "potentiometers" or electric circuits that enable the attenuation of a signal ...
10
Although the general principles are pretty much the same (set the relief of the neck, set the action of the strings, adjust the intonation, etc.), the short answer to your question is to set it up the best you can and learn to play the low B with a lighter touch. The longer answer involves scale length and string tension.
What Is Scale Length?
The scale ...
9
The "Hi" input attenuates the input signal, usually by between 10-15dB (about half to a third the original volume). The "Low" input will not do this.
Different guitars and basses produce widely varying signal levels. This isn't just a passive vs active thing; plug a vintage-voiced Strat into the amp, then a PAF-voiced Les Paul; you'll have to turn the gain ...
8
First of all, I would check whether the neck is straight.
Place a ruler against the frets (the edge of the ruler against the frets) and if there is any space between any of the frets and the ruler, the neck is not entirely straight. If there is no access to any sort of truss rod adjustment, then you will probably have to put up with the high action. If ...
7
They assume different signal levels so have different levels of gain in the pre-amp. In fact on some amps the low input has a pre-amp but the high just goes directly into the main amp.
This is to cope with the fact that instruments can have very different output signal levels, but it can also be used to change the tone of the sound produced.
7
It sounds like the neck is not straight. Ensure it is bolted or otherwise attached to the body, and then check up at the nut for an allen wrench slot. Many necks have an adjustable tension (truss) rod. ( see: http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/adjusting_neck_relief.html )
When done improperly, this can break the neck, so...don't break the neck.
7
This may sound silly, but it really worked for me: Whenever I was sitting down, I practiced bouncing my right thumb off of my right kneecap. I was going for a real bounce, not a whack (that hurt). At school, on the bus, watching TV---I practiced my slap technique all the time, even when I wasn't anywhere near my bass. Goofy, sure, but totally effective.
7
You can localize it by playing the string lightly and placing your ear closely to the different contact points of the string to the hardware on the guitar. Start with the bridge, and move your way up the guitar to the nut and where the string meets the tuning machine peg.
Note: The terminology in the following paragraph can be ambiguous, as there are two ...
6
I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but you might want to turn the treble knob back up a bit. When you play a note, it produces the fundamental pitch you want, but also a lot of overtones that contribute to the tone. You don't hear them consciously; your brain takes it all in and adds them together, perceiving the sum of the fundamental and its overtones ...
6
Volume is obviously not the only aspect of an instrument's sound: frequency distribution, attack characteristics, sustain, tuning accuracy etc. are equally or more important.
Short scales tend to (but don't necessarily) result in
shorter sustain
less pronounced treble frequencies
somewhat "flappier" attack
less well-defined pitch control.
Most of this ...
6
It is actually nowhere near as dangerous as you might think, as long as you keep the volume relatively low. You won't get an ideal frequency response, as a guitar amp is designed for the frequencies a guitar produces, but it will do as a stop-gap until you get a suitable amp.
The reason for keeping the volume lower than you might want to is that the large ...
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
Contrary to what the previous answers stated, the different sensitivity is not the primary difference between the "hi" and "lo" inputs. It is indeed different, usually by 6 dB, but you could achieve this with the gain knob alone.More important is the different impedance of both inputs: a "hi" input has a very high inner electric resistance (in the range of 1 ...
5
I will echo some sentiments; the bass you should buy is the bass that feels best in your hands.
Here are some tips from a Bass Player magazine article on the topic of buying a bass:
If you have a bass that you can use indefinitely (i.e. borrowed from a friend, cheap starter bass), keep it around until you can save up to buy your dream bass. Having an ...
5
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 ...
4
The most important wood is that direct path from the nut to the bridge, so in many cases you can remove extraneous wood. That being said, resonance can be affected, especially if there are hollow areas, so don't overdo it.
With the ones I have made, you could remove all the wood beyond a centimetre or so either side of the strings...if it wasn't for the ...
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 classic Höfner "violin bass" design, from circa 1958, is a hollow-body archtop instrument with a spruce top, like an archtop guitar but without F-holes. It has a "floating" wooden archtop bridge. It has a short-scale neck which is small and has a narrow fingerboard width and string-spacing. It should be strung with the original-specification flatwound ...
4
Changing the gauge of string will change the tension which affects everything in my opinion. I've been playing for 20 years and for the first 16 of those I thought I was doing quite well setting up my instruments action, truss rod, etc by carefully following instructions found in books, magazines, and then eventually the internet. I was wrong.
Then I ...
4
I would focus on hardware, not so much on software. Get a decent digital audio interface; you can find some for under $200 USD. You can use pretty much any recording software, such as Audacity which has already been mentioned. I use an Alesis io|2 for example; very simple, just 2 analog channels, midi in/out, and connects to my laptop via USB. With this ...
3
I have created as site that has a ton of stuff - arpeggio exercises, transcriptions, a thing called the Pentatonic Lick Factory and lots of other bass guitar related things. There are plenty of things that will challenge even an experienced player.
http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com
3
I advise you to watch video school John Patitucci "Electric Bass". John shows a lot of exercises for the left and right hands.
You can find it here http://www.kat.ph/john-patitucci-electric-bass-2-video-pdf-t2949084.html
Also, I recommend you a series of lessons Jamey Aebersold "Play-A-Long". This will help you understand improvisation.
...
3
Just dealt with the same problem. Had a very bad rattle on my squier jazz bass, but only when playing an open A. I could hear it when unplugged, but it didn't come through the amp. It sounded like it was coming from either the body of the bass or somewhere in the neck. By accident, I happened to put a little pressure on the A string between the nut and ...
3
The change in tension is likely to cause a difference in the bowing of the neck, and adjusting the truss rod is the way to fix it.
However, I don't think you should be too scared of tackling it yourself.
Fit the new strings. Play. If everything feels fine, stop worrying and keep playing.
If you feel there are problems with the action high up the ...
3
For a lot of this track it sounds like Paco has a synth effect on his bass, but that isn't that relevant for this percussion effect.
What he is doing is muting or damping with his left hand and using the right to act as a tom. The movement of his hand up and down the fretboard gives a tonal change (fractionally) but this is basically a percussion ...
3
I think this can help you.
But notice, that making a bass tab from guitar tab is like covering sb's cover of sb's cover :) It probably will work, but can be unplayable and inaccurate. The best adaptation would be the one you'd do from original music sheet.
3
The pickups could be clipping the input gain stage of your amplifier. I doubt it has anything to do with the knobs, since active electronics can give out a very hot signal. Can you give us more information on what you're using for an amplifier? What active electronics are you using, specifically?
I doubt you'll kill the speakers if it is input clipping ...
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