Greg Cohen sound ...

mr mastodon · #1 05-17-2010, 09:54 AM

I'm in the hospital so excuse any typos.

Essentially, I'm looking for stings to give me a bright Greg Cohen sound (such as on Tom Waits' "Soldier's Things" or Woody Allen 's Wild Man Blues soundtrack)

I currently have some kind of Thomastik orchestral strings on my Shen SB100. They sound pretty good, but I'd like to get a sound closer to this. I don't have much money to expieriment either. II know it's going to sound different bss to bass, but if someone could ballpark me. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS_J9ONoNQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OF5YiZmUOc

Eric Hochberg · #2 05-18-2010, 12:51 PM

Spirocore mittels or weichs will get you there.

mr mastodon · #3 05-18-2010, 03:10 PM

i believe i have some kind of spiros on there already. although i don't know which gauge. i may stick to spiros ... but what would helicore pizz strings sound like? or should i go for hybrids?

gp_bass · #4 05-18-2010, 03:11 PM

When I've seen him with John Zorn, I'm pretty sure he was using Spiro Mittels on the E&A and Pirastro Olivs on the D&G. If you want a lower-cost solution for the D&G, you might try Evah Pirazzis - not as warm and deep as Olivs, but definitely more of a gutty snap than the Spiros.

mr mastodon · #5 05-18-2010, 03:28 PM

cool. i'll look into that for sure. thank you!

BernardONeill · #6 01-23-2012, 09:26 AM

As a friend of Greg I can tell you he has an open mind to strings. He has borrowed a bass of mine for the Ornette gig which had spirocore redtops and yet when I sought his advice on strings for a chamber bass he was advocating pirastro jazzers and he was right on! Greg's tone is based largely on good technique, he hits the bass hard, you should check out his solo album which he used gut strings on his bass, either way, he is a fine example of tough tone and great swing...

MaxJohnson · #7 01-23-2012, 09:45 AM

He also has a handful of basses, all with different setups of strings. I've seen him play at least three, and he always sounds like Greg.

geoffbassist · #8 01-23-2012, 09:55 AM

The bass sound on the Woody Allen track in the original post is killer! Really beautiful tone and playing.

Nathan Levine · #9 01-23-2012, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BernardONeill

As a friend of Greg I can tell you he has an open mind to strings. He has borrowed a bass of mine for the Ornette gig which had spirocore redtops and yet when I sought his advice on strings for a chamber bass he was advocating pirastro jazzers and he was right on! Greg's tone is based largely on good technique, he hits the bass hard, you should check out his solo album which he used gut strings on his bass, either way, he is a fine example of tough tone and great swing...

Once upon a time I was discussing the finer merits of Damian Dlugolecki's gut strings with my teacher and he mentioned that a former student of his, Mr Cohen, used Damian's strings extensively. Does that sound right? I saw Masada a number of times ten years ago or so, but I don't recall that he was using gut strings.

I would be really love to hear Greg's solo album. Looked on Google but couldn't find a reference to it. Did you mean solo as in he is the leader on the date?

Marc Piane · #10 01-23-2012, 12:06 PM

I have Way Low. It's a good album with some really solid writing and arranging. I was a little surprised when I got it though. With the projects (Ornette, Zorn, Waits) that I associate Cohen with I was expecting something a little wackier. It's really swinging and well put together and I'd recommend it.

ethnotime · #11 01-28-2012, 10:09 PM

A post about Greg Cohen's sound! I guess I'm not the only one who digs it. I love his sound on Dave Douglas' A Thousand Evenings, I assumed it was spiros since it was so bright. His sound got through to me so much that I switched to steels after playing strictly guts for 15 years! THEN I find out he did use gut strings on some recordings! Whatever, turns out steel strings (spiros especially) ring very well on my bass.