Does any one know how to make your bass sound like a banjo like stu hamm does in that one part of Country music?
I know how to play it, but it sounds like a bass playing it when i do it but when he does it it sounds awesome, like a banjo or some thing. Any one know some eq or something that will fix it?

Are you playing it in the correct register? And what part are you referring to? The opening root-V vamp is hammered with the left hand up at the 3rd position, and the off-beat "chops" are hammered by the right hand down past the 12th fret on the D and G strings. After that, the banjo roll lick is simply a slapped hammer-on from F# to G on the D string, 4 to 5th fret, followed immediately by a plucked open G. Everything else is all over the board, so you're on your own there....

I think you might be talking about the main melody.

1. slap the F# on the D string
2. hammer up to the G on the D string
3. then pop the open G

That's the technique he uses to do the main melody of the song. After that, you just have to be really good.

Practice, my son. Use the force, Skywalker...

But they are right. The open G gives it that droning, doubling feel and sound that a banjo produces.

Hamm has such a cool tone on that one. Does anyone know what bass he was playing back then?

Originally posted by Oysterman
Hamm has such a cool tone on that one. Does anyone know what bass he was playing back then?

A pre-Fender Kubicki X Factor, I believe. Never my cup of tea.

Originally posted by Oysterman
Hamm has such a cool tone on that one. Does anyone know what bass he was playing back then?

They were pre Fender Kubicki's. I/ve played a few, loved the tone, Met Stu at the Bass Center in LA when it was there some 10 yrs ago or so. He was cool as hell.

While on the topic of Stu Hamm...
When/where did he play Linus & Lucy, and why can I not seem to find any recordings with him playing it?

Originally posted by Sheep Man
While on the topic of Stu Hamm...
When/where did he play Linus & Lucy, and why can I not seem to find any recordings with him playing it?

It's part of <big><b>Quahogs anyone? (119,120 Whatever it Takes)</big></b>, a live solo.

It's on his <b><big>The Urge</big></b> album from 1991.

And contrary to some other opinions in this thread, I think his sound with the Kubicki is great, but I don't like his Fender sound at all.

no, i know the teqnique to play it, but when i play it it sounds like a bass playing the part not a banjo. I have his notation book so i know im playing the part right.

It SHOULD like a bass is playing the part, for it IS a bass that is playing the part! ;) Doesn't sound anything like a banjo to me on the recording.

I'm not really sure what guage strings Stu uses or used back then, but I know that lots of slappers use really light strings. That'd account for your tonal differencel, too.

Originally posted by JMX
It's part of <big><b>Quahogs anyone? (119,120 Whatever it Takes)</big></b>, a live solo.

It's on his <b><big>The Urge</big></b> album from 1991.

And contrary to some other opinions in this thread, I think his sound with the Kubicki is great, but I don't like his Fender sound at all. Cool, thanks.

And about Country Music sounding like a banjo...it doesn't sound anything like a banjo to me, either.

Of course, listening to it right after dueling banjos probably has something to do with that, too. :D

Originally posted by Pacman
I think you might be talking about the main melody.

1. slap the F# on the D string
2. hammer up to the G on the D string
3. then pop the open G

That's the technique he uses to do the main melody of the song. After that, you just have to be really good.


Nearly there, its actually

1. slap the F# on the D string
2. hammer up to the G on the D string
3. Damp the D string and slap the G note (for that percussive 'click')
4. pop the open G.

on a side note , some of the tabs in the Stu Hamm Bass book are wrong, however the notation is correct....another reason to learn to read music.

..stupid tabs....;)