Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[JES]

Actually I have an Allsteel I like for desk work; I like a little elevation for playing.

 

[monsterthompson]

What’s the general playing posture for the gang? I’m almost always sitting with the bass on my right leg, fretting with my left. Does anyone find the classical guitar posture workable or beneficial?

 

[Bob_Ross]

Does anyone find the classical guitar posture workable or beneficial?

Occasionally but infrequently; maybe 20% of the time?
I haven't really thought about what causes me to choose that position...mostly probably just trying to mix things up, prevent my body from getting complacent. Maybe also if a piece spends a lot of time above the 12th fret? :shrugs:

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I am Jack’s complete lack of a cool chair.
Or desk/table…….

 

[Spectrum]

Does anyone find the classical guitar posture workable or beneficial?

Nope. Not comfortable, and if I swivel around the neck is guaranteed to hit something.

 

[monsterthompson]

TW - Shimmer reverb used.

 

[Starthief]

What’s the general playing posture for the gang? I’m almost always sitting with the bass on my right leg, fretting with my left. Does anyone find the classical guitar posture workable or beneficial?

I'm mostly playing the Miezo -- not sure if "classical guitar posture" applies to that, but it is relatively close to upright.

Same with the U-Bass, because it's not quite as small and if I let the headstock too far down it *will* bang on the desk. I end up backing my chair up a little bit.

Lap steel is more like desk steel, I move my computer keyboard out of the way and can't use most of the dry-erase scribble area on my desk.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Never classical position while sitting, although I often use something to raise my left leg (or or both) on something.
Whatever’s around atm like a Rubbermaid box for gear, case etc.
For some reason it’s easier on my neck and upper back since I always tend to look down and hunch forward.
Live it’s a plague for me, I always end up rounded back neck down forwards like a weird cockroach human hybrid.
I’ve very consciously tried to remedy this but to no avail. I wreck my back, neck and even knees ( since they are both bent like in a half squat).

I’m an idiot.

 

[monsterthompson]

There’s a video somewhere of Alex Webster in the recording studio seated with the bass between his legs but hanging on a strap and almost on the floor. It looked super odd to me but it could approximate a standing playing position.

Edit - here it is. Around 2:40



Also. Because I can’t leave well enough alone, I have a set of EADGC and a set of BEADG piccolo strings coming this week from Curt Mangan. I’m going to test them out on the green F Bass, and possibly move them down to the shorter scale Acinonyx. I almost grabbed a new set of flats for my Fretless but Curt was out when I ordered.

 

[monsterthompson]

Looks like I’ve got some weekend plans.

 

[sunbeast]

There’s a video somewhere of Alex Webster in the recording studio seated with the bass between his legs but hanging on a strap and almost on the floor. It looked super odd to me but it could approximate a standing playing position.

Edit - here it is. Around 2:40



Also. Because I can’t leave well enough alone, I have a set of EADGC and a set of BEADG piccolo strings coming this week from Curt Mangan. I’m going to test them out on the green F Bass, and possibly move them down to the shorter scale Acinonyx. I almost grabbed a new set of flats for my Fretless but Curt was out when I ordered.

I find classical position to not work well for me with bass, at least not for any extended period. The reach for the left arm (even with my long arms) and the unnatural plucking position of the right arm in classical position just isn’t ergonomic for me. I play in a West African group that mostly sits while we play, and often am hanging my bass to the side of my stool or down between my legs not unlike this Alex Webster clip to get similar attack and extension to playing while standing. I find the extension/reach with my left hand/arm to the lower bass register and the constriction of my right hand/arm too much and too fatiguing when playing over a knee for very long with a bass, especially when we are usually playing between 1-2 hour sets. I do tend to move positions a lot over a set to stay comfortable

 

[JES]

With touch guitar it’s pretty close to classical playing position. Maybe an even steeper angle but part of the deal is letting the instrument move with you as you move around it.

On bass I wear it under my rib cage and just a little up from 90 degrees.

