Common misconceptions in bass....

[Brad Johnson]

So people are listing their misconceptions? Great idea for a thread.

 

[joebar]

The washers must be for when he wants a nice clean sound and the dryers for when he wants to bring the heat.

maybe it was Geddy's way of saying gear isn't really important and was mocking a backline of traditional 'fridges'

 

[derridiandrift]

I like what I like, and I happen to think that what I like sounds fantastic. I also like the fact that other guys like what they like and can make what they like sound fantastic too. I really don't like when some dude likes what he sees and thinks that what he sees will make him sound fantastic.

I also like rotisserie chicken, but for the taste, not for the way it looks.

 

[Engine207]

I was reading a BP magazine, the article about studio legends, and they asked M'Shell NDegeocello about her favorite studio gear, and her response was something like "not to sound arrogant, but my hands"

Interestingly, in my profile, I note that I use "absolutely no effects...just fingers"

This is not to say that my fingers can create flange, chorus, or delay...only that if I started getting into effects, I'll tweak for hours without playing a single tune.

Sometimes I think people misinterpret what they read because there are no non-verbal elements of communication intended by the original speaker/writer.

 

[Paul M]

I was reading a BP magazine, the article about studio legends, and they asked M'Shell NDegeocello about her favorite studio gear, and her response was something like "not to sound arrogant, but my hands"

My only thought was, yep, that DOES sound arrogant. The other 20 or 30 studio legends had no problems talking about their favorite basses, or amps, or effects. I guess she is just special.
(nothing against her otherwise, IMHO, yadda, yadda, yadda)

Exactly. She and others of her opinion are just better than the rest of us. Music only flows through their specially enlightened spirits. It comes from beyond etc.

Like they didn't spend years learning their craft and thousands of dollars on their equipment, too.

 

[spade2you]

So people are listing their misconceptions? Great idea for a thread.

Isn't that most threads? I mean, Brubakers are just another Bartolini bass.

 

[selowitch]

+1

In my mind there is only one true Jazz and that's a Fender Jazz. You might have a j-style but unless it was made by Fender and it says Fender Jazz Bass on the headstock it isn't a Jazz.

What about a Squier? I don't have a problem with calling something a Jazz-style bass as long as that qualifier is in there. Does my MIM Fender Jazz count?

 

[mike_v_s]

Jeez. People read WAY too much into the tone/hands thing. Lighten up, guys. She didn't say any of you suck. A lot of tone shaping can come from the way you physically approach an instrument. Apparently, in a studio situation, she finds that fact invaluable enough to mention in an interview. Now let's all trounce her for being arrogant.

Mike

 

[Beej]

As someone whose played Fenders for longer than half of TB has been alive, I have to say I truly believe Fenders are overpriced crap, and pretty much always were. I still love them though...

 

[GlennW]

Overpriced crap sounds better than underpriced crap.

 

[DerHoggz]

The washers must be for when he wants a nice clean sound and the dryers for when he wants to bring the heat.

I saw an interview where he says the dryers were to give him a crisp, dry sound.

 

[engedi1]

maybe it was Geddy's way of saying gear isn't really important and was mocking a backline of traditional 'fridges'

From what I have read over the years, Geddy does care about gear, what he doesn't believe in is stage amplifiers when he is playing an arena. He doesn't want to have a huge wall of speakers just to look like rock n roll.

 

[Bass Viking]

My blanket statement pet peeve:

"Everyone needs a Fender"

 

[spade2you]

Overpriced crap sounds better than underpriced crap.

Overpriced crap never sits in the mix like underpriced crap.

 

[sleepytime]

Well, it must have been a long time since you've seen him live. Ged no longer uses laundry equipment for his awesome bass sound.

Behold his Henhouse 6-spit cabs:

Yo, I'm on a diet, here.

:scowl: :scowl: :scowl:

 

[bobalu]

I like the stuff about breathing...like a 1 3/4" thick board will sound muddy with one finish, but be the bee's knees if it's covered with nitro.

I love that one too, always kills me to hear that! It's like saying a candy apple red sounds much darker than a sonic blue.............

 

[blowabs]

Sometimes I think people misinterpret what they read because there are no non-verbal elements of communication intended by the original speaker/writer.

+1.

 

[quigg]

My bass sounds better than everything else because it's made out of (insert material here). Highly subjective, pretty much all of this thread is highly subjective. Except for the finish thing, I don't believe that it changes the sound of the instrument, but I do know for certain that it changes the way that it plays (at least for me). For example, a finished neck plays faster and at certain times is more comfortable to ME, but unfinished necks make me feel somehow closer to my instrument, I don't know how to explain it any better.

 

[Munjibunga]

9. Bass is easier to play than guitar.

It is.

 

[LaklandBass]

I think tone in the fingers thing is not understood.
If you practice different techniques and approaches you can get a ton of sounds from one bass.
However.................. if you use these same techniques on a different bass.... they WILL sound different.
You simply cannot "finger" some Roscoe tone out of a P bass.