Good place to get bassless tracks?

[Gnome]

Does anyone know either where I can gets lots of songs without the bass to play to or a programme to remove the bass?

Thanks guys.

[Ian Perge]

True "bassless tracks" usually only come with Instructional Books - other options are both programs and hardware like the Tascam BT-1 that have "Bass Cut" modes that cut the midrange severally but leave the track sounding more "hollow" than "bassless". The other is MIDI tracks of songs, which I consider one step up from Hell.

I simply boost my volume to be slightly above the recorded track, and that works fine for me.

[DWBass]

I used to do that with 'really good' midi tracks all the time. I also play keyboards and would 'clean' them up as nessessary! I'd delete the bass track & convert to .wav or .mp3. I'd burn it to a cd and jam along!

[QuintrKD]

Originally Posted by mb1

One other approach to this would be to find acceptable quality MIDI files of the songs, then mute the bass track.

No it's not the same as playing along with the originals -- and there's a ton of crap out there -- but I suspect it would be easier to find MIDI interpretations of the songs you want than it would be to find "bassless" originals.

FWIW, I'd love to be able to buy multitrack version of songs. Would make learning the parts so much easier!

+1 I import MIDI's and mute the bass fairly often with Band-in-a-Box (BIAB). Once I import the MIDI, I often experiment by plugging in one of hundreds of styles (i.e genre variations) that come with the MEGA-Pak version. I've also created some really unique arrangements by creating hybrid styles using varying instrumentation from multiple styles. In the rare instance that you cannot find a MIDI on-line, you can enter the chords from a chord chart manually or enter chords and melody from a MIDI keyboard (or manually) from a lead sheet.

I would think you'd get more bang for your buck buying a program such as BIAB... its more flexible and a one-time investment that allows you to import and manipulate a huge database of MIDI files. It's also a great tool for the beginner or intermediate bass player in becoming versatile in multiple music genres, and for the band that is looking to put their own unique spin on a popular song.

[BrandonBass]

dude, download guitar pro. You can get the tabs off ultimate-guitar.com.

The program allows you to alter the volume of the drums, bass, guitar whatever

[Fuzzbass]

Albums by White Stripes, Black Keys, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ...

[5stringDNA]

Originally Posted by Fuzzbass

Albums by White Stripes, Black Keys, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ...

haha.. nice...

[Techmonkey]

if you have a decent synthesizer/platform for it, the midi thing really works. my best mate has a yamaha tyros keyboard, which has some of the most realistic sounding midi synthesis I've ever heard. just hook it up to the USB port, move all your favourite midis over to the keyboard, turn the bass bit down, and you can even get the damn thing to display the would-be bassline on bass cleff in whatever key you want in real time on the LCD screen.

the only problem is when you realise the keyboard is better than you are at bass.

[KYJazzy]

I'll just throw this in for the heck of it -

if you have some decent computer speakers (I have some creative labs 2.1 with sub), it has a volume knob and a bass knob, I just turn the bass knob all the way off and voila, no more bass track! and I can play along with that. I'm sure if you go into a best buy or circuit city you can see which models really cut out the bass frequencies nicely.

[Bassist4Life]

I have used Audacity to EQ out the low end. It's not perfect, but it works good enough to play along with songs.

Joe

[musicman5string]

Personally, I prefer to play along WITH the bass on a recording if I'm trying to learn the line; I like the recording to be fairly loud and my bass to be just under that.
That way I can clearly hear any notes I'm playing wrong.