Finger tone and the importance of practicing an electric instrument acoustically

[taviswardlaw]

Finger Tone:

'Finger Tone' is a phrase I use when I'm talking about how one bassist can pick up a bass and without eq's and pedal board bling can get a great tone, making an average bass sound much more expensive. I'm sure I didn't coin the phrase, in fact i'm sure i've heard it used on here by the tb collective but many students I teach are unaware of it.

Example: That guys getting a great tone out of my bass. He has great finger tone.

Practicing an electric bass acoustically:

For the first couple of years of my bass playing i was without an amp, largely because my parents wanted to see if i was serious about playing. There were a few very beaten up bass amps at my school that i would use occasionally but for the most part my playing and particularly my practice was unplugged. Fast forward to ten years later and I'm a young (studying) musician who is kept reasonably busy with gigs and recording work because of my tone (I have zero shred abilities but can hold a solid groove and walk comfortably on anything that's not too bebop and scary).

I attribute the finger tone I have to my practice without an amp where I really was hearing nothing other than flesh on metal and wood. When you're thinking of a signal chain of bass (or any instrument for that matter) if it sounds average at the origin it'll be a hard slog to get it much better at the end point.

Disclaimer:

Don't get me wrong, I love pedal board bling (i have a slight addiction to high end pedals) and squeezing every ounce of tone i can out of my preamps and basses but if i'm playing in the pocket (also something which improves your actual tone - but that'll be another thread) and I've got nice finger tone then my pedals and preamps can be the subtle and tasteful and I can let each bass (and bassline) breathe and have it's own sonic identity.

In short: unplug and listen to your naked sound

[trowaclown]

The subtleties of playing can't be heard acoustically. I'm on the other side of the fence - I like hearing it amplified, if for nothing else then to hear the tone I'm actually making, with all the dynamics available to me.

[Sam Hain]

Originally Posted by trowaclown

The subtleties of playing can't be heard acoustically. I'm on the other side of the fence - I like hearing it amplified, if for nothing else then to hear the tone I'm actually making, with all the dynamics available to me.

The OP may have found his tone through playing unplugged. If your unplugged you need to dig in kinda hard and fret cleanly to get decent sound. Maybe thats what hes getting at.

[taviswardlaw]

oh definitely still practice with your amps a lot of the time - you'll be using them for gigs so you need to, but as far as hearing subtleties i've owned several fretted and fretless electric basses varying from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand in value and and I've never come across any were so unresponsive/quiet or dead that I couldn't hear the subtleties or have great dynamic control and variation in them when played acoustically. It's just a matter of sitting in a quiet environment and listening and also feeling the vibrations of the instrument/strings.

[delta7fred]

I'm with taviswardlaw on this one. If it doesn't sound good unplugged then no amount of expensive amps or pedals are going to make up what you haven't got.

[taviswardlaw]

also, i tend to play reasonably gently but firmly with my plucking hand most of the time for two reasons. Firstly so I have plenty of dynamic range through phrases (even in straight 8th note pop and rock playing every note with exactly the same volume and emphasis is rarely musical) and secondly because digging in too hard to a string effects it's vibration and can effect(affect?) the nodal points with negative consequences on the harmonic content of the sound effectively 'deadening' the sound.

[Spino]

I'm with tavis on this one too .The amount of finger that you give is also a factor, flat, side on .A lot of players pluck too hard and their sound has too much clack in it ,this is kinda irritating .

[So Low Bass]

I'm guessing that you have light gauge rounds on your bass. Am I correct?

[anonymous122511]

Originally Posted by trowaclown

The subtleties of playing can't be heard acoustically. I'm on the other side of the fence - I like hearing it amplified, if for nothing else then to hear the tone I'm actually making, with all the dynamics available to me.

The OP isn't saying always practice with no amp. He's saying there are things you learn practicing acoustically you can't learn practicing through an amp.
He's right.
Players who practice acoustically (be it on a slab, ABG or DB) can develop a deeper feel for drawing sound out of the instrument amplified.

[pacojas]

Originally Posted by delta7fred

I'm with taviswardlaw on this one.

+1

(also, i always test a bass "unplugged" before i decide on buying it.)

