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country bass question

#42
stflbn said:
Here around Nashville you see many may 5-strings. Musicman, Laklands, many Sadowskys with major acts or recording players as well as other custom Fender on steroids type basses, then your expected fenders as well as other models. It's pretty mixed.

Here's what I'm playing for my current chick driven country cover band, and the response has been resoundingly positive, both visually and regarding it's tone. It can 'do' vintage with the front pickup and in passive mode, but in active mode it's far from a vintage instrument.

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Although I think you have siad some valid things here, I believe the real intent of your post was to show off that bass. And I for one am glad you did. I'd play that thing in a metal, country, blues, punk whatever band.
 
#43
5string5fingers said:
Complete BS!! You should put them in their place,and buy a 5 string precision. The "Techs" at guitar center are morons,and so was the guy leading the band. As said many times on this forum,any bass can work with just about any genre.
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Exactly, I use a Fender MIA Delux J 5 string and a Spector EuroLX5. Keith Horne, bassist for Luke Bryan, uses a 6 string Warrior, Tully Kennedy bass for Jason Aldean uses a Fender J, Mike from Phil Vassar uses a Lakland Skyline 4 string. and **** Jerry flowers bass for Keith Urban ,uses Gibson T-birds and plays with a pick. In other words don't listen to those morons at GC, get what you like.
 
#45
I've been playing country for years and been asked specifically to bring a 5 string to certain situations. Meanwhile, I realize that I like to work, and also have a precision that I own/use/frequent.
For live work, my singer and band prefer that I use an active 5-string which I string with flats. For studio work, I always show up with a precision (also strung with flats.) Recently I brought the 5 string to cut some tracks and realized pretty quickly that the producer and engineer weren't getting great tones, so out came the precision for the majority of the session.
So my conclusion? Be flexible, if it's a band or singer you like, give 'em what they want. If not, move on and let them find what they want. You'll both be much happier.
 
#46
Answer: 5 string Fender P bass.

Actually, I just joined a country band, guess you'd call it leaning toward top 40, but we play some Cash, Keith Whitley, Alabama, Marshal not Tanya Tucker. I had been taking a 4 string to practice. Last two months of practice I learned it's all 5 string, all the time. There are just too many songs where you're on the low B string. Seems mostly D's, so a drop D tuner would work, but Keith Urban stuff, Toby Keith stuff, the guy is on the low B a lot. So why fight it. My Lakland 55-01 and now 55-02 work nicely. On the Country awards shows, I see a lot of SR5's. My Dargie SR5 works well for my new country band, too.
 
#47
Nowadays it seem like there is a lot of variety of basses in country music. A lot of 5s and 4s. In the last few years I've open for a good number of well known country artists and almost none of the bass players used a 4 string and many of them used 5s. Of the Fenders I did see, most of them were J-basses. Surprisingly the Gibson Thunder Bird seem to be pretty popular, especially in the more modern stuff.
 
#48
Tully Kennedy of Jason Aldean plays a Sadowsky 5 string P/J USA model exclusively, its Olympic White with tort guard and rosewood fingerboard, with the original Duncan Sadowsky pickups, and he uses Dean Markley Blue Steel 45-128 ML strings, and Aguilar amplification, consisting of 2 DB412 and 2 DB115 cabs, 2 DB750 amps, and an Aguilar DB900 D.I.
Jerry Flowers is one of several players here playing the Thunderbird bass. Jerry's has been heavily modified to include a Precision pickup in the neck position, ironically. The Thunderbird is a great sounding bass, and a great option to the Precision or Jazz bass. Not to mention the great look and powerful feel of the Thunderbird. BTW, as I mentioned earlier, Im playing the Mike Lull T-Bass, which IMHO is the holy grail of Thunderbirds because of tone, playability, and precision, along with fine attention to detail.
Anything is truly accepted these days, you can play a flying-V, or Explorer, or Steinberger, doesnt matter. What does matter is tone, and your ability to stay out of the way of the vocal. That's it, really.
 
#50
theaterbass29 said:
Tully Kennedy of Jason Aldean plays a Sadowsky 5 string P/J USA model exclusively, its Olympic White with tort guard and rosewood fingerboard, with the original Duncan Sadowsky pickups, and he uses Dean Markley Blue Steel 45-128 ML strings, and Aguilar amplification, consisting of 2 DB412 and 2 DB115 cabs, 2 DB750 amps, and an Aguilar DB900 D.I.
QUOTE]

Oops! I thought Tully used Fenders. But doesn't he use 4 DB412's on top on 4 DB115's? 2 on each side of the drummer?
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#51
I've been playing country music for a few years now, and I do everything on a 4 string. However, we do alot of classic and pre-1990 country and not to much new stuff, so that could be part of it.

