Extended Range Basses (Bassists)

[j-raj]

I'm gonna side track for a quick second....

I guess I might as well as this here (and maybe in [BG] Technique), while there are some players of 7-11 strings on this thread.

How do you guys/gals dampen or mute the other strings with your right hand while playing? Has your right hand technique of muting some strings while playing others changed as y'all have increased the amt of strings on your basses?

 

[Stewmc5222]

... How do you guys/gals dampen or mute the other strings with your right hand while playing? Has your right hand technique of muting some strings while playing others changed as y'all have increased the amt of strings on your basses?

hey Jairaj,

man, not only have I had to modify/refine my muting techniques with both hands, but I'm still in the process with the new monster!

as Jean puts it, you need to use everything and anything at your disposal to make it all work. I'm using the requisite hair ties/ponytail holders (thank you Greg Campbell!), but I've also changed my left (fretting) hand to basically lay across the strings while my right (plucking/thumping/arpeggiating...) hand is in constant motion. while my fingers do what they do, I use my thumb, palm, wrist, and even my forearm to keep excess vibration to a minimum. as I play higher and higher on the neck, I shift my hand so that the meat of the thumb sits across anywhere from 3 to 5 strings. playing in the lower position and on the lower strings, muting is much easier!

hope that was some help, brother!

from the lows,

Stew

 

[mark beem]

I'm gonna side track for a quick second....

I guess I might as well as this here (and maybe in [BG] Technique), while there are some players of 7-11 strings on this thread.

How do you guys/gals dampen or mute the other strings with your right hand while playing? Has your right hand technique of muting some strings while playing others changed as y'all have increased the amt of strings on your basses?

I used those fluffy hair ties at one time, but now my technique has advanced to where I don't need them. It's a combination of left hand/right hand to mute the unplayed strings..

Edit: Yeah, what Stew said..

 

[Stewmc5222]

I used those fluffy hair ties at one time, but now my technique has advanced to where I don't need them. It's a combination of left hand/right hand to mute the unplayed strings..

I was at the point where I wasn't using the ties on the 8, but with the C# on my 10, I need 'em again!

from the lows,

Stew

 

[mark beem]

I was at the point where I wasn't using the ties on the 8, but with the C# on my 10, I need 'em again!

from the lows,

Stew

I can understand!!! Plus your new one has a wide spacing... What is it 18mm @ the bridge?? Yeah, that WOULD take some adjusting to!!

 

[Josh Curry]

I was at the point where I wasn't using the ties on the 8, but with the C# on my 10, I need 'em again!

from the lows,

Stew

As dumb as this may sound, what brand/kind of hair ties work the best without looking kinda silly? I think I remember seeing one guy with a bright pink one on a black bass once

 

[Atshen]

i believe extended is beyond 8 strings where the notes begin to get repeated but in flat or sharp form.

Uh? I don't get it. You already have three complete octaves on a 21-fret 4-string.

I'm using the requisite hair ties/ponytail holders

What if you suddenly need an open string?

 

[Rod B.]

Goody Ponytailers is what I see the most and I've been using. Greg Campbell said he tried countless different ones and felt those worked the best.

As dumb as this may sound, what brand/kind of hair ties work the best without looking kinda silly? I think I remember seeing one guy with a bright pink one on a black bass once

 

[Rod B.]

What if you suddenly need an open string?

Mine are not far enough forward that it effects the open note other than it's slightly more thump-y. The bass side is just in front of the nut and the treble side is angled back so the Goody is barely in front of the nut. (P.S. I use two ponytailers back to back.)

 

[Anti_Wish]

A 7-string bass has the full range of a Baroque harpsichord. A 6-string doesn't. Therefore, unless you want to have to transpose some notes when playing the Goldberg Variations on bass, you need a 7.

for example:
http://www.jsbach.net/bass/audio/Bach-Variation_No_1_in_G_Major.mp3

Additionally, some chords that were not playable on a 6-string are playable on a 7.

- Dave

wow...

