Choppy Fingerstyle

[touji]

Brief background----

Played bass for two years at church. Played a MIM Fender Jazz through a GK Backline ---. Throughout the years of playing, driving the 8th notes sounded good, pretty smooth, etc etc. I then stopped playing for 3 years to pick up the guitar after friends needed a guitar player. Now I'm back to my roots playing my first love, the bass guitar!

But here's the problem. Playing live with a nice 18'' speaker pumping lows out like crazy, driving the 8ths even at a pretty fast tempo sounded great. It sounded smooth and not choppy. But now I'm playing through a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0, and this amp is so much less forgiving than the GK that I used to play through. I've taken a shot at recording and it seems like those 8ths that I used to drive are no longer smooth. Every time I alternate, it feels like there is such a large gap between the time the note stops and starts ringing again. I've been trying to lay down a bass part for a recording for the past couple of days, but the DI from the Genz Benz has been kicking my butt How do I smoothen out my alternating to give it a nice smooth transition from finger to finger?

[hasbeen]

it isn't the Shuttle that is the change.....it's going direct that is different.

You can always mic a cab for recording.

[codeinedreams]

if you're riding the same note repeatedly and don't want to switch to another amp or are unable to adjust the tone to get what you want, one option is to play using the same finger for a few measures then switch to the other finger (so each finger would play maybe 8 notes in a row for example). I know it's unconventional, but I do this at times when I want really clean even beats, esp. on a recording. like I mentioned in another thread, alternating isn't necessarily the only way to go if there's a certain sound you want.

[lowfreq33]

Try using a lighter touch, just grazing the strings with the very tips of the fingers. Often when digging in you can end up choking the notes without realizing it.

[touji]

Thanks for the tips you guys! I'm gonna try giving it another shot, micing my cab on one channel and then going straight with the other channel. I'll also be trying the single finger and the lighter touch with alternating. This is what I love about recording... it shows you all your short comings! If anyone else has any other tips, I'd appreciate greatly if you post