Aggressive playing

[Garrett Mireles]

How aggressive are you guys, if you are at all?

Last week I broke the B string on my bass, and a few months ago I broke the E string on my 4 stringer. I also broke the top 2 strings on both of my guitars from bending the strings too far (guess you really CAN'T bend 3 steps), and I broke 4 guitar strings at once by going too heavy on the whammy bar (doh got carried away..I blame the wah and flanger).

And 2 days ago I broke my wah peddle, turned it into a fuzz box somehow. Apparently it can't handle a 60º room at night (got an air conditioner), guess the condensation in the morning (when I turn it off) screwed up the wiring.

So what bad luck have you guys had?

[kirbywrx]

I havent had alot of bad luck...a few necks outta whack, broken strings, ect ect

[mark beem]

Damn!!


IMO If you're breaking B & E strings you're doing something seriously wrong!!

[fourstringdrums]

THOR GET MAD! THOR BREAK'EM B STRING!

Sorry

I've actually never broken a string, but I tend to not have that aggressive of an attack anyway. As for the wah pedal..I can't see how being in a cold room could make that much of a difference. I have 3 different boxes/pedals in my room w/ A.C. and 0 problems

[fallon]

The 'd' string of my Vigier is never permanent,beyond a few weeks(like my ladies!)always changing!The 'd' string also has went floppy more than once,but the 'e'and 'a' have survived a bit of punishment until I started plucking these strings with the index finger.(like the double-bass-rockabilly-brothers do...slap with the thumb then pull with the index...try it in the usual 12 bar thing on electric bass..helluva sound!)That said,I've never touched a bass with one of those big deep low-end 'b' strings....I will at some point!!Stay cool.Scotland's slap bassist."Fallon".

[keylock71]

I usually try to keep it tame during practice, but I have a tendancy to get heavy handed when playing out. If I break strings it's usually the D or G from pulling on it too hard (no pun intended). When I was younger, I'd constantly blister up and burst my right hand fingers resulting in lovely blood splatters all over the bass and me (I've gotten better about that over the years). I can't help it, I get excited about playing.

[mans0n]

You are playing much much too hard!

Playing too hard decreases sustain, makes your instrument go out of tune faster (depending on its quality), can break strings and is just foolish! I have never broken a string on a bass guitar or normal guitar and I've been playing over 5 years. I find that people who play with this violence end up sounding very sloppy due to them effectively 'bending' the strings out of tune for an instant when the hit them so forcibly. People (and your pocket book) would appreciate your playing a lot more if you relaxed and played with a more gentle technique, youll get a truer tone, and look more professional to boot! Eric Clapton sure can play some mean sounding music, and he isnt breaking four strings at once.

[asabove-asbelow]

i've only broke an e string once, and thats because it was pretty old. i play hard, but i play with a pick so it's not nearly as hard as someone who is slapping and popping.
in my opinion playing hard isnt a bad thing in all stlyes of music, in punk and metal it sounds better to me, and while eric clapton is awesome, none of his stuff is very mean sounding by my standards.

[Lackey]

GEEZ man! You're playing that hard and yet you can still do 16th notes at 160 bpm?? Whats your secret man?

[drd07]

You can still get an aggressive sound by playing softer. Just turn your amp up! Do you play with a pick, fingers, or slap style when you broke your B and E string?

[jive1]

Originally posted by drd07
You can still get an aggressive sound by playing softer. Just turn your amp up! Do you play with a pick, fingers, or slap style when you broke your B and E string?

Word!
Been playing with this the last couple of years. Lets me set my action lower with less string buzz. I can still get an aggressive sound and I can play faster due to less hand/finger movement, get better articiulation because I can control what I am doing, and get truer tones by reducing plucking noises. There's a place for agressive playing, but like all things, you can have too much of a good thing. Even at my most aggressive, I never broke a B or E string unless they were real old. Nowadays, my string wear out long before they break regardless of the technique I use.