• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Benefits of a lighter touch!

#81
Bloomyleo said:
Your touch should vary with the instrument being played. Every bass has it's own characteristics. Active vs. passive electronics definitely come into play. I do think some bass players will pick gear and EQ it in such a way so they are playing light and letting the hardware do the work by adding attack and presence. I realize this tone has become a "sound" that folks strive for, but it's not for me.
Click to expand...

^^^^^
I filled in for a friend on with a Chicago Blues band last Saturday night… on his (P-)bass (it was an emergency, no time to get my own).
Passive of course, and of course the band needed to rock balls. I could never put that kind of energy into my play letting the electronics do the job.

I agree with those who mentioned the huge difference between soloing and 'fundamental' bass playing.

Tickling is o.k. but not between the pups.
 
#82
fourstringburn said:
dYNAMICS is what counts!!! play hard (fortissimo) play soft(pianissimo) or somewhere in between, mix it up to create a mood. Music is a combination of these...but so is SILENCE!

This comes from within you, not your amp settings!
Click to expand...

Amen.
Learning to play with a wide range of dynamics seems to me the most "professional" approach. It's seen as a basic, fundamental skill playing orchestral music and should be considered so for all music. Learn to make an instrument speak from pp to ff and you've pretty much answered every question and solved every problem raised in this thread.
 
#83
jeff arddun said:
Amen.
Learning to play with a wide range of dynamics seems to me the most "professional" approach. It's seen as a basic, fundamental skill playing orchestral music and should be considered so for all music. Learn make an instrument speak from pp to ff and you've pretty much answered every question and solved every problem raised in this thread.
Click to expand...

Yep, so you need a medium touch that allows you headroom either way.
 
#84
Amen.

Whether it be light or firm; if it ain't clean - it's mud.

I have found (for me) that I can move faster when I'm using a lighter touch in a specific lick, scale, whatever. If a faster tempo in a piece is needed, generally I'll be playing lighter. But that's simply a empirical observation.
It also seems that strings have some input also. Flats need a bit more pressure as they are more ridged (on a fretted instrument). Yet on a fretless I may play as (or even softer) I would w/ round-wounds.
Often I play close to the bridge & quite some time back I would put more effort into what pressure my right-hand used. However today I actually seem to use less.

There's absolutely nothing wrong w/ discussions like these but music (like any art) is SO subjective and have SO many variables that it's my opinion that one can only remark what one is experiencing at the time of/& level of experience, what type of music, instrument setup, and technique are employed. There may be no "right or wrong" to many subjects discussed here.
 
#86
You can still dig in with what's commonly referred to as a light touch. Particularly with low action, it doesn't take much more effort to sound like you're plucking with force. Volume, punch, aggressive sound is all a piece of cake... once you've worked out how to do it. Maybe light isn't the best way to describe it... but anything else is likely to come off as negative vs. someone who doesn't employ it.

I figured this out a long time ago, my dynamic control increased greatly and by letting my amp work hard instead of me, stamina on a long gig became a non-issue. Another bonus is having controlled headroom on tap while being able to go from a whisper to obnoxious simply by using your hands.

Obviously it won't work for everyone, particularly people who either haven't tried it or didn't spend real time refining their touch. You can't just think about it, you have to do it. It typically doesn't happen overnight. For those who think you lose the ability to dig in, that couldn't be further from a foregone conclusion IME.
 
#87
What's this professional tone? I thought a professional tone was the tone that fitted the music, try your light tickling in metal, it will very rarely work (unless your Steve Harris, but he already breaks the laws of physics so he doesn't count). The soft touch fits most music, I agree, but digging in while playing the right styles is the way to go. I don't think there's any best technique, just the right one for the job.
 
#89
Not that I have anything earth-shattering to add, but I do want to chime in. I hadn't been able to play or even practice regularly since 1996 because of carpal tunnel and tendonosis in both arms/wrists.

I've been taking lessons, using stretching techniques and re-learning bass from scratch.
It's no accident that due to a MUCH lighter touch, both left and right hand, I can now play up to 2 hours a day without pain or discomfort. Of course, I have a MUCH better bass (Carvin SB4000), a correct set-up: low action, good relief in the neck, pu height etc. and a warm-up practice routine that makes sense.