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by delta7fred

I'm with taviswardlaw on this one. If it doesn't sound good unplugged then no amount of expensive amps or pedals are going to make up what you haven't got.

I'm kind of with this but I've got an old Fretless that sounds great acoustically, unfortunately the pickup's don't do it too much justice plugged in. I have to E.Q quite a bit to get it's acoustic inherent sound.

[delta7fred]

Originally Posted by Skitch it!

I'm kind of with this but I've got an old Fretless that sounds great acoustically, unfortunately the pickup's don't do it too much justice plugged in. I have to E.Q quite a bit to get it's acoustic inherent sound.

I should have said that it was for fretted. I do have a fretless but don't class myself as a good enough fretless player to make any useful comments.

[Fergie Fulton]

I also practised un-plugged on my precision, but i pushed the head stock against my bedroom door to hear its resonance amplified, and i believe it helped me. I then got a bit of polystyrene from some packing that a radio came in. It was shaped like an open topped box and the radio sat in it. I then cut a slot in it, and fitted it on the end of the head stock open end out, again it amplified the resonance, but let me walk about.

The one thing i learned is that the resonant sound changed in different playing positions against my body. I got a warm sound if i anchored the body in to my stomach, and a harder sound if i played it anchored off my hip bone. I use these techniques still today, but i always wonder if it is just me or do others notice the difference when amplified? I do the same on up-right bass, using my body against the body to dampen or change the resonance of the sound, again subtle but it works for me on both instruments.

[taviswardlaw]

great revelations fergie! I have memories of sometimes resting my chin on the upper horn of an early bass i had and 'listening' with my skull, (I later learnt that we do in fact use the bones behind our ears for hearing lower frequencies-I also later learnt this made my back sore :P) and really hearing in great detail differences in resonance when I played with both my left and right hands either closer to the bridge or nut. These were really exciting discoveries to make and are now things that are second nature in playing.

I guess for me to make some sort of general statement of my own deficiencies as an active listener: when I'm plugged in and playing it's easy for me to hear so I don't listen as closely. When I am unplugged I am forced to engage my attention fully into what is happening in my hands.

Once I've done this and learnt some valuable things I can then listen to how that translates in an amplified way and how I can use the amplification/eq/pedals to greater enhance those subtleties. I also regularly do a 'spring clean' of electronics, which is where I will (once I've spent a few weeks/months getting exactly the right sound I want out of a specific instrument via amps/pre's/pedals) flatten and bypass everything I can and listen to the tone and quality of the instrument itself (harmonic content and general 'vibe'), slowly adding everything back in and constantly rechecking against the clean sound. I often find I've overindulged somewhere and suffocated the sound.

[taviswardlaw]

Originally Posted by So Low Bass

I'm guessing that you have light gauge rounds on your bass. Am I correct?

not sure if this was directed at me So Low, but I tend to opt for medium, to medium-heavy gauge on most of my basses. I feel I get a better tone generally out of these strings and as I stated earlier, i rarely play anything at speeds I find this a hinderance for. I have an old fretless yamaha with some light gauge strings for faster jazz but that's it I think. I've got one fretted with some flats on it, can't remember what they are... they've been there a long time the rest are all round wounds. Some are Fodera stainless steel, some are roto-sounds.

[StayLow]

In my experience this leads to playing way too hard and smacking the strings in an effort to be audible rather than proper plucking.

Also acoustically it's very hard, actually more like impossible, to truly hear nuances of note decay and endings, note-to-note balance, sloppy attack, excessive noise when moving the left hand, or note, chordal, and intervallic information.

Not practicing with an amp is quite often a former of very bad habits, so I inist students practice with a clear and loud enough rig or headphone amp that will reveal all that's going on.

I'm sure that no successful studio electric bassist, or electric guitarist, devloped good technique or practices unplugged. If you're just flailing away in a rock mix, that's a different story.

[taviswardlaw]

I hear what you're saying StayLow, particularly with younger players, or players interested in only playing loud, or for practicing with play-a-longs which can drown out your sound very easily. Maybe I have just lucked out and always had very resonant instruments because I've not encountered the issues you bring up of not being able to hear note decay/balance etc. Maybe I should clarify that by listening I am also referring to feeling the vibrations of the instrument against your fingers/ribs/hip (or knees if you're a rockstar :P).

