Bass choice/tone, Paramore's "Ain't it fun"

[ihixulu]

Sounds like a generic well produced bass tone.

 

[darwin-bass]

Great growl / punchy mids with the top end sizzle cut back. Articulate with a pick but not bright like a pick.

 

[darwin-bass]

Slap break at 3:20.

 

[semiprohooker]

I'll chime in just to say that I much prefer playing it on a down tuned 4 over my 5. Just me personally.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

I was conflicted on this one, because I know JMJ's style and had heard his playing on the following album. I also was familiar with Jeremy Davis' playing on the previous albums, too. This track has some pretty cool fills and neat octave work, so it kind of seemed too flashy for Jeremy, but also uncharacteristic of JMJ's understated, supportive lines he usually plays.

I'm leaning more towards it being Jeremy Davis, too, thinking that maybe his playing in the past was really just to support the song, and maybe this track they just told him to go crazy and play whatever.

You have a discerning ear. Jeremy Davis didn't play on the first two Paramore albums as they were recorded while he was not a member of the band.

- Steve

 

[Chrishi87]

With a G3 you would come close

Here he plays that song in a rig rundown. Sounds nice.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I have a NYE gig lined up, and the band I'm performing with have agreed to play this Paramore song, which I'm excited about.

The song has a very distinctive tone, and I'm trying to figure it out. Fellow TB'ers: has anyone here covered this song? It sounds to me like a very midrange-forward tone, played with a pick and under heavy compression. Maybe a Stingray 5H?

Didn't sound like a pick was used to me but then I saw him play it on a video and it is. He likes G3 basses. Sounds like finger style to me without much compression but it's not.

If you use a passive jazz to emulate that, I'd be boosting the low mids a bit anywhere between 250Hz and 550Hz - anywhere in that range will work If you boost it too much your sound will honk at you. To get that growl on the low notes, dig into the strings right above the bridge pick-up. If your Jazz has the 70's era spacing on the pickups (4" center to center) that will make it growl easily but it works with the 3.6" pickup spacing too, just not as easily.
.

 

[skyline_01]

This is a great tune with a monster bass line. I saw Paramore with my daughter about a month ago and they put on a fantastic show. It was a sold out, PACKED crowd with a very high energy level.

 

[David McIntire]

I play the tune once in awhile. 5 string Jazz, SWR Interstellar Overdrive to a 350w power amp into a 212. Pretty standard tone here. And no matter how hard a person tries, he can't sound like another.

Conversely, no matter how hard a guy tries, he can only sound like himself. For me, tho I do scads of "tribute" work, I don't chase other guys' tones. I just try to make my sound the best it can be for the application. This is a rock tone. I enjoy rock tones. So mine fits fine.

I sub for a guy whose band performs this tune. He uses a Stingray 5 or a Ken Smith 6 in the band, with a current Mesa rig. He does lots more funk and soul work than me. His tone is different than mine. But he sounds fine when he performs this tune. He just doesn't sound like me. And neither of us sound exactly like the original.

 

[bste9]

This is a fantastic tune on a fantastic album. Its impossible not to be in a good mood after listening to it. Jeremy Davis did indeed write this. I think it may be part of what led him to leave/get fired from the band for the umpteenth time. From what I read, his ego may have gotten a little too big.
Anyway, I play this song with my Spectors, sounds great too me.

 

[Ric5]

I have a NYE gig lined up, and the band I'm performing with have agreed to play this Paramore song, which I'm excited about.

The song has a very distinctive tone, and I'm trying to figure it out. Fellow TB'ers: has anyone here covered this song? It sounds to me like a very midrange-forward tone, played with a pick and under heavy compression. Maybe a Stingray 5H?

to me that is a pretty generic tone that most basses and most amps can easily reproduce.

 

[halcyo]

This is a fantastic tune on a fantastic album. Its impossible not to be in a good mood after listening to it. Jeremy Davis did indeed write this. I think it may be part of what led him to leave/get fired from the band for the umpteenth time. From what I read, his ego may have gotten a little too big.
Anyway, I play this song with my Spectors, sounds great too me.

Imagine being in a band where doing a really cool bass part gets you pushed out of the band. Lol smh

I have a suspicion that the girl lead singer has a far bigger ego than anyone else and she didn’t like not having everything 100% her way, and their label/management knows she’s the golden goose so whatever she wants they have to roll with.

 

[RGerhart]

Imagine being in a band where doing a really cool bass part gets you pushed out of the band. Lol smh

I have a suspicion that the girl lead singer has a far bigger ego than anyone else and she didn’t like not having everything 100% her way, and their label/management knows she’s the golden goose so whatever she wants they have to roll with.

Hard to say. Everything I've read online and in articles points in favor of Hayley Williams, the lead singer. She was originally signed on with the record company as a solo artist back in the early 2000s, and the band was not. Out of good faith and friendship, she basically shared the revenue from the record company with the rest of the band. Jeremy left the band several times because of "misunderstandings" of his place in the Paramore brand. I'm assuming he wanted royalties and other sources of revenue outside of what was agreed upon, and thus he was unhappy with the situation.

If you agreed on certain terms and payments before your band got big, would you be upset if the band got huge and started making a lot more money, money that you wouldn't get because of the initial agreement? Most people would, I think.

 

[bste9]

Imagine being in a band where doing a really cool bass part gets you pushed out of the band. Lol smh

I have a suspicion that the girl lead singer has a far bigger ego than anyone else and she didn’t like not having everything 100% her way, and their label/management knows she’s the golden goose so whatever she wants they have to roll with.

well, she was bigger to begin with. She has her own contract separate from the band and that has always been the case. Plus he has left the band 3+ times. Hayley asked him to come back a couple times. So its not her ego. GO check out what Jeremy Davis is up to now. Its ...."interesting"

 

[bste9]

Hard to say. Everything I've read online and in articles points in favor of Hayley Williams, the lead singer. She was originally signed on with the record company as a solo artist back in the early 2000s, and the band was not. Out of good faith and friendship, she basically shared the revenue from the record company with the rest of the band. Jeremy left the band several times because of "misunderstandings" of his place in the Paramore brand. I'm assuming he wanted royalties and other sources of revenue outside of what was agreed upon, and thus he was unhappy with the situation.

If you agreed on certain terms and payments before your band got big, would you be upset if the band got huge and started making a lot more money, money that you wouldn't get because of the initial agreement? Most people would, I think.

this is exactly the case. He wrote a good bass line and thought he should get more of the cut.

 

[melloncollie]

It’s a shame they couldn’t work it out. The self titled album is where he really got to shine and with the move to more 80’s influenced material he could have knocked it out of the park again.

 

[RGerhart]

It’s a shame they couldn’t work it out. The self titled album is where he really got to shine and with the move to more 80’s influenced material he could have knocked it out of the park again.

Yeah, it would've been interesting to see how After Laughter turned out if he was playing, versus JMJ.

 

[jmjbassplayer]

Yes that's Jeremy on Gibson G3's on Self-Titled about 95% of the time. I had him on a P-bass once, I think. We worked long and hard pre-producing all his parts, tones and approaches. Was a pleasure to give his excellent bass playing a real opportunity to shine on that LP.

 

[74hc]

Regardless of what bass was used, Paramore would have some good stories for the Band Management section

 

[bste9]

Yes that's Jeremy on Gibson G3's on Self-Titled about 95% of the time. I had him on a P-bass once, I think. We worked long and hard pre-producing all his parts, tones and approaches. Was a pleasure to give his excellent bass playing a real opportunity to shine on that LP.

well that was a cool chime in...direct from the source!