Choosing / Finding Your Sound... 2 Basses?

[stanhamrick]

Hi all,

I would love your thoughts (or links to previous posts on the topic) about choosing and finding your "sound." I am struggling with my bass and set-up, because sometimes I aspire to a Paul Chambers sound and other times a more modern NHOP sound. Much depends on the gig and the tune of course. It strikes me as quite difficult to get different sounds out of the same bass and set-up. How common is it to keep 2 (or more) basses ready to go depending on the gig?

Thanks in advance!

Stan Hamrick
www.potomacjazz.com

[J. Crawford]

As you will come to know, most people or bassists in general always take two basses to every gig. Some dont, some do. Either it be a cheapo SX and a Warwick CS, you never know. But if a song needs a certain sound, even if its just one song, it could be that changing factor.

Just my $0.02

EDIT: Wow, I feel really dumb. Did not notice this was a DB thread. Muh bad!

[dodgy_ian]

well, I've got a bass set up for classical and another set up for jazz and that doesn't strike me as that unusual! So I wouldn't worry about it too much...!

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jordasch

EDIT: Wow, I feel really dumb. Did not notice this was a DB thread. Muh bad!

At least you caught it yourself, before we all got up in your grille, did a drive-by, and left your steaming corpse in a roadside ditch.

Just kidding, it happens every day. Today was just your day.

[TomSauter]

It's not uncommon at all to have 2 basses, I've been thinking about buying a second bass myself. I put a set of animas on my current bass and I really love them, but they suck with the bow, and the sound doesn't work well when I play with certain guys. So I'm looking for a bass that I can set up with low action and steel strings, and I suppose I'd use it for outdoor gigs too. Maybe that can be next year's big tax deduction

[fdeck]

Just a question: Are you talking about NHOP's amplified tone? So far as I know, he used a magnetic pickup. I could comment on that if you'd like, as I use a homemade mag pup for higher volume gigs.

Note in edit: See comments below, with which I am in total agreement.

[hdiddy]

But the real problem is that the "sound" is mostly in ppls fingers and not in the bass itself. A hard pill to swallow....

[Treyzer]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

But the real problem is that the "sound" is mostly in ppls fingers and not in the bass itself. A hard pill to swallow....

Damn..you had to go and tell everybody....Now who's going to buy all those strings? What will happen to the string megathreads?

[Marc Piane]

I keep 2 basses depending on the weather and travel conditions.

One is a decent carved bass (Shen Willow) that I use for 99% of gigs.

If we are playing outside and it is super hot, if rain threatens, if packing in a van is creative, or if I am playing a rock club with drunk people everywhere I have a B bass. A plywood tank.

I have Realists on my both my basses. As we all know they are not the best for stupid loud. I keep a Bassmax in my bag just in case. If I have my druthers the amp/pickup is only for stage monitoring. I send a mic signal to the house if there is a pa.

I've got my sound and if people wanted something else they shouldn't have called me.

[Sam Sherry]

Originally Posted by stanhamrick

. . . your thoughts about choosing and finding your "sound." . . . sometimes I aspire to a Paul Chambers sound and other times a more modern NHOP sound.

I'm not just highlighting this to nitpick; it might be the essential point. It could be that you're not finding your sound because you're looking to other peoples' instead.

Ed Fuqua had a wonderful post some years back about playing with the people who are actually on the stand with you instead of playing with some record you hear in your head. Again, not to over-simplify and not to attack you, but if you're searching for PC or NHOP it might be that your sound is right there for you at the end of your wrists and the sides of your cranium.

Originally Posted by stanhamrick

It strikes me as quite difficult to get different sounds out of the same bass and set-up.

There are a million stories along this line, but legend has it that Coltrane's Quartet and Miles' Quintet were sharing a bill and that Jimmy Garrison and Ron Carter used the same bass. Lo and behold, Mr. Garrison sounded like Jimmy Garrison and Mr. Carter sounded like Ron Carter.

As others have already noted in this thread, "It's the ear, not the gear."

Punch line: Just about everybody here is looking too. Good luck and report back, Stan.