With a lighter touch I have better tone, more speed in both hands, greater accuracy hitting the right notes, and most importantly I no longer injure myself due to the way I play.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rock Salad
#92
Joe Nerve said:
I pretty much always played hard, yet always realized the benefits of a light touch. Making yet another conscious effort to hone this skill. It really opens lots of doors. This guy is becoming a renewed inspiration. YouTube - ‪The Real Me Live at the Royal Albert Hall‬‏
Click to expand...

Watching and listening to that it occurs to me that how "hard" you play is very much relative to the tension of the strings and how high the strings are. There are points where he's right up to the limit of how hard he can hit the strings without crapping them. On a Pre with ancient flats set up to play like a double bass he'd barely be getting a sound.

Which raises a question: Do you set a bass up to where it feels best to you and accommodates your technique or do you set it up so it sounds best to you and accommodate your technique to it? Not that perfect feel and perfect sound are mutually exclusive but it takes a lot of work and the right instrument to strike a perfect balance.
 
#93
Here are three items to consider:

1) the harder you pluck a string, the sharper the note of the initial attack will be;
2) the lower the tension on the string, the greater this effect; and,
3) the higher up the neck you go on the frets, the less this effect.

Discuss.
 
#94
Bloomyleo said:
Here are three items to consider:

1) the harder you pluck a string, the sharper the note of the initial attack will be;
2) the lower the tension on the string, the greater this effect; and,
3) the higher up the neck you go on the frets, the less this effect.

Discuss.
Click to expand...
1.) I'm confused here: do you sharper musically (C#, etc) or do you mean audionically (louder)????

2.) Comparing flats & round-wounds, thinner or thicker diameter, contributes to flexibility. There additional confusion in that to use your analogy you have to point to a given string sample (Rotos or whatever) and then recognize that it will have one level of tension in tune yet always have a greater "flex" at the center (apex) of two points (bridge and nut).

If we were to break down "string attack" the musical feature of that note is also contributing to this discussion. Do we have a note that sustains beyond a certain time frame wherein the note will loose volume yet (should) retain the musical characteristic.

:confused:
 
#95
jeff arddun said:
Watching and listening to that it occurs to me that how "hard" you play is very much relative to the tension of the strings and how high the strings are. There are points where he's right up to the limit of how hard he can hit the strings without crapping them. On a Pre with ancient flats set up to play like a double bass he'd barely be getting a sound.

Which raises a question: Do you set a bass up to where it feels best to you and accommodates your technique or do you set it up so it sounds best to you and accommodate your technique to it? Not that perfect feel and perfect sound are mutually exclusive but it takes a lot of work and the right instrument to strike a perfect balance.
Click to expand...

Your technique has a lot to do with what feels right. So putting the work in technique-wise can make it very easy to find instruments that feel and sound great IME particularly if you do your own setups. If it feels great and accomodates your technique it should also sound great barring some serious conflicts with the particular bass and what you're trying to get out of it.
 
#96
#97
Bloomyleo said:
Here are three items to consider:

1) the harder you pluck a string, the sharper the note of the initial attack will be;
2) the lower the tension on the string, the greater this effect; and,
3) the higher up the neck you go on the frets, the less this effect.

Discuss.
Click to expand...

i think going sharp and return to the original pitch is the nature of all plucked string instruments. I mean, a sharper attack is not necesarily bad...
 
#99
Bloomyleo said:
Here are three items to consider:

1) the harder you pluck a string, the sharper the note of the initial attack will be;
2) the lower the tension on the string, the greater this effect; and,
3) the higher up the neck you go on the frets, the less this effect.

Discuss.
Click to expand...

Yes, by sharpe I mean pitch, not timbre. I think these side effects are negligible. What you do loose in plucking harder is bottom end. I googled around trying to find the difference in frequencies between plucking hard and soft and couldn't find anything to post. This isn't a bad thing, just another color for the palate. In the course of a single song, I'll move from finger plucking kinda hard near the bridge (my modus operandi) to softly plucking near the neck joint to achieve different tones. (tangent: I've gotten several compliments from observant folks in the audience about this)
 
#100
Spectrum said:
Maybe I'm wrong, but listening to several Iron Maiden songs, I swear I am hear Steve Harris's strings hitting his frets, which adds to the metal sound he is going for. It sounds like he plays very aggressively, or maybe just has low action or both. Am I hearing it wrong?

Listen to Powerslave, for instance: YouTube - ‪iron Maiden - Powerslave‬‏
Click to expand...

Getting that strings hitting the frets hard sound with low action and a lighter touch is actually pretty easy. The hard part is dialing back and not getting that sound with that setup while still playing aggressively.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rock Salad

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back