How to get that "double bass click"?

[Electricblue]

I have a fretted jazz bass, and I now cover lots of rock-n-roll stuff where a DB has been used. How do I get that "click" that DB'ists get?

[fearceol]

Well, use flat strings for a start. IMO, a precision bass comes a lot closer in giving the tone you refer to, then a jazz bass does. Also, you could use a mute beneath the strings ala Carol Kaye.

[longfinger]

You mean like on the Bill Haley & The comets type of playing?

Or like this?

YouTube - Rockabilly Bassist "Slick" Joe Fick

That's double bass "slapping". It's not readily do-able on a bass guitar. Plucking over the finger board and slapping the strings down on the frets sound different. You'll have to adapt some other technique to approximate it, or leave it be and play the bass guitar very well and let BG derived sounds come out on their own.

[jallenbass]

Do you mean a Ray Brown type of click at the beginning of each note? If so, I can do it on DB but cannot get it to happen on BG. I can't even tell you what I do to get it. It just happens. Good luck.

[xxjazzbassist]

easy solution...buy an upright and learn to play it

[DeivoxCarnal]

Originally Posted by xxjazzbassist

easy solution...buy an upright and learn to play it

.... yeah, sounds reaaal easy

Defretting a cheap electric bass is a good place to start, you probably don't want to start ripping the frets out of your main player, but flatwound strings on a fretless is probably the quickest way to emulate that sound.

[trunkshope6]

on the flip side how to get a trebly sizzly marcus miller slap tone out of my student model chinese made upright?

[lunarpollen]

You won't be able to easily do it, but with a few things you can still sound good for that type of music

1) flatwound strings
2) foam mute
3) use neck pickup only

If you practice a lot with a similar slap technique, you *can* get something fairly close to what you seek, at least in a basic way (i.e., no complicated slap patterns, but simple Crickets and Comets type stuff is do-able) . But it takes a lot of time and perseverance, and maybe some action adjustment so that you can pluck the strings more easily in that fashion. I have seen it done before, and it's pretty cool... Of course, a real double bass is still preferable for this type of playing...

And you really don't need to de-fret your bass; the instances I've seen it done, it was with fretted bass guitars.

[anonymous122511]

For the Ray Brown walking thing it's completely about muting the string with your left hand over the note you want to accent for the percussive "click" then pressing down and letting the note sound. Typically you'd play the "click" on the and of 4 with the note itself sounding right down the middle of 1. This works on any bass regardless of setup or type of strings. It's this sort of physical device typical of the double bass that will get you miles closer to the double bass sound than anything else.

If you're talking about slapping the upright check out Milt Hinton. He's the master. With work you can do it on the bass guitar.
This is kinda cool too: How-to do a drag triplet

[Electricblue]

Sorry to revive the dead thread, but I've just had a brainwave.

I've fitted a mute I made out of foam, works a treat.

What if I fitted a block of wood near the neck pickup (higher than the frets, lower than the string's vibrating area) to ping the strings against when playing that style?

After all, its the strings-on-wood impact that makes the click, right?

[alexei]

there are somethings that can help APPROACH a similar sound in your electric bass:
- plucking over the fretboard
- flatwound strings
- "V" equalization (lots of bass, lots of presence, ZERO-ish midrange)
- thenk muting thinkgy the guys already mentioned (don't overmute, just a moderated ammount, try different settings)
- mid-high string action (this is mostly to prevent rattling with the frets, wich will screw things up)

[251]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Sorry to revive the dead thread, but I've just had a brainwave.

I've fitted a mute I made out of foam, works a treat.

What if I fitted a block of wood near the neck pickup (higher than the frets, lower than the string's vibrating area) to ping the strings against when playing that style?

After all, its the strings-on-wood impact that makes the click, right?

PLease let us know how that works out for you. 8-)

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by 251

PLease let us know how that works out for you. 8-)

I will if I decide to try it in theory it should work right?

I know the easiest thing to do would be: Buy an upright, or a fretless with flats. Uprights are damn expensive, and I dont really wanna buy another bass just for this music

I would put flats on, but it is the only bass I have, and bright rounds are a must

I will certainly try the EQ idea above

Would a piezo pickup/mic do any good? I put one on my acoustic for a last-minute electro-acoustic session.

So far my list of things to impliment are:

Neck pickup
Plucking above the neck
V-shape EQ
Foam mute

What about the wood block I mentioned?

Thanks guys/gals

[makkE]

Just go ahead and try! Piece of scrap wood, slap it on temporarily with duct tape or so - see if it does anything to the sound :P

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by fearceol

Well, use flat strings for a start. IMO, a precision bass comes a lot closer in giving the tone you refer to, then a jazz bass does. Also, you could use a mute beneath the strings ala Carol Kaye.

i disagree on the P-bass thing. p basses of course can get there, but when im emulating a DB on electric bass, fretted or fretless, my move is to solo the bridge pickup and pluck the strings way up in the fingerboard, near the 14th or so fret. (on a J-style pickup configuration.)

half of the DB vibe is plucking the strings up high- when you watch a double bass player, hes plucking the strings much further from the bridge than electric players normally do.

neck pickups generate more of the subs assosiated with DBs, witch is i think why a lot of guys go for a neck pickup, or P bass. but IMO the actual sound, is closer when you use a bridge pickup and pluck accordingly.

tv.

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by groooooove

i disagree on the P-bass thing. p basses of course can get there, but when im emulating a DB on electric bass, fretted or fretless, my move is to solo the bridge pickup and pluck the strings way up in the fingerboard, near the 14th or so fret. (on a J-style pickup configuration.)

half of the DB vibe is plucking the strings up high- when you watch a double bass player, hes plucking the strings much further from the bridge than electric players normally do.

neck pickups generate more of the subs assosiated with DBs, witch is i think why a lot of guys go for a neck pickup, or P bass. but IMO the actual sound, is closer when you use a bridge pickup and pluck accordingly.

tv.

+1,

Plucking around the 12th to 14th will get the neck slap and similar acoustic feel, I tend to leave both pickup's wide open just to keep the sub frequencies. It's a quieter technique, helps to bump the volume a little, flatwounds would be good.

[jazzyteen]

I play in a big band and the band leader wants me to play upright which I don't so what I do is either play on the neck or even better heavily palm mute to get the sudden attack of the upright sound which I think sounds great and the band leader and everybody else say it sounds great too.

I also play a 5er trb and have the pickup equally back or front or a bit more front, and I also play with roundwound but flat wound would make more sense, I don't do it since big band swing isn't the only thing I doo and it wouldn't be fun to change the strings everytime... It also helps if you play on the bigger stings lower in the neck ex: instead of playing the A on the 2nd fret of the G string play it on the 12th fret of the A string while heavily palm muting

There is a recording were I think Will Lee does it with the Brecker bros band in the cd intitled some skunk funk, I think the track is Freefall.