[hdiddy]

Originally Posted by Treyzer

Damn..you had to go and tell everybody....Now who's going to buy all those strings? What will happen to the string megathreads?

Nothing.... cuz bassists can't resist buying strings to save their life. It's like moths to a flame.

[Paul Warburton]

I usually take five basses with me....One each for: Medium tempos, up tempos, ballads, bossa's and course, waltzes.

Art Lande gets a little edgy with me when we work together because of his penchants for 5 and 7......

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Art Lande gets a little edgy with me when we work together because of his penchants for 5 and 7......

I've been meaning to ask, how do you manage the switch between your medium tempo and waltz basses in a tune in 7? I've been doing OK on the slower tempos, but it's become a real problem whenever anything is qnote=120bpm or more.

Any advice you could offer would be helpful.

Although what you suggested earlier doesn't really fit where you told me to put it....

i would go with a Jazz and a P bass.

wait, i take that back. go with a Jazz bass and an Electric Upright

[Marcus Johnson]

Argh. That was just brutal.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

I've been meaning to ask, how do you manage the switch between your medium tempo and waltz basses in a tune in 7? I've been doing OK on the slower tempos, but it's become a real problem whenever anything is qnote=120bpm or more.

Any advice you could offer would be helpful.

Although what you suggested earlier doesn't really fit where you told me to put it....

Where there's a will, there's a way......

[Mark Perna]

Originally Posted by fingers

I've got my sound and if people wanted something else they shouldn't have called me.

+1

I have a two basses that I use a lot (I have more but they tend to not get used much). The main bass is a 1928 Juzek with Mittels on it, a BP-100 and an AMT. The other is a 2006 Kolstein Lafaro Busetto travel bass with Mittels, a BP-100 and an AMT. The Juzek gets used most of the time. The Kolstein goes out for outside gigs, gigs where I don't have much room on stage (or whatever passes for a stage), bad weather gigs (i.e. driving through snow storms to get to the gig)...basically it goes anyplace I don't want to risk the Juzek. I sound like me on either one even though one is 80 years old with a 42.5 inch scale and a large resonating chamber and the other is 3 years old, with a 39.5 inch scale and a very small resonating chamber. If someone wants what I do, they call me. If they don't, they call someone else. There is both artistic integrity and a bit of commercial savvy in NOT being all things to all people. It is better to be your own brand than to be a faceless cog.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a 1974 Juzek that I've strung variously with: guts, Evah Pirazzi and Dominants. The intent was to use it for no amp gigs and I wanted to use the loudest strings I could find for it. As it turns out the 1928 with Mittels is louder than the 1974 with guts, EP or Dominants so the 1974 stays home most of the time. I do plan on putting gut back on it and use it as a practice instrument. I find that playing with gut forces you to always use good technique. You can't cheat with EB technique or get lazy with it (particularly with the right hand) because you lose the sound. All of that translates into making my steel playing that much better.

mark

[Treyzer]

This probably should go under jazz stories but it prolly fits better here.

A session bass player friend of mine (well known guy) was doing a record date for some new artists. As per usual the producer was an empty suit who knew much more about either law or accounting than he did about music.

Anyway the tune that was being recorded was pretty simple and a bit lame. The producer was unable to musically communicate with the players and talked in banal generalities. Finally, he said over the talk back to my bassist friend regarding the bass part, "bass player, I'm hearing more of a Jaco part on this tune". My bassist friend who was known for being rather quick and ascerbic (think a younger P.W.), quickly responded with, "Cool, tell me what he's playing". YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP!


You can only sound like yourself! You'll never be as good at sounding like your heros as they are at sounding like themselves.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

I've been meaning to ask, how do you manage the switch between your medium tempo and waltz basses in a tune in 7? I've been doing OK on the slower tempos, but it's become a real problem whenever anything is qnote=120bpm or more.

Any advice you could offer would be helpful.

Although what you suggested earlier doesn't really fit where you told me to put it....

Just watch Rashaan Roland Kirk.

I agree with the general comments about tone. In my case, I can only hope to own this one bass, at least for the time being. Thus my only choice is to find my tone by improving my technique and musicianship. Even with my humble bass, I am sure there is tone in there that I have not yet touched.