What is "MWAH"

LowDown Hal · #1 09-12-2008, 10:34 AM

help educate a n00b...

THANKS

Toastfuzz · #2 09-12-2008, 10:40 AM

Its that sound that goes "mwah mwah mwah" like if you say "mwah" thats what it sounds like. Mwah. Mwah.

Jonyak · #3 09-12-2008, 10:42 AM

it is a tonal characteristic of fretless basses. generaly made by sliding into a note.

hence the mwahhhhhhh.

synaesthesia · #4 09-12-2008, 10:42 AM

It is an onomatopoeia.

see for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia

jmac · #5 09-12-2008, 10:42 AM

mwah is the sound that many fretless players wish to obtain. The more mwah sound the better.

kojak · #6 09-12-2008, 10:42 AM

in a recent thread, "mwaah" was used as a onomatapoeticon, for the sound that a fretless is able to make. its partly your fingers, but the way the tone swells. I played around with a EBS BassIQ today, and you can get a quite nice "mwaah" out of that one btw!

Rafterman · #7 09-12-2008, 10:43 AM

it means someone is giving you a *kiss*

Traver · #8 09-13-2008, 03:40 AM

For some reason this thread made me laugh.

Depth_Charge · #9 09-13-2008, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toastfuzz

Its that sound that goes "mwah mwah mwah" like if you say "mwah" thats what it sounds like. Mwah. Mwah.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonyak

it is a tonal characteristic of fretless basses. generaly made by sliding into a note.

hence the mwahhhhhhh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmac

mwah is the sound that many fretless players wish to obtain. The more mwah sound the better.

Mwah is a term people use to try to describe the sound a fretless makes as you slide up to, or down from, a fingered note.

On a fretted bass, sliding between 2 frets won't change the pitch of the note but on a fretless you get a little "mwah" as you come up (or down) to the desired note when sliding "between frets". You can also get full length "mwah" by sliding right up or down or both, but we don't do that...

...at least not much

Cernael · #10 09-13-2008, 04:52 AM

I've read that you gat more "mwah" with the "right" kind of fingerboard, IIRC ebony being a highmwah wood, for instance. And that you get more from roundwound strings than from flatwound.

Would someone in the actual know expound on that? Pretty please?

JimK · #11 09-13-2008, 08:37 AM

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Mwah

...there's a "Wiki" link at the top of each Talk Bass page (look between "Reviews" & "Store").

Depth_Charge · #12 09-13-2008, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cernael

I've read that you gat more "mwah" with the "right" kind of fingerboard, IIRC ebony being a highmwah wood, for instance. And that you get more from roundwound strings than from flatwound.

Would someone in the actual know expound on that? Pretty please?

Sure. I own a Tony Franklin Fretless. It has an unfinished ebony fretboard. It's got mwah

bassteban · #13 09-13-2008, 10:11 AM

I'm too lazy(as are the other posters apparently

)but go youtube up some Tony Franklin, Mark Egan, Bakithi Kumalo, Michael Manring, Steve Lawson, certain Pino Palladino, 'fretless bass', etc. What's that Pink Floyd tune- 'on the turning away' is the opening lyric, IIRC. A small smattering of textbook mwah.

hey · #14 09-13-2008, 10:58 AM

Go to 1:40 in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGvDSuycarg
Great example of "Mwah" up unto 2:02

D.A.R.K. · #15 09-13-2008, 11:01 AM

i always thought mwah was the name of the language the adults speak in those charlie brown cartoons....

Depth_Charge · #16 09-13-2008, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassteban

I'm too lazy(as are the other posters apparently

)but go youtube up some Tony Franklin, Mark Egan, Bakithi Kumalo, Michael Manring, Steve Lawson, certain Pino Palladino, 'fretless bass', etc. What's that Pink Floyd tune- 'on the turning away' is the opening lyric, IIRC. A small smattering of textbook mwah.

Pretty sure SOS by ABBA is played on a fretless as well. The intro is "mwah"-y.

**bassybill** · #17 09-13-2008, 12:02 PM

The link to my sound clip in the Wiki "mwah" entry is no longer there.

I'd best post it here then.

http://www.billygreen.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Clip1.mp3

gkbass13 · #18 09-13-2008, 12:12 PM

play the lowest E on the d string of a fretless bass, then slide up to G. that is mwah.

JimmyM · #19 09-13-2008, 07:43 PM

Mwah makes me suicidal. First off, it's a horrible word. Second, blaze your own trail and don't try to sound like Jaco because it never works.

Deacon_Blues · #20 09-14-2008, 05:33 AM

Mwah is the word to describe how the sound "grows" after you've plucked a note on a fretless. It doesn't have to include any sliding. Just fret a random note on your fretless, pluck the note with your thumb at the beginning of the neck, and it will start growing. I have a hard time getting the mwah sound in any other ways on my Squier VM fretless jazz...