Hard Rock Upright Players?

dgelting · #1 05-10-2008, 03:18 PM

Just wondering if there are any upright players out there who play hard rock music. I've been developing that style on my upright with a group for a number of years, and I'd like to hear someone else doing it (to steal more ideas!).

I'm talking about loud, wild, aggressive, playing. Stuff like Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Zeppelin, Slayer. Not just a jazz group doing covers of those tunes in a jazz style, but players taking the upright to that sound.

4 stringed fury · #2 05-10-2008, 03:32 PM

Well it has passed my Mind and I am very glad to see people trying such a thing.

<------ Well, it needs to be upright but whatever.

dgelting · #3 05-10-2008, 03:40 PM

Here's a live video of where I have taken this so far. It's from a couple of years ago, but the direction is what I'm talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5kccbeXBys
I've since changed around my amplification a bit (that's not even my rig at that show - it's a house backline) and I think I have a clearer more distingt bass sound than before, but that's why I'm looking for more players like this so I can bounce some ideas around.

fr3drik · #4 05-10-2008, 03:50 PM

Woah, that was awsome!

jayarroz · #5 05-10-2008, 09:47 PM

I've done it....just get a fishman pro eq, so you can phase out the feedback......AND DON"T STAND IN FRONT OF THE AMP!!!! Everything just vibrates and feeds back. Plus I start to use one finger more often, so i can use the rest to mute the other strings so they don't vibrate with all the other noise going on.

ndrly · #6 05-10-2008, 09:50 PM

I'm pretty sure Scott Owen from the Living End is a hard rock bassist who uses the upright bass.

Hawaii Islander · #7 05-10-2008, 10:05 PM

Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond from Jethro Tull. I saw him with Jethro Tull at the Boston Gardens twice in the 70's. He played a mean upright bass for those concerts! The Warchild album is about a hard rock as Jethro tull ever got. Not Black Sabbath by any stretch, but still some very good Rock bass playing on an upright.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hammond

gkbass13 · #8 05-10-2008, 10:16 PM

i was going to mention the living end....cool band.

bluerimedeyes · #9 05-10-2008, 10:41 PM

Wow. Very cool. Always wondered if it was possible to play rock on upright, nice to see someone doing it!

dgelting · #10 05-11-2008, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayarroz

I've done it....just get a fishman pro eq, so you can phase out the feedback

I've been using a magnetic pickup to get around the feedback. I'd sometimes like to get a more natural sound, so I could see swiching in a transducer for that. The bow only barely comes thru with the magnetic.

Thanks for the Tull reference - I'll check it out.

dgelting · #11 05-11-2008, 01:31 AM

never heard of the living end - I'll check that out too.

mattfong · #12 05-11-2008, 12:02 PM

The Living End aren't really like any of the bands the TS mentioned in his original post, but they are a very sick band. More bluesy rock and roll than hard rock. And Scott is a great bassist.

**Damon Rondeau** · #13 05-11-2008, 01:45 PM

It's tough to use the label "hard" rock, but I'm a big Tony Garnier fan, Bob Dylan's bass player. I saw Dylan in Winnipeg back in 1990, just a little while after Tony joined the group, with G.E. Smith still on board. I wasn't a DB player at the time but Tony basically changed my life with that show. I saw for the first time how DB could be used in a LOUD, full-tilt way. I'd always thought of myself as a slab-only player of electric music but Tony made me think "I could do it that way, too." So I did. Not touring with Dylan yet, though.

'Course now that I actually AM a DB player, I listen to Tony's flawless intonation playing those mostly pentatonic lines and licks and I'm full of a different kind of admiration. What a mensch of a bass-player that guy is.

ndrly · #14 05-11-2008, 08:57 PM

Living End kicks ass. And I'm not just saying that because I'm also from Melbourne.

arseniotall · #15 05-12-2008, 05:41 PM

I do some loud neo soul stuff on upright with a realist. I ram a towel really tight behind the tailpiece and i can turn any amp to almost 10 without feedback...just some advice

dgelting · #16 05-12-2008, 11:13 PM

I've been there with the towels and contact-type pickups.