 

[Funky Doctor]

I think it may have already been brought up, but does anyone else find the term "multi-string bass" just plain odd? I mean, my trusty 4 string is a multistring in that the number of strings it has satisfies the prefix "multi," meaning more than one... Just a thought. And by the way, I still think more than 4 strings classes a bass as extended range due to the fact that once upon a time the traditional thing to use was a 4 string bass... bass guitar that it. And I think that the deffinition of Jauquo's 4 string subcontra is debatable. It doesn't have anymore "range" than the plain old whatever 4 string that most bass players seem to have, but that range has just been shifted down a whole lot. My interpretation of range of a bass is the distance in pitch (better explanation anyone?) between the lowest note and the highest note on the bass. usually when I hear people talking about ranges of instruments (not very often mind you) I hear descriptions along the lines of "this 4 string 21 fret bass has a 3 octave range." I don't think it matters where the lowest note is, it is the difference between the highest and lowest notes that defines the range of an instrument. Having said that the 4 string subcontra "extends" into much lower octaves than regular 4 string basses. I don't know anymore. I have just confused myself. Think what you will.

 

[Gregory Bruce Campbell]

I self proclaim myself as a potential authority on this subject…

I feel that even 4 strings can be considered extended range…

I consider my 3 string BEE an extended range…

It depends on what you are doing with the instrument…

In my “opinion” if it goes lower than a LOW dropped “D” on the low “E” on a fender 4 string then that constitutes consideration of the fact that it “MIGHT” be an ERB.

If it goes higher than your 24th fret G on your high G on a 4 string… then it might be an ERB…

Man I feel like I sound like Jeff foxworthy while I am typing…

But then I might contradict myself because… just because you drop tune the daylights out of a 4 string doesn’t mean a thing…

I think the term ERB has a little bit to do with pride in what it is you are attempting to accomplish…

For instance I wish to be referred to as ERB, where as a guy playing in an ultra low tuned metal band could possibly care less…

I view guys like Michael Manring as the ultimate ERB and yet, he uses a 4 string… granted this 4 has many exceptions to tradition…

So in conclusion while I started out viewing the term ERB to define an instrument with excessive quantities of strings…

Now I use the term across the board to suggest that a person has extended the use of such an instrument beyond its average traditional role…

To me now ERB is more of a state of mind anymore than it is a quantity.

BUT, to try to answer your question more directly I have two points of view….

I feel that 6+ is most appropriate and this is because I began playing 6 string in 1994… it seemed to really offend many …

As people get used to the water temperature and begin accepting more strings… the bar falls… you might think that if it offends the masses then it is ERB…

One last funny note…

I got SLAMMED for quite some time with my first 9 in 2000…

When Adler recently built the first 11, I saw a post: “ok 9 makes sense, but 11 this is just stupid” was basically what the post had to say….

Ok, I have seriously rambled and strayed off point…

6+ is ERB in my book based what I understand that you are trying ask…

OK, I will shut up now!

 

[Josh Curry]

Cool, I'm an ERB player

But I don't put myself in the same category as Stew, Mark, or Gregory. You guys are L33T.

 

[Gregory Bruce Campbell]

I used those fluffy hair ties at one time, but now my technique has advanced to where I don't need them. It's a combination of left hand/right hand to mute the unplayed strings..

Edit: Yeah, what Stew said..

Mark, this is not at all pointed at you, and you know I love ya! but you said this here... and I just wanted to make a quick polite point...

I would suggest people taking caution in having such an elitist attitude towards the pony tail holder...

I love having them for certain tones muting certain ways, certain notes...

it's just another tool...

I do use this to mute, and I am just capable as the rest of you at muting very well with my 9 strings...

I find such a tool very valuable for my preferences and enjoyment in playing...

and lately I seem to hear many of my friends and peers indicating that it is a step that one should try to overcome...

using the pony tail holder is not like training wheels by any means!

Reggie wooten could probably chump the living daylights out of most of us...

and he has two on his guitar... he is why I tired using two and even three at a time...

he also owns the worlds fist 10 string single course bass from ERGO

he is not trying to mute ultra low in-audible sympathetic tones on a guitar...

instead he has one of the coolest cheapest effects wrapped around the neck of his guitar...

so to my own friends and peers who feel that they no longer need "training wheels" please reconsider your point of view and your way of getting it across...

I won’t name names



I think that pony tail holders provide some really great muffled tones like the use of a felt pick... or my mom once had an SG bass with a heavy retractable felt mute near the bridge... I was young so a I barely remember how it worked...

sorry for straying, I just wanted to get that out of my system!

