2022, now mainstream pop songs go well below open B string!

[AlexanderB]

I cannot be the only one to have noticed this phenomenon, but I have not seen a topic for it.
What am I talking about? It is the new mainstream inclusion of bass notes below B, Bb and even A. Sure, it has happened before, but is has REALLY picked up pace this year.
I hear it in mainstream pop like Dua Lipa, Newkid, Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran and so on.
Typically as a drone note or two in a sparse pre chorus, break or less intense part of the song. And it is no doubt that the synth player/computer plays a note below the B string, and there might be some decent fundamental energy as well.

I have had a five string tuned to A, but these 2021/2022 songs go as low as G or F#, and that is not unusual. Makes me want to pull out a synth/octave more and more. Or get a dedicated F#BEAD bass... My rig (1000w through detuned Ampeg SVT-410HLF, can do some justice also for these notes).

Have YOU done anything to approach these new mainstrem pop songs?

 

[mongo2]

Have YOU done anything to approach these new mainstrem pop songs?

I ignore them.

 

[AlexanderB]

I ignore them.

Haha! Well played, Sir, well played...

 

[Kenan]

Gotta rattle those trunks somehow... haha. I think an octave pedal, as you said, is a good call if it's specific parts below the bass guitar range. Otherwise, if you need to play something an octave up, I seriously doubt that anyone is going to come along to tell you that "you're playing it wrong. "

 

[AlexanderB]

Gotta rattle those trunks somehow... haha. I think an octave pedal, as you said, is a good call if it's specific parts below the bass guitar range. Otherwise, if you need to play something an octave up, I seriously doubt that anyone is going to come along to tell you that "you're playing it wrong. "

Well, the sound is changing in a genre that has not changed much in 25 years, referring to mid 90s EDM. But this is like the integration of five string basses in rock. TOTO IV vs TOTO VII, or Brothers in arms vs On every street.
But the pop guys are now dropping another fourth...

 

[Nashrakh]

An Octaver with 2 Octave down mode (à any Boss OC-2 or clone) would be my weapon of choice, now the rig is going to be the bottleneck, I think. None of mine would be reasonably strong enough, but I guess that is not going to be much of a problem over a PA.

 

[5StringBlues]

I won't be happy until I achieve brown note.

 

[BarfanyShart]

The low C kind of became a standard in hip hop over the last 10 years, and that's part of how I settled on my CGDA(E) tuning. But, yes, I have noticed the newest batch of pop singles pushing it down a bit more. If this keeps up, I might have to go back to drop A tuning like when I played metal in the early 00's!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I don’t think you’re going to be happy with an octave pedal on notes that low. Time to break out the keyboard.

 

[Dincrest]

I remember that feeling when learning to play "Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo. It blew my mind that I was playing a pop song in a metal tuning.

I prefer playing that song on a 5-string, but had to drop tune my 4-string to CGCF to play that song effectively. Same tuning a 4-stringer would need to play, say, "Tears Don't Fall" by Bullet for my Valentine (which is an alt-metal song).

 

[Snaxster]

Have YOU done anything to approach these new mainstrem pop songs?

 

[JRA]

you bad!

 

[socialleper]

Ha! The fedora and Hawaiian shirt crowd around here doesn't play anything written this century. You are speaking Greek to them.

Modern music. Anything below Eb.

 

[AlexanderB]

Ha! The fedora and Hawaiian shirt crowd around here doesn't play anything written this century. You are speaking Greek to them.

Modern music. Anything below Eb.

Haha, yeah, the responses have been sort of... avoiding the topic....

 

[AlexanderB]

I remember that feeling when learning to play "Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo. It blew my mind that I was playing a pop song in a metal tuning.

I prefer playing that song on a 5-string, but had to drop tune my 4-string to CGCF to play that song effectively. Same tuning a 4-stringer would need to play, say, "Tears Don't Fall" by Bullet for my Valentine (which is an alt-metal song).

Yeah, "Good 4 you" is an odd brew of different styles and clichés. Nice 80s mainstream rock flavor, some funkier elements, and some EDM mixed in. Have not noticed how low it goes, though. A? G? Will listen to it again.

 

[Dincrest]

I'm pretty sure that first note in "Good 4 U" is a low C#. 2nd fret on the B string of a standard-tuned 5er.

Not below B, but it was a song that challenged my thinking because I was using a "metal" tuning for a "pop" song.

 

[turf3]

Thank God I'm old enough that I don't have to engage in "mainstream pop" any more. The trend toward turning the rhythm section into a series of artillery thumps is of little interest to me.

 

[AlexanderB]

Thank God I'm old enough that I don't have to engage in "mainstream pop" any more. The trend toward turning the rhythm section into a series of artillery thumps is of little interest to me.

Well, I am no spring chicken, but I think the use of different voicings through a song is a fresh and positive development. However, it is nullified by the ever more predictive 4 chord patterns... C / D / E / G
Much modern pop is as rigid in format as blues...

 

[chaak]

A Dingwall (36.5 '' scale for the lower B, combustion, D-Roc, NG signature) tuned F# B E A (using the proper strings)

 

[AlexanderB]

I don’t think you’re going to be happy with an octave pedal on notes that low. Time to break out the keyboard.

Both the EBS OctaBass and the Digitech BSW will do that, and do it well, with the right bass. With a low pass filter they will trigger open E steady as a rock.
The C4 does trigger a half step too low below C. Play an A, octave down plays Ab.