sticatto

[Mixmasta J]

hey I am playing in my school jazz band, and we are playing I wish by stevie wonder, and on the recording the notes are all somewhat seperated, short, and sticatto. Does anyone have any tips on rendering this sound on an electric bass? (Im pretty sure that it is done on a synth)

thanks

[Mark Wilson]

Hey man

it's fairly easy. Here's an example.

When you play a note with your index, right after you can do one of two things.

i) bring your middle finger onto the string to mute it, then pluck again, and then bring your index to mute it and etc etc...

ii) Lift your fretting finger off the fingerboard. Then put it back on.

Like you said, they're just short shotted notes.

Mark Wilson

[fraublugher]

it is played on an actual electric bass.

good luck , it's a great tune

[The Clap]

Once I brought in a Chapman stick to practice, and my closeminded bandmates said 'Get that sticcato here!' and I did. The word you're looking for is Staccato

[Verbannter]

Chapman sticks are so !@#$ing Gnarly..

[steveksux]

Very cool tune... try to listen to the original, as well as some funk/jazz versions of it to get the groove. Its probably written as straight 8ths, but it has some major attitude, a bit of stank to it. Also check out a couple of slides/slurred notes and a few ghost notes in there too.

The feel is as critical to this as it is in swing. Swing sounds totally crappy if you play it straight 8ths without any "swing". This isn't the same feel as swing, but I'm using swing as an example of how playing it technically correctly can still sound like crap.

I actually find it helps to bob and weave, dance a little to the music to get the feel down. It also helps with tempo, my body acts a bit like a metronome to some extent. If I try to speed up, the movement feels funny, strained, if I'm not really paying attention, it can be my first clue that I'm rushing.

This song is often played too fast also, people often substitute speed for energy, when they should be adding the energy by the feel and groove, not the tempo. It should be powerful with a bit of laid back attitude. Hard to describe.

Randy