8-string bass techique

[Disciple4Him]

Hey everyone I could really use some assistance. I just got a fettless 8-string bass. Does anyone know much about playing them? I took one look at this bass and needed to have it, but I only have a little over a year of self taught experience playing bass and no real technique yet. I play in a couple of praise and worship teams at church and doing music outreach and would really like to work the 8-string into the mix. Any tips and technique info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[BullHorn]

Floating thumb technique is a must for picking.

You can try to learn how to tap and play the bass like a piano which include two lines, a bassline and a melody. Simple songs like Hava Nagila or Super Mario's Theme and stuff like that (Saw it on YouTube once ).

But fretless... You're going to have a haaaaaard time, man.

[moogboy]

what kind of 8 string is it? i.e. does it have 4 strings and an octave for each string or is it 8 single strings? if it has octave strings, just play it as you normally would.

[Disciple4Him]

My bass is a 4 string with octave strings. I was hoping to find something special to do with this bass, to set it apart from other bass work I would use my standard 4-string for. Are there some artists I should be listening to to or some books that would help me to develope something special with this bass? I am eager to grow with this.

[KPJ]

Mark Egan is the best known user of the fretless 8-string. Check out his latest release.

[moogboy]

well, now that you say that you want to do something out of the ordinary, i think you should try playing with both fingers and a pick.

[VroomVroom]

The easiest way to play it in tune - remove those four octave strings.

Seriously, left-hand technique is really important on a fretless, and on a beast like this it's really crucial to have everything aligned. I could oversimplify and suggest always keeping your fingers parallel to the nut, but that goes without saying. Trust your ears and aim for consistency and efficiency with your fingers. As for right hand technique, I'd consider using your thumb in almost a palm-mute position. Good luck...

[agreatheight]

Wow, 8 string fretless - bitchin! I play fretless (a Tobais Growler), I play 8 string (a Hamer Chaparral), but a fretless 8 string is crazy good!

Here is what I did when I first picked up my fretless - I put my fretted in it's case and put it in the closet. The best thing you can do is immerse yourself into your new instrument.

Oh, we need pics and more info on the instrument! *subscribed*

[Disciple4Him]

Well, two fingers and a pick at the same time, interesting idea, a bit beyond my capacity but an interesting none the less. I would like to see that done. Thanks for the thoughts VroomVroom. I'm pretty darn green on the technique side of things and haven't really gotten a good grasp of the different ways to hold my right hand. I seem to just vary things based upon my mood or the sound that I get hooked on at the time. The 8 string can take on a real mellow sound when I use my thumb and then a 70'sor 80's rock guitar sound if I get more aggressive with my fingers. I am an ear player more than a music reader. I really struggle with reading bass clef because most of my music experience is in treble, so I usually just write out the notes and play with it from there by ear. I will put a few pictures together with info soon. This may sound really odd, but I bought 2 basses, my first ever, and both are fretless with one being the 8 string. The guys in the praise teams I'm in thought I was crazy. Thanks for the input, I will check out some of Mark Egan's stuff if I can find it, and see where it takes me.

[Tenma4]

I've got the combo of fingers and a pick down, but it's not something I find useful very often. It's more of an effect than anything. I use the pick to get a very cutting tone for the bass of chords. I have a mellow, rounded tone for the top end using my fingers. I've only used this on a couple of songs. Generally I use my thumb along with 2 or 3 fingers to pluck. Before this sounds entirely like a brag fest, it can be done. The 2 songs I've used it on were where I was backing up a guitarist while he soloed over the top.

Now I'll be really interested if anyone on here uses a thumb pick like Dominique Di Piazza. I never can seem to get the angle right with a thumb pick.

[JAUQO III-X]

Here's various technique approaches applied to a 15 string fretless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6O0Lgyn6aE