If your bandleader is dead-set on the "classic" Country look, then you're not likely to change his mind. You can try, but it may be a matter of adding a p-bass to your stable or getting a new gig. On the plus side, a regular p-bass nut is about as wide as many 5 strings.

If you can get away with a 5 string precision, that would be ideal, but there again you have to buy a new bass.
 
#52
I use a '08 MIA Standard Jazz Bass V for just about everything that I do which includes a country band and a Red Dirt band. I like the tone of the V more than my others for these gigs.

In a rockabilly gig that I do I used my 4-string p-bass for several reasons: 1-It sounds right 2-The songs don't require anything below E 3-It looks the part . Part of this gig is the visual impact of an old pearlized Ludwig drum kit, a custom built '51 tele guitar copy and my p-bass with a '62 color scheme and pickup cover. We do however use amps that don't fit the visual but most people don't notice that.

I say use what works for you and be done with it.

l_84dc4bcf291b45b990b84a73a8343266.png


This is a picture from the country band and with the pickup cover removed. Strung with D'Addario flats BTW.
 
#53
theaterbass29 said:
I forgot to mention why country bass players favor the Precision. Because the tone is less complex, coming from one pickup, instead of two like the Jazz bass. Also, the tone is loaded with rich midrange, just enough bassy bottom, and the highs can be attenuated as needed, but usually rolled off about 50%. The allows the bass player to stay out of the way of the vocal and the lead instruments and puts the emphasis on the bass' role as a rhythm time-keeper with the drums, more specifically the kick drum. Take the swing rhythm which uses the four-on the floor bass drum pattern, the bassist then follows with a walking bass line that plays every note with the kick. Or the half-time, 2 beat traditional country feel where the bass and kick drum are in on the "one" and off on the "two", in on the "three" and off on the "four" leaving room for the snare or side stick to be heard without an increase in volume. The Fender Precision is easy to get a sound out of, without complex onboard electronics, or the dreaded Midrange EQ which can make a bass sound great by itself, but when you are trying to mix with a full band, once you have added or taken away midrange, it can be very difficult to fix in a mix, and often another player is required to come in and do your part over, with a Precision. Best thing to do, is to decide do you want to be a clinician and play solo like Victor Wooten, or do you want to be the anchor of a great band, like Cliff Williams from AC/DC or one of my favorites, Tully Kennedy from Jason Aldean's band, who helped me understand alot of what I was missing out on. In today's high-tech world, and Bass Player Magazines, NAMM shows, and the internet, we see all the great new gadgets, and we get "GAS" and then we read articles about our favorite players (most of which are highly distorted as to what they "really" use). It all comes back to the music, can you be responsible and serve the music with what it needs, and not what you WANT it to have. When you play, do your band mates smile because what your playing feels good and fits the song, or do you find they are constantly bitter, or trying to give you advice, or even worse, talking about you behind your back. Bottom line, get a Precision bass, a good amp, a clean cable, and prepare to work.
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After reading this, I had one of those "oh yeah" kinda moments when you just get something LOL. Since Aldean hit the scene, I've thought damn that's some great bass tone and playing! Just never gets old listening to him play.
 
#54
Tully's stage right DB412's and DB115's are just for looks and are never on, though they are fully functioning cabs and not dummies. Trust me, I have 2 DB412's myself, and you would NEVER need anything more than that, much less the 2 DB115's. Here lately, he has been mic'ing the DB115 cabs, though last year, he was mic'ing the 12's. He combines that with the DB900 D.I. at the FOH. His only effects are a Dunlop Bass Crybaby, and a Boss Chorus pedal, no compression on his end. Tully is one of my favorite players and it was a treat to be on the CMT tour last year with him and the Aldean band. However, Aldean's lastest record, "Wide Open" is the only album that features Tully on bass, but he should've been on 'em all. And the new DVD that is out is a great way to listen in on Tully's tone and technique. This DVD would be a great lesson in Arena Country Rock Bass. In Tully's words, "I play footballs".
 
#57
ransombass said:
I use a '08 MIA Standard Jazz Bass V for just about everything that I do which includes a country band and a Red Dirt band. I like the tone of the V more than my others for these gigs.

In a rockabilly gig that I do I used my 4-string p-bass for several reasons: 1-It sounds right 2-The songs don't require anything below E 3-It looks the part . Part of this gig is the visual impact of an old pearlized Ludwig drum kit, a custom built '51 tele guitar copy and my p-bass with a '62 color scheme and pickup cover. We do however use amps that don't fit the visual but most people don't notice that.

I say use what works for you and be done with it.

l_84dc4bcf291b45b990b84a73a8343266.png


This is a picture from the country band and with the pickup cover removed. Strung with D'Addario flats BTW.
Click to expand...
looks like a j-width neck on that puppy!
 

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