Timeline for How to play two simultaneously notes on the bass guitar?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 22, 2016 at 9:10 | comment | added | Tim | @ToddWilcox - just a thought about playing 'more notes than strings'. It's entirely possible, and I use it, to play a tapped harmonic in such a way that the open string note AND the harmonic both come out. Chances are both could well be featured in a particular chord, so theoretically it's possible to obtain twice as many notes as strings. I wouldn't bother but sometimes three or four notes from two strings can be effective, and because the harmonics are higher, no muddiness. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 22:15 | vote | accept | g ziegler | ||
| Jan 21, 2016 at 18:17 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @Tim I'd say there are plenty of ways to make larger chords work on electric bass without getting muddy. Complicated chords in lower registers can sound muddy on any instrument, including piano, so if one is playing a left-hand piano part without too thick a tone one has a decent chance of getting away with it, I'd say. Agreed 5-strings are fairly common and five-note left hand chords are rare, just noting that five bass notes could potentially be presented to a four-string player and that would be trickier. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 18:14 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | Rock bassists who want to play Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin or Schism by Tool or Bullet in the Head by Rage Against the Machine should get over the one-note misconception very quickly. Rock bassists who don't want to play any those songs should start calling themselves "pop", "folk-rock", or "country" bassists instead. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 18:14 | comment | added | Tim | @ToddWilcox - fair point, but - four is probably the maximum number found on a bass clef (usually), and some of us play 5 string basses! However, a four or even five string chord on bass guitar sounds pretty awful. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 18:07 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | Regarding playing "all" of the notes, there is a requirement that there be no more simultaneous notes than there are strings on the bass. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 16:53 | comment | added | Shevliaskovic | Yup, I agree; but it is a common misconception among amateur (usually rock) musicians that the bass should play only single notes. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 16:51 | comment | added | Tim | @Shevliaskovic - on a percentage basis, it's more usual to pay single notes. Take 1,000 well known songs... but, point taken, that's why 'not always' is there. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 16:46 | comment | added | Shevliaskovic | That's not necessarily true; there are many examples of bassists playing chords. Stanley Clarke,Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten for example. | |
| Jan 21, 2016 at 16:40 | history | answered | Tim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |