please help me figure out to get make this sound

A Minor · #1 08-24-2007, 12:11 PM

ok, the way i've recently started looking at bass not so much from a theory point of view but from a sound point of view, right now i'm working on trying to get that sort of sliding/screaming sound that the bassist gets on "Sir Duke" by stevie wonder...that's the only way i can think of describing it, i think you have to shake your hand or somethin i'm completely lost and i could really use some help!

A Minor · #2 08-24-2007, 01:40 PM

11 views and no replies....tsk tsk tsk...

tswd · #3 08-24-2007, 02:06 PM

Link?

This is an online forum. We're lazy people. We're not going to go try to find the version of the song you might be thinking of. Give us something we can just click on and listen to real quick, then we'll try to help.

zac2944 · #4 08-24-2007, 02:13 PM

I know the lick you're talking about. Bassicly it is just a slide up the neck and then you end it with a trill. You don't hammer-on the trill, you slide back and forth very quickly with the finger you did the main part of the slide with. This lick takes some practice to ge tit right. I find that the timing of this lick is the hardest part. You have to work it into your groove at just the right moment. You can hear other examples of this lick from funk and R&B players. I'm not sure if there is a name for it?

JimmyM · #5 08-24-2007, 03:30 PM

I've always called it an extreme vibrato, but that's not the actual term.

A Minor · #6 08-27-2007, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tswd

Link?

This is an online forum. We're lazy people. We're not going to go try to find the version of the song you might be thinking of. Give us something we can just click on and listen to real quick, then we'll try to help.

Uh if you don't know Sir Duke then you can't be that good of a musician or bassist so leave the bs out of my thread please

Gawd · #7 08-27-2007, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Minor

Uh if you don't know Sir Duke then you can't be that good of a musician or bassist so leave the bs out of my thread please

That didn't make any sense. Not everybody was raised listening to the same music, or likes the same music as you. And not everyone likes Stevie Wonder... I listened to the song, nothing special. So get off your high horse...

And it's just a slide up the neck.

tswd · #8 08-27-2007, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Minor

Uh if you don't know Sir Duke then you can't be that good of a musician or bassist so leave the bs out of my thread please

Interesting logic. So you can't be a good musician if you don't play note-for-note covers? My bad. Guess I'll stop focusing on doing original stuff. I've seen the light!

The fact remains that if you're going to ask how to reproduce a sound, it would be quite helpful to put a link to it so that we can hear it. A lot of musicians, especially ones with a catalog like Stevie Wonder, put different versions of the same song on different albums. I don't know, nor care, if Stevie did that with this song or not. You added a post wondering why nobody was responding. The fact that we don't all have every Stevie Wonder song memorized has a lot to do with it. You'll get more responses, faster, if you put a clip of the sound you're trying to reproduce. It ain't rocket science.

winstonthecat · #9 08-27-2007, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Minor

Uh if you don't know Sir Duke then you can't be that good of a musician or bassist so leave the bs out of my thread please

Seriously, you ask for help, get mad when nobody responds, and then insult the person who gave you suggestions on how to make it easier for the community to provide feedback.

Most people know Sir Duke, but not everyone listens to it all the time, or has the bass line memorized. I'm more of a rock/alternative oriented player and listener, and don't own that song, nor have I heard it in probably 10 years.

You should rethink your approach to these forums.

A Minor · #10 08-30-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tswd

Interesting logic. So you can't be a good musician if you don't play note-for-note covers? My bad. Guess I'll stop focusing on doing original stuff. I've seen the light!

The fact remains that if you're going to ask how to reproduce a sound, it would be quite helpful to put a link to it so that we can hear it. A lot of musicians, especially ones with a catalog like Stevie Wonder, put different versions of the same song on different albums. I don't know, nor care, if Stevie did that with this song or not. You added a post wondering why nobody was responding. The fact that we don't all have every Stevie Wonder song memorized has a lot to do with it. You'll get more responses, faster, if you put a clip of the sound you're trying to reproduce. It ain't rocket science.

even more interesting comprehension as i don't recall saying anything about orginal music at all i didn't ask for others opinions on how to get the same sound or similar sounds used in other pieces, and if you don't know the song and see that i don't have it posted as a clip to listen to then why bother wasting both our time them? I've seen this EXACT sort of question get asked in different threads and people somehow managed to listen to it on there own with no problem.

And i still refuse to believe that there has been a single person to come into this thread that DIDN'T know the song, maybe not the phrase that i had in question but you all know the song, but regardless I got what i was looking for, i'm sorry if i offended anybody in the process

lowphatbass · #11 08-30-2007, 08:10 PM

The best way I can describe the technique used to get that growly/trill:
you have to rub your fretting finger as quickly a possible across the fret. Imagine your finger is an eraser and you drew a naughty picture on you paper and your teacher is walking-up to you and you have to erase it quickly and completely. Having really big finger pads helps achieve this effect as well as a pretty dry sounding bass/eq(not alot of presence or bass). It also works much better up the neck where the distance between frets is shorter. It's a pretty dated lick and I don't hear it very often today, it's also VERY easy to sound like a complete spazz when it's done incorrectly and/or distastefully so be careful.

JimmyM · #12 08-30-2007, 10:00 PM

You know who does that well? Tal Wilkenfeld from Jeff Beck's current band. She's got some videos on Youtube where she does it a lot, and it's really effective because she changes it up a lot and doesn't always get real intense and nervous with it..

funkalicious101 · #13 08-30-2007, 11:50 PM

Wow, you cant be much of a bassist or a musician if you dont know how to make your bass sound like that.

rodl2005 · #14 08-31-2007, 12:08 AM

Sir WHO?????? Sir Maggotbrain??? Sir Ian Curtis???? Hang on, I'll ask my dog...... Duke c'mere Boy..... :-)

bburk · #15 08-31-2007, 12:29 AM

I've always heard what you guys are describing called 'shake'.

Take your finger and press a string down right on a fret. Then with the string still held down, kinda shake your hand back and forth quickly. If you are doing it right and have your finger in the right spot, you will alternate between the note of the fret that your finger is on and the note of the next fret. Takes a little while to get the idea, but once you do it, it's pretty easy.

JimmyM · #16 08-31-2007, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkalicious101

Wow, you cant be much of a bassist or a musician if you dont know how to make your bass sound like that.

How old are you? 8?

**bassybill** · #17 08-31-2007, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

How old are you? 8?

Easy, Jimmy - I think he was just responding to the rather rude comment in post #6.

JimK · #18 08-31-2007, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bburk

I've always heard what you guys are describing called 'shake'.

I'm with you...EW&F's "Shining Star" is loaded with them.

One more thing about Nathan Watts/Stevie Wonder-
Watts also uses some shakes on "I Wish" & "Do I Do"...a few months ago in Bass Player, Watts mentioned that he detuned to Eb-Ab-Db-Gb for those tunes.

JimmyM · #19 08-31-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

Easy, Jimmy - I think he was just responding to the rather rude comment in post #6.

OK then. How old is the guy in #6? 8?

tswd · #20 08-31-2007, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Minor

even more interesting comprehension as i don't recall saying anything about orginal music at all i didn't ask for others opinions on how to get the same sound or similar sounds used in other pieces, and if you don't know the song and see that i don't have it posted as a clip to listen to then why bother wasting both our time them? I've seen this EXACT sort of question get asked in different threads and people somehow managed to listen to it on there own with no problem.

You did say that not knowing how to play Sir Duke meant you couldn't possibly be a good musician or bassist. I don't know how to play it because I don't play covers. You implied that I couldn't possibly be a good musician because of it.

The only reason I posted was because of your second post. You seemed upset that nobody was responding, so I posted a way you could get more people to respond. Sorry if trying to help you wasted your time. My bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Minor

And i still refuse to believe that there has been a single person to come into this thread that DIDN'T know the song, maybe not the phrase that i had in question but you all know the song, but regardless I got what i was looking for, i'm sorry if i offended anybody in the process

Know it at what level? I've heard it before. Does that mean I know exactly how every measure is played and every little bass technique used in it? Nope.