 

[Stewmc5222]

... I feel that 6+ is most appropriate and this is because I began playing 6 string in 1994… it seemed to really offend many…

man, can you imagine what I went through in '88? and Stig started before me! A.J. must have gone through hell...

... I don't put myself in the same category as Stew, Mark, or Gregory. You guys are L33T.

thanks, man! that means more than you know!

from the blushing lows,

Stew

 

[mark beem]

Mark, this is not at all pointed at you, and you know I love ya! but you said this here... and I just wanted to make a quick polite point...

I would suggest people taking caution in having such an elitist attitude towards the pony tail holder...

I love having them for certain tones muting certain ways, certain notes...

it's just another tool...

I do use this to mute, and I am just capable as the rest of you at muting very well with my 9 strings...

I find such a tool very valuable for my preferences and enjoyment in playing...

and lately I seem to hear many of my friends and peers indicating that it is a step that one should try to overcome...

using the pony tail holder is not like training wheels by any means!

Reggie wooten could probably chump the living daylights out of most of us...

and he has two on his guitar... he is why I tired using two and even three at a time...

he also owns the worlds fist 10 string single course bass from ERGO

he is not trying to mute ultra low in-audible sympathetic tones on a guitar...

instead he has one of the coolest cheapest effects wrapped around the neck of his guitar...

so to my own friends and peers who feel that they no longer need "training wheels" please reconsider your point of view and your way of getting it across...

I won’t name names



I think that pony tail holders provide some really great muffled tones like the use of a felt pick... or my mom once had an SG bass with a heavy retractable felt mute near the bridge... I was young so a I barely remember how it worked...

sorry for straying, I just wanted to get that out of my system!

EEEEEEK!!

Nay nay!!!! Didn't mean to come across that way if that's how it was taken!!! My most ardent apologies if I made anyone feel bad...

Really, I consider myself nothing more than a hack with nice gear!!

 

[Stewmc5222]

... Really, I consider myself nothing more than a hack with nice gear!!

man, I've heard you play... I know better!

from the lows,

Stew

 

[Josh Curry]

I'm gonna grab a thought from the NAMM thread.....

I would have to agree that a 6, 7, 8+ strings forum would be a good idea. Too often I see posts from bass 'purists' or whatever they want to call themselves that are slamming the 'multi-string' or 'ERB' players. with garbage like "Jaco only needed 4, etc..." when it has absolutely nothing to do with the original topic of the thread.

Maybe if there was a seperate forum for threads about things that only really have to do with those of us who use 6 or more strings we would see less of it. I'm tired of having to wade through all the BS looking for actual useful information.

 

[chucko58]

4 string basses are not obsolete. Being a Precision bass player, i never found a 5 string with that funky sound.

I agree with this, even though I am most comfortable playing 5s. There's no substitute for the sound of a P.

A 7 string bass is a nice instrument, but IMHO you are getting away from what a bass is.

I don't agree with this. A 7 string has more capabilities than a 4 string, not less. You can still play (most) everything on a 7 that you could on a 4, but the converse is not true.

Billy Sheehan, Jaco, Jonas Hellborg, Mick Karn, (add you favorite) never needed more that 4 string to do magic.

True, they didn't. But I'm not Billy, Jaco, Jonas, or Mick. Or Michael Manring, either.

And BTW, you forgot Stuart Hamm.

While we're at it, how many strings did James Jamerson really need? 2?

Who gives a rat's rump anyway? Play whatever lets you express yourself.

 

[chucko58]

I would have to agree that a 6, 7, 8+ strings forum would be a good idea. Too often I see posts from bass 'purists' or whatever they want to call themselves that are slamming the 'multi-string' or 'ERB' players. with garbage like "Jaco only needed 4, etc..." when it has absolutely nothing to do with the original topic of the thread.

Maybe if there was a seperate forum for threads about things that only really have to do with those of us who use 6 or more strings we would see less of it.

Y'know, the DudePit has a "Four Bangers Forever" forum with a very active and vocal membership. Why shouldn't TB do something similar in addition to a "6 and up" forum?

And those of us with open minds and diverse collections can surf them all. It's all good.