Richard bona! how can I get his tone???

Langueta · #1 09-29-2009, 03:55 PM

Men, this man is incredible!!!
How I can achieve his tone, I know his fingers are one of the best, but I need thetone of one note,one!!
Do I need a Fodera???
Whith a musicman and my equipment its almost imposible
There are other basses that can do these job better??

pd: I love musicman, it gave me all the tones I need, but the bonaa´s no

cheers

TFunkadelic · #2 09-29-2009, 04:05 PM

It takes an extremely light, consistent, and precise touch (in both the fretting and plucking hand).

Getting that sound is more about spending enough time refining your plucking technique until it is entirely automatic and effortless.

You don't need a particularly expensive bass to achieve this (in fact there is no bass you can buy that will bypass the necessity of developing a light touch in obtaining this tone). But it does help to have equipment that isn't noisy, because you'll have to have your gain floored and your master volume very high to compensate for how soft you'll be plucking.

Also, notice that Bona plays with a ramp. This helps him play lightly with great consistency because it prevents his plucking fingers from digging in to far below the strings.

Lesfunk · #3 09-29-2009, 04:06 PM

you can't

Rockman · #4 09-29-2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lesfunk

you can't

...unless you are Richard Bona. But you could start by doing what the other guy said.

black.rose1402 · #5 09-30-2009, 12:54 AM

a good jazz bass with brdidge pu and roll off the tone knob.
then, play lightly and use a lot of hammers and pull off and don't forget to put tritones in your playing when you're soloing.
of course you can't get his exact tone, but yo can come close, you don't need fodera to do that.
the fodera can help you because these basses are easy to play and they help to play lightly, but Bona used to play on a fender jazz and had similar tone.

so get a good 70's jazz or a reissue and then try what I told you.

jerry · #6 09-30-2009, 07:35 PM

He also favors passive electronics.

bassdoubler · #7 09-30-2009, 07:41 PM

I have a Manne Acoustibass fretless 5 string that can effortlessly get REALLY close to Richard's tone....I showed it to him once in NYC and he seemed impressed....but you might as well cop a used Fodera cause they cost just as much

MikeBass · #8 09-30-2009, 07:43 PM

Then you don't want to see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5JUnCveLTQ
Or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v0JK...eature=related
Or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_fUX...eature=related
Or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fibw...eature=related

Zombbg4 · #9 09-30-2009, 07:54 PM

The ramp is a big part of it IMO and IME.

Lackey · #10 09-30-2009, 08:48 PM

Mike Stern REALLY bugs.... that guys tone/playing has always bothered me.

Anyways, I don't think you need any one type of bass to cop his tone. I also don't think you need a ramp. My favorite album of his is Reverence, and he plays several basses on it; Mike Lull jazz, Fender jazz, Fodera 5, Zon lightwave fretless and Yamaha TRB5 fretless. Still has that burpy rich tone on all the songs.

Try bumping your mids - if you have a paremetric eq you can swish it around til it sounds right. Roll off (WAY off, hehe) your passive tone / active treble, play punchy but fairly light notes. And use the bridge pickup.

I dunno, that's gotten me pretty close...

Cyber Soda · #11 09-30-2009, 08:51 PM

Yeah, impossible!

You should give me your equipment. Total waste of space

black.rose1402 · #12 10-01-2009, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zombbg4

The ramp is a big part of it IMO and IME.

the ramp in Bona's case is not really that important, he used to play the same way on a jazz bass or a fodera monarch that just thumpin' owns now, and they don't have ramps.

black.rose1402 · #13 10-01-2009, 01:28 AM

my imperial has a natural sound that is really close to Bona's tone, so of course the gear helps, the I used to have a fender reissue 75 mia, and when I used only the birdge pu with tone rolled off, with a settings on the amp bumpin the mids and don't forget to put some bass but just not too boomy.

Lackey is right on about the parametric eq, it can help to get closer.

but really , the ramp is not that important

check these videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLf6BQw31Ek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpNjZ...eature=related

Jazz Ad · #14 10-01-2009, 01:29 AM

He's a magician of tone. I wouldn't know how to approach emulating hi voice on the instrument.

Brad Johnson · #15 10-01-2009, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by black.rose1402

my imperial has a natural sound that is really close to Bona's tone, so of course the gear helps, the I used to have a fender reissue 75 mia, and when I used only the birdge pu with tone rolled off, with a settings on the amp bumpin the mids and don't forget to put some bass but just not too boomy.

Lackey is right on about the parametric eq, it can help to get closer.

but really , the ramp is not that important

check these videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLf6BQw31Ek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpNjZ...eature=related

IME bumping the mids isn't necessary either. You can bump them by accentuating them with your technique.

If someone's looking for a shortcut I guess the EQ tweak will help... but with mids bumped, that should affect your slapped sound when you switch to it. Do it with technique and that won't be an issue. Simply favor the bridge pickup and adjust your plucking and muting for that type of tone IME.

That's likely why he can do it even on his passive Fodera.

Brams77 · #16 10-01-2009, 02:04 AM

Hi there,

Just my 2 cents...
To get that warm and jazzy bridge tone you need indeed a lighter touch, but also strings that make that possible.
I use normal gauge DR hi-beams and because they sound really nice when playing soft I tend to make less afford playing altogether even, and in some way makes me control the dynamics more, for me that has made a real leap in tone and playing style.
I play a 35' Fodera NYC 5 string alder/rosewood and a '71 Fender JB alder/maple and I can, with both instruments, make that warm tone playing lightly.
Tho I must say it took me some time to find these exeptional great sounding instruments... but just to make a point you don't need a Fodera Imerial Bona to get a tone like that.

I say a really big part is finding a string that handles really nice and easy... so you can better focus on feeling the right way to make a great tone in the first place.

black.rose1402 · #17 10-01-2009, 02:19 AM

I use elixir strings 40 125 on my imperial and 40 95 on my monarch and fender basses, these strings help me to get the nice tone I'm after (not necessaryly trying to get bona's tone) and the technique is important, light touch, hammers and pull off in the phrasing because he uses a lot of them, and play above the bridge pu.

of course , no need to get a fodera to get this kind of sound!!!

nemo · #18 10-01-2009, 02:50 AM

Just buy the new Behringer Bonizer pedal!

cnltb · #19 10-01-2009, 02:55 AM

Does anyone here have a transcription of the lick he seems to play so frequently?
I think I've heard it in most if not all of the solos I've heard him play.

+1 on light touch using any equipment you may have.

black.rose1402 · #20 10-01-2009, 03:29 AM

in fact the lick is really simple, once you understand how it works, you can use the construction in major scale to give an "oustise" effect to your lines,
most frequently the lick is based on a scalar passage then the lick in itself.

the lick in itself is most of the time a note, then the 5th of the the first note and the a tritone above the 2nd note and you end it the way you want.

once you got used to the geometry of the lick, it's simple, what's is hard is to mae it sound as good as Richard does.

of course, Bona's playing is not only that lick, I love the way he grooves and man he can play nasty african bass lines when he wants, and it's this side of his playing that I like the most and that make me think that he's one of the greats