Playing bass as percussive instrument...

[cire113]

I had no idea how many percussive sounds/dead notes you can do on the bass... I figured out you can ghost notes... and you can slap the strings with either the left or right hand to create dead sounds.....

It adds so much to whatever im playing and it allows me to play simpler using less notes ...

besides ghost notes and making ghost sounds by slapping the right or left hand what else can you do muting wise... thanks

[TrevorOfDoom]

ask Fieldy

[DudeistMonk]

You can get a grindy noise a la the intro to Tools "Prison ***" by running your nail/pick down your E string near the pickups.

ehhh, that's all I've got. BTW shouldn't this be moved to technique?

[theduker]

I remember seeing Tony Levin playing with 2 things that looked like xylophone\marimba mallets at the end of 2 of his fingers. He was using them to play the notes, but it would probably give ya a different percussive sound as well.

[TrevorOfDoom]

Originally Posted by theduker

I remember seeing Tony Levin playing with 2 things that looked like xylophone\marimba mallets at the end of 2 of his fingers. He was using them to play the notes, but it would probably give ya a different percussive sound as well.

They're called Funk Fingers, and you can buy them. not sure where, but you can.

[OtterOnBass]

You can slap a finger on a harmonic point for a bell-like ringing.
Or strum with your nail.
Sometimes I tap a muted string with three fingers on my right hand to get a marching band tom sound. (I go down the strings, dadada, dududu, duhduhduh, dundundun.)
I also tap with my left and do volume swells using the knob with my right, sounds like a violin. I actually covered the violin solo in David Crowder's "He sets me on fire" song.
If I hit the string just right by the bridge I can make the B-string vibrate with no attack, just a huge fundamental. It's a repeated tapping that slowly gets the string vibrating. My bandmates looked around, "What the heck is making that rumble?"

Hope these help.

[dulouz]

I use both hands to play percussively on the neck while employing an evelope filter to get some very funky sounds.