Howdy,
It's been a journey from guitar land here and I think I'm getting close to buying my first bass for tracking. It took a moment to realize that I'm not making chords so I have less to worry about to compete with a rack full of guitars. However, what doesn't really change for me, is the necessity of having the ability to play open notes. Tone is in the fingers as we know in both camps, and a large part of some of the playing styles is being able to bang on an open note and hammer on around the 12th. I want to be able to double on guitar drop C, B & F#.
I've also paid attention to how we hear these low notes. For instance, anything in guitar played below a C starts to get pretty muddy, even with extended range guitars. There's all sorts of weird overtones that start to muck things up. And with that, you end up adapting how you play, what amps you use etc. Long story short, I consider drop C to be the most important lower note for how am I constructing my bass mindset.
Taking inspiration from Jeff Matz, he is tuned C F Bb Eb. The next note I am most interested and concerned with is drop B on guitar. While it does not resolve nearly as nice as C, taking a look at groups like Fear Factory, they are taking that drop B on the 5th string. Now a Dingwall isn't in the budget. But a ehb1005ms is. That goes up to 35" scale, and is multiscale.
If I'm understanding this, the bass notes for playing with Meshuggah at F# are further up the neck than playing an octave below B\C stuff on guitar. Meaning I'll use my 5th, and 4th string open for guitars in Drop B or Drop C (since this will all resolve itself much nicer because of the harmoics), but then with F\F# stuff I'm actually using the 3rd string open to "double up." That since the guitar is so muddy, so low, I'm actually supporting it rather than providing a lower register.
So that puts me at
B C F\F# (either or is fine) and I'm unsure of what ideas of how I should space out the top two strings.
I think this puts me at reasonbly as far as string gauge
145
115
95
70
50
So I'm trying to be able to accomate material similar to Meshuggah's Obzen album (do not need to cover the sub A stuff) in F\F#, High on Fire in Drop C and Fear Factory's Demanufacture in Drop B (which if I understand this right is played lower than Meshuggah from a bass perspective).
How I tune the top 2 strings is less important and I'd be interested to hear recommendations. I think if I tune in 4ths the top 2 would be same as Matz tuning, but if I go down to F, then they go from flat to B/E.
For regular old Drop D and maybe even some C# stuff, I want to mess around with that tasty Squire IV.
Any help is appreciated, sorry for the mess!
It's been a journey from guitar land here and I think I'm getting close to buying my first bass for tracking. It took a moment to realize that I'm not making chords so I have less to worry about to compete with a rack full of guitars. However, what doesn't really change for me, is the necessity of having the ability to play open notes. Tone is in the fingers as we know in both camps, and a large part of some of the playing styles is being able to bang on an open note and hammer on around the 12th. I want to be able to double on guitar drop C, B & F#.
I've also paid attention to how we hear these low notes. For instance, anything in guitar played below a C starts to get pretty muddy, even with extended range guitars. There's all sorts of weird overtones that start to muck things up. And with that, you end up adapting how you play, what amps you use etc. Long story short, I consider drop C to be the most important lower note for how am I constructing my bass mindset.
Taking inspiration from Jeff Matz, he is tuned C F Bb Eb. The next note I am most interested and concerned with is drop B on guitar. While it does not resolve nearly as nice as C, taking a look at groups like Fear Factory, they are taking that drop B on the 5th string. Now a Dingwall isn't in the budget. But a ehb1005ms is. That goes up to 35" scale, and is multiscale.
If I'm understanding this, the bass notes for playing with Meshuggah at F# are further up the neck than playing an octave below B\C stuff on guitar. Meaning I'll use my 5th, and 4th string open for guitars in Drop B or Drop C (since this will all resolve itself much nicer because of the harmoics), but then with F\F# stuff I'm actually using the 3rd string open to "double up." That since the guitar is so muddy, so low, I'm actually supporting it rather than providing a lower register.
So that puts me at
B C F\F# (either or is fine) and I'm unsure of what ideas of how I should space out the top two strings.
I think this puts me at reasonbly as far as string gauge
145
115
95
70
50
So I'm trying to be able to accomate material similar to Meshuggah's Obzen album (do not need to cover the sub A stuff) in F\F#, High on Fire in Drop C and Fear Factory's Demanufacture in Drop B (which if I understand this right is played lower than Meshuggah from a bass perspective).
How I tune the top 2 strings is less important and I'd be interested to hear recommendations. I think if I tune in 4ths the top 2 would be same as Matz tuning, but if I go down to F, then they go from flat to B/E.
For regular old Drop D and maybe even some C# stuff, I want to mess around with that tasty Squire IV.
Any help is appreciated, sorry for the mess!
. Why not throw a 6 string tuned f# in this mix? Did you mention arcane?
