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Ever use a "warm-up" bass?

G

gmstudio99

Mar 11, 2000
994
6
Cleveland, OH
#1
Over the last few months, I've found myself using my Sting Signature bass as a "warm-up" bass...I play a lot of pit and cabaret shows w/ charts, so I've been doing all my reading and practicing on the Sting at home. Then, right before rehearsals I'll switch over to my Jazz or Jazz 24 and suddenly I'm faster and cleaner. Suddenly I'm flying all over the fingerboard.

It's like that big chunky neck on the Sting acts like a weighted bat on the on-deck circle, and then when I step up to the plate with my "lighter, skinnier" Jazz, it feels like I'm swinging for the fence.
(Lame baseball analogy.)

Anyone else do this?
 
#3
Yeah, I've done this a couple of times, and used my DiPinto semi-hollow to warm up, and then hit the stage with a Fender. The DiPinto has great playability, but the Fenders are a little easier. When I played "lead" guitar, I frequently practiced on my acoustic to make my electric even easier to play, and if I ever play guitar in a band again, I'll take the same approach.
 
#6
No, I warm up & practice on the same bass with which I plan to perform/record. Sort-of a simulation thing - getting conditions as close to go-time as possible so there are no surprises. Practice makes perfect, so if I want to be perfect on my MTD, I practice on my MTD. Nuances are too important to pick up on-the-fly, IMO. YMMV.
 
#8
gmstudio99 said:
Over the last few months, I've found myself using my Sting Signature bass as a "warm-up" bass...I play a lot of pit and cabaret shows w/ charts, so I've been doing all my reading and practicing on the Sting at home. Then, right before rehearsals I'll switch over to my Jazz or Jazz 24 and suddenly I'm faster and cleaner. Suddenly I'm flying all over the fingerboard.

It's like that big chunky neck on the Sting acts like a weighted bat on the on-deck circle, and then when I step up to the plate with my "lighter, skinnier" Jazz, it feels like I'm swinging for the fence.
(Lame baseball analogy.)

Anyone else do this?
Click to expand...


Not anymore, but many many years ago (i.e., ~23) when my only basses were a Steinberger L-2 and a Fender Elite Precision II, I would shed on the Fender -- which had a wide flat fingerboard with a ridiculously wide string spacing, like >20mm -- and then gig on the Steinberger, which had a much narrower neck & string spacing. Results were similar to yours; it definitely seemed like most stuff was easier to play once I picked up the 'berger.

...operative word there being "most". Unfortunately this was 1985 and I was playing in some trendy techno-funk-pop bands, replete with funny haircuts & flourescent GQ sport coats, and so a lot of wappity-wappity slap bass was de rigueur...the wide spacing of the Fender lent itself to that sort of spanky-wank playing, and so I started using that as my main bass. That was the last time I bothered with a "warm up" instrument.

And fwiw, I think your baseball analogy is dead on!
 
#9
Are you quite sure you are going far enough with handicapping your self before getting used to playing your pride and joy again?.
What about adding lead weights to various parts of your anatomy
or better still rehearsing your set while inverted like the bass player of "earth wind and fire" You American chaps are so amusing! but I don't think some of you are really going that extra mile for your art these days.
Others have to suffer for it, so I think its only fair doo's that you do quite a bit of suffering too.
Slipping a copy of the good book under the bridge of an upright bass
while restringing it will give you a left hand grip of a gorilla and this penance will no doubt speed your passing into the kingdom of heaven.
May your Lire be on ultra lite's.
Far too much sack cloth and ashes for me mate! I like playing good bass guitars.
Regards Fairfax
:hiding:
 
#14
I used to do this (and used the baseball analogy too) a long time ago when I had only two basses. I used to teach myself songs on a big fat Epiphone acoustic and then after I'd learned it, switch over to the Soundgear and be pretty impressed with my skills.

I don't find myself doing it anymore. Probably because I no longer have two basses with such different qualities.
 
#16
Generally in a full band setting I play the bass I plan to play at the show we're practicing for, usually my Marcus Miller IV. IMHO, the last thing I want to do is make myself unfamiliar with the tools I'm going to be using in front of a crowd and potentially jeopardize the sound of the band as a whole.

At home on my own time, however, I play pretty much exclusively on my Warwick Corvette fretless, mostly to work on my ears and my intonation.

...And, well, 'cause it's really fun. :D
 
#17
I always warm up on my yamaha attitude bass, which has a huge neck before a show and I pretty much shed on it unless I'm writing.When I get on my jazz or Zon sonus it just feels effortless.The big neck definitely builds indurance and speed.If I can play something evenly and cleanly on the Attitude,playing the other bases is a walk in the park
 

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