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Concentrating on tone rather than playing...

#41
First off thank you all for the advice i very much appreciate it all, its given me a few things to think about :)

I think my problem at the moment is that ive recently just stopped doing the cover band thing (trying to make a half decent living off it but ive been doing it really to meet some great people and other musicians) since ive been doing it pretty much from when i first started to learn bass 4/5 years ago and ive loved it :) but the past 18 months the rest of the band (who are very talented musicians) started to become very unproactive in terms of practicing as a band and learning new songs (we have been gigging the same set list for almost 18 months...theres only so much a guy can take playing sultans of swing for 18 months :P). Unfortunately i think this may have crept into (what was my) usual practice routine and it kinda felt useless trying to pick up on anything new to help me progress as a bass player and musician. Im determined not to let it get the better of me and looking back into getting back into what i wanna do and hopefully it will show in my originals band. I tend to put alot of pressure on myself to try and make up for it in a short period of time...i guess i should chill out and takes things nice n easy :)
 
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#42
I think you need a bit of both- but if I had to pick one- Yeah CHops and playing 100%. But to me having a good tone only makes my playing stand out more.
Personally I am currently through on the GAS bass front- I might have 1 or 2 pedals I am looking into, but my actual bass tone quest is over for a couple of years.
(might try a different bass head but am real happy with GK MB200 for everything so far).
As for playing interesting music- my band does WHEN it can get a gig. There just isn't much market for it unfortunately. We do DEEP power trio covers, like Cream, Grand Funk and Rush- but we do not get many gigs, because as you could guess NOBODY dances to it.
I do have monster classic rock chops now and get a lot of compliments WHEN we have a gig. But that is the key , we are lucky to have 10 gigs a year.
 
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#43
G-MonRV5 said:

I'm not a big Pattituci fan (does he EVER play below the 7th fret?), but I have to assume that he was referring to technique, not tweaking endlessly with knobs on an amp.
Click to expand...

I think your assumption is right - he very likely was talking mostly about physically producing the tone with you instrument.

And yes, he does play a lot below the 7th fret... I've even heard stories told of him playing the open E string! ;) But kidding aside - even though he is very famous for his 6-string soloing, most of the time he is doing what every bassist does - accompanying other players.
 
#44
I'm not saying technique and prep aren't important. They definately are. I just find it too distracting when I'm playing and trying to hit runs, stay in time, etc., and my brain chimes in and says, "what's up with the highs? Is that too much treble?...not enough mids?", to not try to tweak it when the tunes over. All of us, imo, SHOULD be striving for the best tone possible. Sitting there playing the same five notes over and over for days, while tweaking the same knob on a pedal that's #8 in the chain isn't a good idea, either. I try not to break the balance between tone and technique.
 
#46
I think that a workable tone is important but beyond that it is useless. Most album that I listen to process so much the sound with various compressor, EQ and whatnot that the orginal bass tone and the one recorded on your CD is so different it has nothing in common so yeah ... Live it is also an undefined mess that you feel more than you hear ... and it seems few bass player have a say in the way they sound, they are buried Under and barely audible most of the time.

Also i think that as you grow as a musician, your tone will change, you will buy different stuff that will cater to your interest of the time, your amp will color your tone differently etc so yeah ...
 
#52
being a piano player first ( started in 1963 ) chasing the 'holy grail ' of piano sounds has been a life long costly pain in the butt ... then you have to find your price point for that magic tone ... it has many moving parts to it .. but , ... I would think we would be practicing/learning while we're searching for that better tone ... !! and it seems those efforts lean one way or the other from time to time , which seems fairly normal ... unless you get kinda OCD about it .. ! play , ... be happy , ... have fun with it .. !! that will shine thru ..
 
#54
I think obsessing, yes I said obsessing, over your tone is quite normal. No, not to the point that you think of nothing else. That is probably a sign of boredom in what you are playing. But, I can remember at least 3 times during my 40 years of playing where I obsessed over tone for a while. I remember the early 80's where there was just so many new amps and speaker cabs. It seemed like that to me. I spent so much time listening to other bassists and asking or just trying to copy their tone. When I started playing blues I had to go through the damn tone thing again. Tube amps, flat-wound strings, etc. I was playing with 2 guitarists who loved that tube tone and I had to keep up with those screaming amps. Overall I think concentrating on tone has made me a better player. Worrying about tone has helped me to use better techniques in playing, whether I am using my fingers, pick or slapping. I have learned to play softer on my strings and let my amp do the work. I also think that focusing on my tone has helped me to learn to mix with the rest of the band and that helps with finding a groove.
 
#56
I very rarely, like almost never get to practice plugged in, let alone with my actual live rig. (i have a one year old at home and practice when he's alseep). I've found myself practicing more on my sound recently, though. Of course I mean my sound coming from my hands and the string itself, as I'm not playing through amps.

I've also gotten more compliments on my tone at gigs lately. Now I'm very proud of my rig and what I can pull out of it, but I know that my hands are what's causing the praise.

Back to the topic...
Searching for your best tone possible is VERY important. Sometimes it's the only aspect of your playing that an audience will notice (especially if your gig has you playing a very simple part at the moment). But within all the electronic options there's no substitute for unplugging and figuring out how to make every note sound good with your hands.
 
#57
I heartily disagree that we can get "the magic tone" on any bass we play just by the way we use our fingers.

Bull-twaddle.

Basses vary in tone by the way they are built and the components they use. Ditto for amps....

Ditto if you're using headphones or mixer boards with the bass plugged in....

I do not like playing amps that don't sound good.........(or basses)....and if they do sound bad I will not play them at all or I will play them less.

Some of these, no amount of tweaking will produce the desired result.

And many songs call for a certain tone.......

Marrying the right bass to the right amp is a science .........I'm always looking at bass gear but it doesn't dominate my life or playing.......
 
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#58
I constantly obsess over my tone. I have been obsessing over my tone for 30 years. Tone is what attracts me to bass, and that's how I approach both listening and playing. Choice of instrument, strings, amp, speakers, how I pull and release the string, muting technique, where I type of pick, eq settings, effects, length and attack of each note, ... All of it comes into play. I need to be inspired by the sound of the notes, or my playing suffers.

But I rarely (any more) work on my tone separately from my practice. I run though arpeggios, scales, walking, transcription, reading, etc., always trying to get a good tone all over the full range of the instrument, with clean attack, no fret buzz, good articulation on note beginnings and endings, clean position shifts, no inadvertent clanking, and so on.

That's also how I hear other players. The first thing that attracts or repulses my ear is their tone. Jaco, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Miles Davis, for me it all starts with their "sound", which is of course a combination of timbre and technique. On the other hand, I can't stand listening to Alain Caron because in spite of his amazing playing I can't stand his tone.
 
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#60
I'll ammend my previous post to say that technique and gear both matter and contribute a ton, without one the other won't make you sound good.

However it's much more productive from a practicing standpoint to try and turn the obsession more towards the technical tone production, and think of gear as secondary. Otherwise instead of practicing, you're just GASing or worse.. spending too much money.

My oppinion, etc
 

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