I have, when doing shows overseas or just dodgy gigs with out the proper backline had to play gigs where being able to hear the bass has been close to impossible on stage and that's when feeling the sound through your bones becomes even more important. Many double bass players have to put up with this problem regularly.

Also I am certainly not suggesting that people shouldn't practice with amps. This is very important! For me, this was the way I've managed so far to achieve the tone I have which whilst I'm sure is far from perfect and I continue to explore new avenues of improvement (also very important) it has (alongside being reliable, solid with time, flexible, experienced and easy to deal with) landed me a lot of work. I get asked a lot from engineers and musicians about my tone so I thought I'd share.

Someone also mentioned to me a clip on youtube from a Patitucci workshop video where he addresses this. I'm sure he would explain the benefits more effectively than me. I just don't have the time right now to sift through a stack of those clips (as much as I would love to).

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by delta7fred

I should have said that it was for fretted. I do have a fretless but don't class myself as a good enough fretless player to make any useful comments.

You are correct in what your saying, acoustically if any bass sings, that is the 'yep, this is happening' for me. After my particular fretless realisation, I try to make sure the electrics in any bass, can bring out what it's got when plugged. Not the end of the world if not, this can be sorted with upgrades if need, but not for mine unfortunately, they are a weird shape, jus' saying, cool

[Icculus]

I'd agree practicing w/o an amp is better than not at all, but there are some major things going on when you practice unplugged.

1. You can't hear your mistakes.
2. You can't hear the notes clearly.

A lot of people sound good wailing away on an unplugged bass. Turn the amp on, and it sounds like slop and you have other strings ringing and such.

Not disagreeing, just a disclaimer from my own experiences.

[KingRazor]

Originally Posted by taviswardlaw

Finger Tone:

'Finger Tone' is a phrase I use when I'm talking about how one bassist can pick up a bass and without eq's and pedal board bling can get a great tone, making an average bass sound much more expensive. I'm sure I didn't coin the phrase, in fact i'm sure i've heard it used on here by the tb collective but many students I teach are unaware of it.

Example: That guys getting a great tone out of my bass. He has great finger tone.

Practicing an electric bass acoustically:

For the first couple of years of my bass playing i was without an amp, largely because my parents wanted to see if i was serious about playing. There were a few very beaten up bass amps at my school that i would use occasionally but for the most part my playing and particularly my practice was unplugged. Fast forward to ten years later and I'm a young (studying) musician who is kept reasonably busy with gigs and recording work because of my tone (I have zero shred abilities but can hold a solid groove and walk comfortably on anything that's not too bebop and scary).

I attribute the finger tone I have to my practice without an amp where I really was hearing nothing other than flesh on metal and wood. When you're thinking of a signal chain of bass (or any instrument for that matter) if it sounds average at the origin it'll be a hard slog to get it much better at the end point.

Disclaimer:

Don't get me wrong, I love pedal board bling (i have a slight addiction to high end pedals) and squeezing every ounce of tone i can out of my preamps and basses but if i'm playing in the pocket (also something which improves your actual tone - but that'll be another thread) and I've got nice finger tone then my pedals and preamps can be the subtle and tasteful and I can let each bass (and bassline) breathe and have it's own sonic identity.

In short: unplug and listen to your naked sound

I also played primarily without an amp during my first year of bass. But I don't think it was a good idea really.

I had a few problems: first of all, I was hitting the strings much too hard, because the only way I could hear my playing was to pluck hard. Ever since I've started practicing amplfied my touch has lightened significantly, which has actually improved my dynamic range.

When I played my bass amplfied it also uncovered a lot of the mistakes I was making. I heard every wrong note and every unwanted click or buzz loud and clear.

Personally, I would recommend that every beginner try playing exclusively through an amp (with no effects and minimal EQ) at a high enough volume that if you play too hard, it will be too loud.

Also, another thing I would recommend is having the volume knob on the bass itself up at full (not the knob on the amp) and boost the treble a tad on the amp. This way you'll hear all your mistakes very clearly and you can work on fixing them. I can't tell you how satisfying it was the first time I was able to play a bass line cleanly with my volume up.