How Many Practice Electric Bass Unplugged?

Those are great little gadgets...

 

Not very often.

Some solid body basses are acoustically louder than others. I recently picked up a used Jack Casady bass and it has an "almost" decent sound unplugged.

I find that practicing unplugged causes me to be too aggressive with my plugging hand. I mean I pluck too strongly because I'm trying to hear myself. It can cause a bad technique.

I almost always plug my bass into an amp. Even at really low volumes.

YMMV

 

In the right pocket of my house I do this because I can get enough resonance to hear it, but in other parts of the house not so much. It just makes me play too hard and strings start buzzing which makes me think I need a setup or neck adjustment.


Vox Amplugs are great. I actually love the sound of the Danelectro Honeytone belt amp too. Gives you a real Jack Bruce tone. Haha.

 

Speaking of Jack, are there any Casady fans that know the brand of his early-70's-late-60s bass? It resembled a Zematis (<sp?) and was wicked sounding.

 

I thought he was using an Alembic custom. I could be wrong.

 

Practiced tonight for about 3 hours after changing strings: 1 hour unplugged loosening up, 2 hours plugged into the amp and just having fun being creative. Fingers are sore now, just how I like them.

 

"...to the bone..."

 

I do, and to be honest it made me suck even more as a player.
So i got one of those vox amplug and it has helped a lot.

 

I have been playing unplugged lately while I sit on work meetings. I plugged in and I am sounding pretty bad. I think I developed way too much attack so I could hear it unplugged. Gotta go get some AAA batteries for my amPlug ....

 

I play my Fender CB 60 unplugged every Saturday morning with the Oak Park Farmers Market Band and practice with my three electrics unplugged because my wife only occasionally wants to hear me play

 

Frank, you should invest in a Vox amplug and a good pair of headphones. Just like practicing with an amp but you are the only one who can hear it. Also can play along to bass less tracks or songs on your phone.

Frank, you should invest in a Vox amplug and a good pair of headphones. Sounds just like playing through an amp but nobody but you can hear it.

 

The blackstar bass amPlug has a nice built in drum machine and tap tempo. I love mine,

 

I use a Vox AmPlug for silent practice on the road and think it was a good investment. But I would never say that it actually sounds *good*. The headphone out on an amp or bass pre-amp sounds a lot better, but they don’t fit in the utility compartment of a bass case.

 

I developed the habit when I sold my "beginner setup" and bought a nice bass. The nice rig came a year later, so plenty of time playing with the TV on, hearing the notes, but also feeling them through bone/tissue (hope it works when I finally torch my hearing!).Great decision, in retrospect. Yes, it came with some bad tendencies, but it also had benefits I still enjoy:

I got used to anchoring my thumb at the end of the neck. I'm still faster and more dexterous there, but moving back over the pups for tone wasn't tough. I still play with my strap/bass really high up. Only bad if you think it looks silly. Slapping really hard or playing really hard, I would argue, is better than learning to play too soft, at least if you are going to have to "correct" something.

Then a couple back surgeries left me in about the same place. I got WAY better at double thumb/index stuff (massive breakthrough after years trying stuff) as well as classical guitar-style plucking. I'm also not a teacher nor a professional. Works for me though!

 

I practice a lot with just my bass. Mostly it is technique stuff or noodling so I just need to hear enough to tell if I am messing up. If I am working on learning cover tunes, that is with an amp. I have not noticed where it makes me play harder.

 

A lot especially in the house if i am noodling around.
But as others have said as soon as go back to an amp i attack the strings harder and the sound turns to poop.