C# is every producers secret weapon......

[Pings Bass]

Any key i in a singer's range is fine. The only way it makes any difference is if you've got amateurs in the band who can't read or transpose on the fly. We're all playing 12-key instruments, right?

 

[Peteyboy]

I think such keys are fun. I actually prefer fretting as many notes as possible and usually only play open strings if necessary for a long sustain, chord, or complicated run.

"You've gotta have a damn good reason to play an open string on a bass." - Phil Lesh

 

[JimmyO]

"You've gotta have a damn good reason to play an open string on a bass." - Phil Lesh

First time me and that hippie agreed on anything.

 

[sheesh]

when you're in a cover band and the band wants to play Jenny and you have to explain C# bridge to the guitar players

 

[Peteyboy]

First time me and that hippie agreed on anything.

Me too, but I think that's part of why this statement has stuck with me.

 

[tom-g]

Just down tune a half step. It‘s been done all the time. Nothing unusual.

 

[soulstew]

Regardless of major or minor. Just a little bluesier than C for pop without the more cliche D blues sound.

Am I wrong about this or no??

You are three days early with this post.

 

[devnulljp]

I think in modern music the key only matters in so far as it has to match the singer's voice.

That's what autotune is for

 

[JazznFunk]

Any key i in a singer's range is fine. The only way it makes any difference is if you've got amateurs in the band who can't read or transpose on the fly. We're all playing 12-key instruments, right?

That all goes out the window if the singer moves through three different keys before you even get to the bridge. Being able to transpose for common material is a requirement for sure, but a prepared singer will have their charts in their key, especially if it's not a tune that is commonly called at a session.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

"You've gotta have a damn good reason to play an open string on a bass." - Phil Lesh

Phil didn't play upright, for sure.

I wouldn't disagree too much for EB, though.

 

[logdrum]

I like C#. When I lived in India and had a chance to play with local musicians and learned "Raga" - usually Sa or the root note is tuned to C# more or less. But I was told it can shift as well. When I bought an Indian violin, they tuned it a step lower Gb Db Ab Eb by default. I also bought a Sitar before I went back and the drone notes were tuned to C# - sadly I sold them.

Having said that the musicians there can also play other keys and of course were very good. The tuned the tabla to the "key" of the song but we do that here too in some recordings where you tuned the bass drum to the key - some producers like to do that.

I did remember the Sitar sounded best when tuned to C# .

I recently got a fretless nylon guitar that I tuned down to Eb but but then do a drop D which equates to C#. There's something about that pitch that resonates with me. Yeah you can say that is some new age caca.

 

[Low Main]

There are tunes on early Taj Mahal albums that are up a half step because he pushed in the slide button on one of his chromatic harps and kept it there.

That made things more horn friendly for all the tubas, etc. on his live album The Real Thing.

I think "You Ain't No Street Walker Mama..." is in Db, but I'd have to go back and check to make sure.

 

[Low Main]

One reason that I've stayed with EB over upright bass is that I like to play in keys like B and F#.

I spent a day with a great upright player and happened to mention playing in B and he grimaced and said: "It's not pretty".

 

[logdrum]

One reason that I've stayed with EB over upright bass is that I like to play in keys like B and F#.

I spent a day with a great upright player and happened to mention playing in B and he grimaced and said: "It's not pretty".

Most upright players who play jazz have to play in "not easy" keys on the upright like Bb or F or Eb. I don't see why B or F# is harder - If they are minor a lot of open strings for pitch correction. I love B on my upright. Most resonant key and note IMO for this bass. I suppose the physicality of the upright it is hard unless you just play open strings, but with the right string, amplification and setup, it is not that much hard after getting used to it and you are not bowing it.

 

[darwin-bass]

I prefer it over C and C++ but I sort of miss Ada.

 

[aprod]

What nonsense is this? Troll?

 

[hondo4life]

I hope that’s not the brown note. But only if you have perfect pitch.

 

[Pings Bass]

That all goes out the window if the singer moves through three different keys before you even get to the bridge. Being able to transpose for common material is a requirement for sure, but a prepared singer will have their charts in their key, especially if it's not a tune that is commonly called at a session.

Yeah like I said

The only way it makes any difference is if you've got amateurs in the band

And yeah, everybody should always bring charts but nobody ever does, lol

 

[J Wilson]

They do it to torture piano players. If you're on an acoustic piano instead of a digital keyboard with the chicken-out TRANSPOSE button . . . . it's gonna be a handful, FIVE black keys in the major scale, C-sharp, D-sharp, and F, G, and A-sharp, the five you see here, with only two white keys. Ball buster.

 

[Camarillo]

C# is just a D tuned a half step down