Have I gotten lazy... or just found 'The Pocket' ?

[MrBorisSpider]

Originally Posted by Count Bassie

Got a beater 4-string? Tune it B-E-A-D. You might need to give the truss rod a twist about 1/4 turn, but there you go. Then you don't even have that upper G, so you limit your choices.

Limitation is the Mother of Invention.

Sounds like a good idea. I think I'll do just that; any reccomendations for strings, however? I'm not sure a .120 gauge E would nessecarily fit the nut. I'm also thinking a .110 might be too floppy.

[MrBorisSpider]

Originally Posted by CopperState

Big ditto. I've learned to write this way with 'originals' bands. If I have time on the clock, I'll make the scratch track whatever I feel like playing. Like you said, it usually sounds too messy in the playback. Then I can go back and edit some noodly-ness out of it, nudge it closer to groovy.

Similarly, I've had writer friends tell me that good short stories are much more difficult to pull off than 800 page novels.

O. Henry: the new bassplayer role model! Er, something.

The short story thing is very true. I had a college assignment for English. I was to write a 1000 word story. I though it would be easy seeing as how I can knock out essays like a machine. It was the hardest thing I've had to write. I liked the concept I had but putting it into practice was a whole other story.

[svp]

I have learned one thing for sure and that alot of times less can be more especially when it is above everything else tastefull.

[Wootsticks]

Originally Posted by MrBorisSpider

Sounds like a good idea. I think I'll do just that; any reccomendations for strings, however? I'm not sure a .120 gauge E would nessecarily fit the nut. I'm also thinking a .110 might be too floppy.

Or you could just get a standard 5-string set and not use the top G.

[The Lurker]

Originally Posted by Count Bassie

Ok, but putting yourself into a position that you need to be creative to resolve can be a good exercise.

No real grooving groove is forced anyway.

yeah, just so long as you're not setting yourself up to fail.

So long as you maintain an interesting groove, do whatever else you want.

[MarkTAW]

My general rule of thump (haha typo, but I'm going to leave it) is the more complex everything else, the simpler I should play. The simpler everything else, the more complex I should play - within reason. I'm not going to play every note on the fretboard using 64th notes and in a slap bass style for good measure during a ballad like Time After Time, but if the song is 2 or 3 chords, I'm probably going to step away from the root to help create more tension and keep the song interesting and moving along.

[fretlessman71]

You're playing a SIX STRING? Get with the PROGRAM, man - only an 8 STRING (F# to F) is good enough for a MANLY bass player!

Seriously, though - bassie said it; I'll elaborate:

The terms FORCED and GROOVE are mutually exclusive.

[Count Bassie]

Originally Posted by The Lurker

yeah, just so long as you're not setting yourself up to fail.

Fail? If you know where you are you might stumble, but there's no need to panic. Just step back in! There's no failure in this- just music.

Take some chances in your life. It's fun.

[manutabora]

Jaco's "The Chicken" is one of the grooviest songs I've heard. It's not necessarily a one or two note groove, but it grooves nonetheless! But, of course, it's Jaco, he could pull it off. For most of us it would be hard to play a very busy bassline without it sounding "technical."
I'd say serve the song to the best of your ability. And if you feel the groove in one or two notes, by all means do that! It's all good.

[Count Bassie]

There's some generally sensible thinking.

[E2daGGurl]

I find the comments about the slower wave properties of the lower notes very helpful. It always seemed obvious to me, before starting bass, that low notes are can be, well, lugubrious - lingering, slower...by their very nature. Hypnotic. I believe that in the hands of a good bass player, this is marvelous stuff - and someday, I'll get there. But the power that's in lower notes (to be specific, G on the low strong and lower - whether drop D or lower tuning) modulates differently, with other players.

It also rattles the dishes, people's teeth and what-not. So it all depends on the specific effect - in the hands of a capable musician, those lower notes can be anything from joyous to commanding and in between. I hope to get there (one day, a 5 string).

But in the hands of an intermediate player like myself, those low strings can be like bombs dropped on others playing - or entirely too hyponotic and obvious (fault of my own style, nothing else).

So congratulations, if you've gotten to where those low notes are compelling and in the groove. That means you've mastered more about the bass, you haven't lost anything.