I'm now using a magentic pickup setup, so the body resonance isn't an issue anymore. I get a good controllable feedback with a distortion pedal hooked up.

It's not a natural sound, but I don't need that. I'm using upright instead of bass guitar just because it's more comfortable for me, and I like the sound I've been getting with it. And the aesthetics of it is pretty cool too....

Has anyone used a variety of different magnetics? I have the Pierre Joseph model, but have never tried any others. I've read about the one that a TBer makes, but I'm under the impression that it has some sort of transducer element built in, and I'm not interested in that aspect. I am also tempted to just grab a cheap p-bass pickup and construct a mounting setup for it. I could go with 2 p-ups and do the Rick-O-Sound!

adbass · #17 05-13-2008, 09:54 AM

"It's not a natural sound, but I don't need that. I'm using upright instead of bass guitar just because it's more comfortable for me, and I like the sound I've been getting with it. And the aesthetics of it is pretty cool too...."

I'm glad you're enjoying it, but why bother to schlep a big expensive fragile wood instrument just to play so loud that all you hear is the pickup when you can stroll in with a fender, have a significant improvement in sound at loud volumes and save the physical stress of playing the double bass?

I've had a various number of rock guys ask me to bring my acoustic to gigs because "people respond to the way it looks" to which I always reply "find someone else". I ain't no model and I don't want to be in no magazines. People will respond to whatever visual stimulus I provide. The music will speak for itself. And yes, i believe the fender bass sounds much, much better at loud volumes.

svenbass · #18 05-13-2008, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adbass

I'm glad you're enjoying it, but why bother to schlep a big expensive fragile wood instrument just to play so loud that all you hear is the pickup when you can stroll in with a fender, have a significant improvement in sound at loud volumes and save the physical stress of playing the double bass?

I've had a various number of rock guys ask me to bring my acoustic to gigs because "people respond to the way it looks" to which I always reply "find someone else". I ain't no model and I don't want to be in no magazines. People will respond to whatever visual stimulus I provide. The music will speak for itself. And yes, i believe the fender bass sounds much, much better at loud volumes.

To the first point, I really hear where you're coming from, however I would consider the 'improvement in sound' part a subjective point .. while the tone is much more on the EB side of the fence, it does have a distinct flavor. My big influence was Soul Coughing - I really dug the vibe the upright brought to the table. I messed with that idea for a little bit, but have really gone towards the natural sound of the instrument. I do a Drums&Bass / Bitches Brew-esque thing that gets pretty bumpin', but we really prefer the upright and keep the volume in check to keep things sounding good. I also have a great home brew pickup along the lines of the Willson that pumps out some volume and still sounds like a bass.

That all said I am happiest with just the bass, no amp, no mic .. just bass.

On the second point - man I hate when people say that to me, I hear it often ..... even when I get called to do a straight up jazz gig - "make sure to bring the big bass, it looks great"

There are a few guys out here I would consider fairly old school that prefer Fender bass on jazz and swing dates. It baffles me, but whatever. Personally I hate playing that stuff on Fender, and really hate hearing it - The Sonny Rollins stuff with EB drives me crazy, and Bob Cranshaw is by no means a hack!

JayR · #19 05-13-2008, 10:46 AM

I don't think anyone has mentioned Les Claypool yet. I know he's primarily known as an electric player but he's a pretty darn competent double bassist and plays it on quite a few Primus tunes, in addition to his later work.

Also, Scott Owen really does kick more ass than the English language has capacity to describe.

taterlog · #20 05-13-2008, 10:56 AM

I have a buddy that keeps foam in the f holes. I've tried that and I've also taped the f holes. I prefer the fat strips of tape for cutting way down on the feedback.