Does your bass play awful??

[wmhill]

Like the title states - does yours? If so, why? I've recently played some other folks basses that are darn near unplayable to me. And these belong to experienced & competent players, not noobs. Tall action coupled with wide ball bat sized necks, made it hard to play even just a few songs on them, and even then i had to "dumb" down my playing just to get through the songs. I play all night on my basses and never get that kind of fatigue, and I don't setup my basses as low as they will go. These are 34" scale basses with regular gauged strings (45-100 rounds). There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious.

 

[2saddleslab]

No, I play awful. My basses play great.

 

[pcake]

my basses play great - nice low action, good strings for me, and they were chosen because the necks were nice and comfy.

if the players whose basses you played are experienced, they must like, need or want high action. as far as baseball bat necks, that's a personal preference and not unplayable to those who play 'em. i play thin bass necks but big fat acoustic guitar necks.

 

[Michael B]

Good reason to learn basic setup. And not to settle on a bass that isn't right to begin with.

 

[pacojas]

lol,.. one of the best bassist i know has a bass that's too hard for me to play.

 

[Winfred]

Like the title states - does yours? If so, why? I've recently played some other folks basses that are darn near unplayable to me. And these belong to experienced & competent players, not noobs. Tall action coupled with wide ball bat sized necks, made it hard to play even just a few songs on them, and even then i had to "dumb" down my playing just to get through the songs. I play all night on my basses and never get that kind of fatigue, and I don't setup my basses as low as they will go. These are 34" scale basses with regular gauged strings (45-100 rounds). There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious.

One man's garbage is another man's gold.

 

[shawshank72]

I can relate some.
My buddy plays in a cover band that we share space with my originals band.
He has lots of spending money and buys the expensive basses and i play inexpensive basses.
Hes always offering to let me play them which i want to, but the way he sets up his basses is god awful to me but seems to be great for him.
To answer the question, my basses play great.
Low action with heavy flats and a heavy pick.
If i dig in i get some buzz for colour, and if i play normal its nice and clean.

 

[jazz Bass 74]

Set up is really an individual issue. Some players love high action, others hate it. Some love the lowest action possible, while others can't stand it.

It reminds me of the description of James Jamerson's bass in "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" which states, "Musicians who had the chance to try out his bass usually found it to be almost unplayable, but for James it was fine because of his unusual hand strength."

 

[elgecko]

Probably to others...I like high action and high tension/heavy gauge strings.

 

[friendlybass]

No.

 

[TMARK]

No.

 

[40Hz]

I tend to set up my basses such that they deliver what I consider is the best tone they have to offer. Some have higher action, some have lower. I adjust my technique to the instrument because I don't really have any strong preferences for neck width, radius, profile, string action, or all those other things that matter to many people. If it sounds really good and it's playable, I'm in. I will try to make it as comfortable to play as possible. But if it's a toss up between comfortable action or overall better sound, sound wins out every time for me.

Dunno. I guess I'm just easy to please.

 

[Marko 1]

I adjust my action pretty damn low, then adjust the pickups to sound right/balanced. I use hex-core rounds for a bit more stiffness.

I don't exactly play with a soft touch, (some songs harder than others), but if I get a little extra noise I don't care.

 

[hintz]

I prefer beefy "baseball bat" type necks and i *used* to like higher action as i never wanted fret buzz, I also used to play *alot* of upright.

To this day I still prefer Precision style necks but love lower/medium action, low enough to get that slappy tone if I dig in over the front pickup but cleans up over the bridge pup!! I dont mind a little fret buzz nowadays either

 

[InhumanResource]

I used really high action on my Fender for years, and other guys would tell me they couldn't play it. It had that great "THWOOM" sound to every pluck. Only in the past few years did I drop the action down and go for a crunchier sound...but the play itself is much easier! So, I guess I used to?

 

[petrus61]

Hell no...though like others have mentioned I've also played some really great players axes that were set up like garbage by any standard but theirs. There are just guys that don't really obsess over it because either they don't really know any different and that's the way they've always done it or they just don't care. I've noticed quite a few upright players I know tend to keep their setups at what I'd call unplayable, but that's understandable.

 

[JimmyM]

None of my basses are hard to play. I am too old to work that hard anymore. Low action and light strings for me. But I know people who love basses with high action and heavy strings and they sound great, so I can't throw stones.

 

[bikeplate]

All mine are amazing. Work on them.

 

[avvie]

I drop my action down low and then raise it just enough to avoid fret buzz. Some sets I dig in aggressively; others I barely tickle the strings and let the amp do all the work.

 

[Salicete]

Was the bass setup awful, or just not to your liking?

Everyone has different tastes with regard to setup, and neck size fixed, so either you can work with it or not.

I do not mean this as a insult, but significant degradation of one's ability to play from bass to bass is more likely a reflection of skill level as opposed to a setup issue, unless you are 4 string player on a 6 stringer for the first time, or some such issue.

As I have said before, either you can play or you can't. The good news is that anybody can improve as much as they want to; it is only limited by how hard one is willing to work at it.