 

[monsterthompson]

Reverb tips for vox, but good food for thought.

 

[Starthief]

Reverb tips for vox, but good food for thought.

Honestly I don't like the "throw" example much, I feel like cutting off the tail of the reverb so sharply is kind of ick. Maybe if there was something else taking up space in the mix right at that moment it'd be OK.

Lately I've been playing with TB Equalizer Pro which has "direct" and "ambience" modes for bands -- it tries to separate direct and reverbed sound to EQ them differently. The fun part about this is it's not perfect, and you get different results than just EQing the wet part of the reverb. Combining that with dynamic EQing can be fun. I used a lot of that on Tin Birds.

 

[monsterthompson]

Honestly I don't like the "throw" example much, I feel like cutting off the tail of the reverb so sharply is kind of ick. Maybe if there was something else taking up space in the mix right at that moment it'd be OK.

I like the concept and I’m sure there’s a few ways to skin that cat to make it work in various contexts. It’s an idea of been thinking about so it caught my attention. I’ve been considering how to make it work in a eurorack patch.

…I liked the layered dial reverb idea. I’ve been thinking about dual compression lately so it’s another thing that caught my thought.

 

[Spectrum]

I thought this was a cool bit of synth history:

 

[Starthief]

I like the concept and I’m sure there’s a few ways to skin that cat to make it work in various contexts. It’s an idea of been thinking about so it caught my attention. I’ve been considering how to make it work in a eurorack patch.

…I liked the layered dial reverb idea. I’ve been thinking about dual compression lately so it’s another thing that caught my thought.

The concept is kind of interesting yeah. What I'd probably do is put a second reverb after the gate to let it ring a bit. Or maybe automate both the input and the output... close the input quickly and bring the output down more gradually. (Then open up the input again before the next throw)

The layered reverb was definitely cool. Kind of an expansion of the idea of early vs. late reflections. I've never done much with parallel reverbs and it seems like it's worth playing with.

 

[Starthief]

Bandcamp Friday!

Ambient made from feedback loops, recorded to tape and slowed.


It's... medieval beekeeper party music with bagpipe and davul. (I wish it was a full album instead of a short EP, this is awesome. Though on a full album I'd also like to hear some other instruments too, maybe medieval or maybe a rock band behind them.)


Huge live show from a couple of years ago at Red Rocks. Despite having all the studio albums, I picked this up because instead of layering vocals, they trade lines between singers, and have nicer harmonization going on.


Twangy trippy Goth in Welsh with zither, bass guitar and electronic drums. (I think my only complaint is that a lot of it is kind of samey, at least on first listen, while I'm also working.)


Siberian/Nordic folk


Danish folk (from two Heilung members plus a friend of theirs)

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I support my favs but this Bandcamp thing is really like NFT buying.
You get air for the $$ and a sense of « satisfaction to indy artists »

The music model is broken as @;&:$:;;

I don’t have a solution but I’m pretty freaking disillusioned and peeved at the same time.

I’d gladly send my money to my favs if I got something more than …..well actually nothing in return.

But I still send my money to a select few that I genuinely dig and support.
That’s after blowing a lot of $$ in this band camp thing, I got tired of it.

Again, do I have a solution, no I don’t ….. just something to think about

Especially in Quebec, a CD with shipping and duties is something like 50$
Yeah, this is healthy

Ok, back to pseudo happy

 

[monsterthompson]

Part of my frustration with Bandcamp is my own doing. I either forget to open the app/site to listen, or fail to import the media to my iPhone library. I don’t mind supporting music I enjoy, though I think I have some old habits dying hard. My concept of a music collection is a curated one limited by my financial position in my youth. It forced me to be selective, and I carry that with me. When my library is massive I start to get analysis paralysis and can’t decide what to listen to. At the same time I feel bad hiding or deleting music I previously added. I suppose this makes me a candidate for being a vinyl collector, but I don’t want to own a record player.

Not complaining about Bandcamp. I just always feel like I’m doing it wrong.