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Any 8-string bass players out there?

#42
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I have an 8-string Carlo Robelli that I often use with my band. We are a trio (bass, guitar, drums) and I use it to make our sound "bigger".
I play about 50% of our set list with a pick and the other 50% with fingers.

It takes a bit of initial playing, exercising and practice to have the hand strength in your fretting hand to get through a whole set. Once you get there though, it's awesome. It also helps when going back to your 4 ( or 5 or 6 or more) because you have a stronger fretting hand.

I'm about to purchase a big muff distortion pedal to add to the 8 string sound. They sure do sound great with effects.
 
#46
Tomkat8 said:
Dang. i wanted the one with the Macassar top and flamed maple core. So bad .. Didn't have the cash back then.. I've never seen an 8 up for sale!
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Mine was a tobacco sunburst one pickup model,probably one of the least flashy looking models they ever made,but it was still stunning. The pickup was in the p-bass posiition,and had a killer punch to it. I used to have a cassette recording of it,but i never got around to digitizing it,and then lost the cassette! Whenever one surfaces now,it's crazy money to buy,but they were great instruments.
 
#50
Roscoe East said:
Mark Egan, Alphonso Johnson, Bill Laswell, & John Lee would be a good start to a list of counter-examples.

You're welcome.
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Now we're talking!

Just did a dive into Mark Egan's work per your recommendation. I'm familiar with him as a fretless guy. Digging around I found some cool stuff with him playing fretless 8 string. Great sound! It's not my favorite musical style, but you can't knock the bass playing.

Gotta say, 8 string fretless is pretty specialized stuff. But then, things like that really work in the hands of a special player. Egan is a great example.

Given more time, I'll follow up on your other recommendations.

thanks,
 
#51
I'm not a huge fan myself althought i have heard others do cool stuff with them so i think its cool they are out there. For me i can use my 7 string (single course) and just play octaves. I takes some time to get good at moving the octaves around with your fretting hand but the ability to go back and forth between octaves and single notes on the same instrument is nice.
 
#52
I've had three 8-string (octave) basses. Ibanez Studio (great bass), Carlo Robelli (mail-ordered and immediately returned due to gutless output), and I currently have a Schecter Studio Elite.

My experience is that the 8 or 12-stringers sound cool when played by themselves or in a low-volume passage, but as soon as the rest of the band kicks in and it gets loud, the octave string(s) tends to make the bass line less distinct in the mix. A listen to Cheap Trick at Budokan will show you what I mean.

Also, if you're a lazy practicer and sloppy player (like me), cleanly fretting two strings at a time gets to be tiresome!
 
#54
Bassist4Eris said:
I play originals, and my heroes include Frank Zappa, John Zorn, and Miles Davis. So for me, the practical application is having something a little different and outside of the norm, to inspire a different type of creative thinking than what I might play on a conventional bass.
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Exactly my point, even today, my gear has improved, but I'm still looking for a "new" sound...it's one of the hardest things to find, but I think I'll know very quickly when I find it
 
#55
msact said:
Here is my 12 string Musicvox Spacecadet. The electronic configuration is a bit quirky, but it plays great and sounds awesome, especially through a fuzz box.

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And here is my 8 string Washburn B-20-8.

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Two very cool basses
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Both of these are very sexy basses. ..even though one is a little out of my color scheme, I still love it. Different draws attention and attention earns money...I still love the sound of an authentic 12 string ...even though it'll still be a while till I can afford one :(
 
#57
Been thinking about an 8 string (octave) for a while, but they're rare beasts here, and TBH, I don't really need one.

Has anyone ever tried any harmony tunings with their 8/12 strings? As in root/fifth style tunings (Eb Ae Da Gc#)? How does it sound in a band situation?
 
#58
Skybone said:
Been thinking about an 8 string (octave) for a while, but they're rare beasts here, and TBH, I don't really need one.

Has anyone ever tried any harmony tunings with their 8/12 strings? As in root/fifth style tunings (Eb Ae Da Gc#)? How does it sound in a band situation?
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I tried eE aA aD dG for awhile (bottom two courses in octaves, top two in fifths) but didn't stick with it for very long, because it made a horror story out of my favorite chord voicings.
 
#59
I love octave basses, I play mostly aggressive styles but I like funk,blues, pretty much anything with a real band that isn't screamoo. I play only finger style now but I also played with a pic for many years but have no need for one because I worked to develop the proper picking technique. I have owned ESP, Schecter,dean and now a Spector legend 8 witch in my opinion is the best of the ones I have owned in tone and setup, for me that means more growl and less twang than the others.
since Dug pinick has been mentioned a few times I feel the need to mention that he only uses his 12 string on 2-3 songs threw the history of kingsX and the rest is standard 4 strings, I know of him because he's an awesome bass player in a kickass band, NOT because he played a 12 string
if you want to here some killer 8 string playing in a heavy metal setting check out overkill, DD Vern makes killer use of 8 strings in a lot of their songs, Elimination is one song that comes to mind wear the 8 string stands out or the next time Motley crue's home sweet home(no I don't think this is heavy metal) comes on the radio crank it up and listen to the chugging chorus parts, you can here the 8 string pretty clearly, being only a single guitar band nikki six used an 8 string in live situations a lot to fill space behind guitar solos
check out what Andy Irvine can do with his octave tuned bass (6x2) AND NO PICK....
 
#60
bootsox said:
I used to play a 12 but I got tired of having to tune it so I sold it a few years ago
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i'm a "bright new string" guy and I got tired of spending lots of money just to do a string change on my Hamer 12ver....granted, I found that I liked the tone a LOT better with new fresh bass strings but with the 8va strings slightly diminished, so I didnt change those as often
 

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