Bass for each style

[burgerdj]

If you play well, no one will care what you’re playing.

If you have the cash, by all means - get a bass for every genre you might play in. But don’t think that you have to.

 

[noahw1]

I use a pj for everything.

 

[Michael Jewels]

Let me get my worn-out plug in about the Schecter CV-5 in.
As we all know, you can use any bass for any genre.
This Schecter will give you:
1) A very convincing P-bass tone
2) A very convinving 70s Jazz tone.
3) A ballpark Stingray tone. Either very aggressive or slightly less.
4) A ballpark Old Smoothie tone. If you don't know what an Old Smoothie sounds like, don't worry.

There are also a few other tones in there, which are variations on the ones I described above, but to make an understatement, this bass is versatile.
I've had mine since Thanksgiving, so I'm familiar with it by now.
The feel is very Fender-ish.

Good luck.

 

[drumvsbass]

Everything 'bass' CAN be done on a Precision Shaped Object. But not 'everything' SHOULD be done on a PSO. If your music is extreme, it might require an extreme instrument. Where you draw the line between 'old sturdy Pbass' and 'gosh I really NEED a custom Fodera Imerial II with a redwood burl top and gold hardware to express my love for the bass line from Brown Eyed Girl in a pub at the end of the block' says a lot about a man.

 

[drumvsbass]

I use a pj for everything.

...and everything gets done.

 

[2F/2F]

P Bass or J Bass or Mustang or Musicmaster or L1K or L2k or SB-1 or SB-2/Lynx or Ray or Sabre for anything.

The only basses that I have found to be particularly limiting are my recently acquired Hofner hollowbody, and Gibson EBs. Something about the lack of a central pickup location on them, I think. It's either really close to the neck heel, or really close to the bridge – no in between.

What they do do well, nothing else but them, or something kinda like them, can do. But they often struggle to occupy the location in the mix that a "normal" Fender style bass does. That doesn't work for some band lineups. Unless the engineering and arrangement is very well considered, it leaves a frequency void somewhere in the arrangement.

Gibson EBs get there OK if the mudbucker coils are wired in parallel, though. They can be quite P-like if you do that.

I would use either of these basses, but not as go-to, do-it-all axes.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

Any type of music that a P bass would not work for, would also be a type of music I have no interest in playing.

 

[GretschWretch]

Any bass can be used for any genre.
If they get categorized it's mainly because of stereotypical bias.

Said:"Well nobody is slapping on a Rick,so no one should slap on a Rick".
Or "I never see an Alembic Stanley Clarke used in Punk Rock,so I won't use it"

Or, "I never see a contemporary high-dollar bass in GretschWretch's hands."

 

[GrapeBass]

Hi guys, just looking to soak up on your expertise: What would you say is the appropriate bass for each music style?
Like P bass for rock (and pretty much anything), J for jazz, funk and reggae, Ibañez or Dean for metal...

It totally depends on your personal style, period.

 

[trothwell]

Also have several copies of each bass to set up with different strings.

 

[Bexuga]

I get the practicality of a single bass.

But then how do you have more basses? The math doesn’t work out.

Exactly!

 

[Jason Hollar]

That I'd like to see!

Actually makes them relatively manageable

 

[Bexuga]

Bit of devil's advocate, but those guys all have very signature sounds. Imagine Michael League trying to impersonate Marcus Miller...even if the playing was identical, League uses a P with dead flats and MM uses bright rounds. The difference in tone would be fairly stark. While any bass can absolutely work for every situation, some basses definitely excel in certain genres.

That's what I am trying to know Of course you can go all the away on your bass, but what would be the point of different specs if they didn't change anything besides look and feel?

 

[TrevorR]

From the same “scene” there was Incognito’s Tribes, Vibes & Scribes album where many assumed the bass used on all the tracks must have been Randy Hope-Taylor’s Jazz (when most of the tracks actually contained no live bass).

Indeed, and isn’t that the best darned bass programming you ever heard. That album is one of favourite ever bass albums still, even despite that. And my wood shedding album of choice!

 

[Bexuga]

I use a pj for everything.

Sleeping, mostly

 

[Durham52]

Besides I heard Carol Kaye played on most of the early Jaco sessions because the producer wanted a P Bass sound.

That cracked me up, but just imagine.......

 

[AdamR]

While I agree that any bass will work for any genre, image is a huge part of music too

 

[sotua]

I have a J with flats and a Stingray with rounds. That has me pretty much covered for anything I need.

 

[bass12]

Indeed, and isn’t that the best darned bass programming you ever heard. That album is one of favourite ever bass albums still, even despite that. And my wood shedding album of choice!

Yes, I was definitely fooled by the bass on that album!

 

[Wasnex]

Hi guys, just looking to soak up on your expertise: What would you say is the appropriate bass for each music style?
Like P bass for rock (and pretty much anything), J for jazz, funk and reggae, Ibañez or Dean for metal...

IMHO you might drive yourself nuts!

My first bass was a Ric 4001. You would probably be surprised by just how much you can tweak the sound with a powerful EQ, if you have a relatively full range range bass rig.

Early on I bought one of these and built a biamp rig:

I spent many hours tweaking the sound of the Ric to get it as close to the sound of the bass on various hit recordings of the days as I could--and I could get really, really close most of the time.

IMHO if you are recording, it makes sense to really tailor the sound with EQ or by switching an instrument. These sort of changes modify the way the instrument speaks which relates to tempo and feel.

This tempo and feel relationship is even more obvious with some keyboard patches. It's very clear that some keyboard patches only work well at slow tempos because they speak too slowly.


Years later there was a product called the ART SGX Nightbass that I considered. Basically a very complicated bass processor.

The idea was I would be able to build and save an ideal patch for each song. I had an opportunity to mess around with the original version of the Nightbass, but never built a rig around one. By then my philosophy had changed.

As a Pro I got past the idea of really worrying about my sound to much. I need a good sound, but the truth is live bass almost always sounds awful IMHO. Since it's impossible to get the nice tight focused sound I like, I had to learn to accept good enough or I would be chasing my tail continuously. Trust me, no one wants a bass player who is continuously fiddling with the controls on his amp and instrument. Dial in a decent sound and then stop worrying about.

I turned pro sometime in 1989 or 1990 and played my Ric for the first couple of years. Then I transitioned to 5-string and played a Yamaha BB5000 for a a few years. Sometime in 1994 or 1995 I transitioned to 6-string, and a Yamaha TRB6P has been my #1 since then. If I need a different sound I adjust the controls on the bass or amp. If I really needed a drastically different sound I would probably choose a different cab or amp. Usually the cab makes the biggest difference IMHO.

I still own the Rick (it's a FrankenRick now ) Total number of basses in my collection is seven. There is definitely some variety between the sound of the basses I own, but I really feel at home on the 6-string, and I only own one of those. The idea is that I could play my Modulus Flea 5 or my vintage Fender Elite P II, but I would miss the C and/or B string(s), even if the music did not require me to play them. So I might be inclined to bring out a different bass for a recording, but for live work I would probably just stick with my trusty TRB6P.