Bass during solos

[Synh]

To give a little more context. The second guitarist left, and we have a show in 10 days. To reassure everyone, I said, "We'll thicken the bass" in the meantime... now I'm looking for solutions. But your contributions have helped me spread myself less thin. Thank you.

 

[bassbrad]

There are a number of solutions to playing in a power trio from playing the same, less to playing more or expanding your sonic footprint with effects, I tend to do all three depending on the tune. As far as effects go something as simple as a detune or chorus can really help to fill in space, octaver or pitch shifter can also be helpful. One pedal I used was the Akai UniBass that added an octave up and fifth up to make a power chord. Another useful pedal is a TRex Quint Machine that can do oct down, up and fifth up with level controls for each interval. You can place this after your dirt and have massive sounds or with the level controls go more subtle


If you want to go super fancy there is the EHX POG III

 

[FretRiff]

I said, "We'll thicken the bass" in the meantime... now I'm looking for solutions.

For thickness emphasize midrange on the Darkglass, sweep mid freq and tweaking mid gain and reduce low mids if it gets muddy. There's pedals to consider too....

 

[jdjk7]

Hi !!
We play punk/grunge. And I find there's a problem during our guitarist's solos. I should take more space during the solos, because the overall sound loses density. I've tried playing louder on the strings, increasing the volume... I don't like it. What do you recommend? To get a more aggressive and brutal sound during these periods. My clean is supported by a slight crunch with a Rattler and some drive from my Darkglass A/O amp head.

I assume the guitar tends to move up to the upper register. This leaves nothing in the mids. If the guitarist can't/won't change what he's playing to accommodate this, then I guess that means you need to step up and play some mid range notes as opposed to just hanging around at the bottom. Despite what the Fudd lore says, you won't immediately combust into fire if you play above fret 5.

Personally I think more players need to do that anyway. I can't tell you how many concerts I've been underwhelmed by for that exact reason... bass player won't come out of his corner and play.

 

[rogerb]

You need to embrace it. I like just bass and drums and a guitar soloing over top. Sounds great if done well.

We have a second guitarist that shows up every once in a while, he just plays through everything, flatens it all out, no dynamics, he plays over stops, vocals, really noticable for me. However the other guitarist loves it. A lot of extra constant noise if you ask me, I just enjoy playjng and I listen more to the drums, although with two guitars screaming it is a challenge to even hear the drums.

 

[Ritter667]

Double solo can work, here I play a bass solo underneath a guitar solo, towards the end of the song (starting at around the 2:50 mark):

Depends entirely on the context.

It might sounds a bit chaotic isolated, but in context as an ending of this song it fits in perfectly.

 

[Zbysek]

To give a little more context. The second guitarist left, and we have a show in 10 days.

So how was your show?

 

[paskisti]

Once OP is playing punk or punk rock, all they need during guitar solos is the extra mids and overdrive to mimic overdriven guitar, and not always even this. Listen what e.g. Green Day, Muse and Pantera did during solos and melodies. Either you accept the rythm guitar drop off and hollow feel, or you try to fill it with mids and distortion. In a way the lack of rythm guitar in solo parts is the salt of trio band. Generally trio needs a more active approach from all three players.

 

[RiskyFvck]

I've been pushing an MXR Micro Amp into my Darkglass B7K and rounding it out with my Sansamp BDDI for a few years at this point. I find that combo totally unbeatable for grunge/punk/alternative when the main rhythm guitar drops out.
If you're a pick player, angle the pick slightly inward to get a scratchier tone which also stands out a lot in those parts.
Boosting some crunch into the main preamp and hitting hard with a 0.60mm is how I do most everything.