A few Questions if I may Michael?

[ajish4]

I've never done this before, so here goes!!!

Hi Micheal...

My FIRST introduction to your music is STILL one of my favorites and it HAUNTS me relentlessly.....the song is "Dona Nobis Pacem". It was on the "A Winters Solstice IV".

I'm old school I guess, never used any effects or pedals....and know NOTHING about them. I've been playing more and more fretless of late, and thought I'd love to try to learn this song by this Christmas for the Christmas Eve Service.

I love everything about this song, and THAT is my dream tone...you just make that bass sing.

Are there any tips you can give me that might make attaining that SOUND & TONE...it MAKES the song..I have a fretless Rickenbacker and a Fretless Peavey bass...no Zon here, but.....well, you get the idea.

Thanks in advance!

Here is a link to the song for you TB folks....I couldn't find it on YOUTUBE, but found this.....ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Link Removed

 

[kcolyar]

Good luck trying to get that tone! I use light gage D'Addario's and set my action low. I play my fretless daily and sometimes, when the moon is just right, I think my bass sounds close to his tone. I only play it acoustically in my room. If I could get an amp to sound that good I would never have GAS again.
My point is, his tone is mostly in his finger and technique, I know thats not what you want to hear, but after 30 years of trying to play music, I have realized that we all sound like ourselves. We can't sound like someone else, even if you had his bass and gear, you wouldn't sound like Michael. But he couldn't sound like you either.

 

[ajish4]

Thanks for the reply kcolyar.

I figured as much. I guess I was hoping for a magic bullet!

I'm thinking along the line of something with an Ebony fingerboard.

I will be doing this song with a group of about 5 other musicians. Piano, guitar, violin and a harp of all things. I just REALLY wish I could nail that tone.

True what you say about GAS..I've been up and down the line, from Alembic to Washburn....and I'm STILL looking for "THAT" tone!

Thanks again!

Tony

 

[Dr Steve Lawson]

Having attempted to play Michael's basses in the past, it's true that most of the sound is in his hands.. but certain things do help, for sure. A super-hard fingerboard (phenolic/lacquer/ebony) will 'zing' more than a softer wood, and lighter guage strings with a low action, may get closer to the mid-range and fretlessness that you'd be looking for.

Set-up makes all the difference - if you're confident to experiment with it, try adjusting the string height/truss rod to get the neck straighter and the strings lower...

But technique is also a big part of it, and I've found that the angle you strike the string at has a huge impact, as well as the position along the string - definitely worth messing around with and seeing what happens..

good luck!

Steve

 

[Michael Manring]

Thanks so much for your interest in this tune. Boy that's an old one!

I'm sorry to say I don't remember all the details about how I recorded this. I played several basses and piano. It sounds to me like two tracks of my Hyperbass, my fretless Legacy and my Larrivee acoustic fretless 5 string. I'm sure I recorded with very little processing, so I think Steve's right -- the tone is largely a function of the design and setup of the instruments.

 

[ajish4]

Thank you Steve & Michael.

It is truly appreciated, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me with this one. I've committed myself to play this and no matter how the tone comes across, I'm going through with it.....in front of a lot of folks...Hopefully, they will have had some Holiday Spirits prior to the Midnight Service!

I'm trying everything, different strings, different neck adjustments, different attack, and I just cant' get that BELL LIKE TONE.

Funny thing is, in trying to duplicate Michael's tone, I've attained that WOODY, UPRIGHT TONE perfectly now! Amazing.
When I wanted it, I couldn't get it....now, when I don't want it, I find it!

Soooooooooo, I asked my lovely wife if she would get me a Zon for Christmas.

Ah well, 29 years of marriage was a good run eh?

I'm going to keep plugging away....looks like I'll be playing it on a Rickenbacker, with a dead flat neck, low action and a set of Roundwound's, mids turned up high...unless the Mrs pulls one over one me....LOL...not likely, but hey, I can dream!

Thanks again!

Tony

 

[Dr Steve Lawson]

Thank you Steve & Michael.

Funny thing is, in trying to duplicate Michael's tone, I've attained that WOODY, UPRIGHT TONE perfectly now! Amazing.
When I wanted it, I couldn't get it....now, when I don't want it, I find it!

Tony,

this is exactly why I play a game I call 'channelling' with some of my students. We'll be playing a piece and I'll give them the name of a player I want them to play in the style of - could be Marcus Miller, could be Nikki Sixx... might be Lemmy or Matthew Garrison. Often the student knows little about the musician, sometimes it's their favourite bassist.

Every single time, what comes out sounds pretty much nothing like the person they're trying to emulate, but it unfailingly expands the palette of sounds and ideas that the student has.

Plagarism is harder than we think. It takes YEARS of study to accurately copy the sound and approach of a particular player, in which time that player has probably grown as a musician too, so no longer sounds they way they did on the records we're trying to copy.

But what it does to us to reach for someone else's vocabulary and approach is it gives us permission to let go of our own - something that consciously we find VERY hard to do. 'try playing this but not using all your usual licks and ideas' is an almost impossible request to fulfill. 'Play this, and try to sound like Michael Manring' is easy to attempt. There's no way that you're going to accidentally land on the sound and ideas that have taken Michael a lifetime of study to arrive at, but you've suddenly got permission to look outside of your own ingrained patterns and approach, and can circumvent 'the tyranny of the conscious mind'

enjoy!

Steve
www.stevelawson.net

 

[Michael Manring]

What a great idea, Steve! So much creativity can come from bad imitation!

 

[ajish4]

Thanks again Steve,

That is an amazing idea! I really did reach out of my comfort zone for this. In a million years I'd never have thought of trying what you have your students do. I never had formal lessons so I have a LOT of room for improvement!

Well, I did play the song multiple times over the Christmas Weekend. It felt amazing and I had an absolute blast playing it. The folks who attended gave us nothing but compliments. The tone? Well, it was that woody, upright tone I spoke of! No use in fighting it I guess.

The Zon never appeared under the tree, but I have another full year to work on the Mrs!

Thanks again Michael for the input. I can't believe we did that piece....one off the bucket list for sure!

Have a HAPPY & SAFE NEW YEAR and thanks again for the help!

Tony