Fretwraps: Cheating?

[bassrique]

LOL, and chew gum while standing on one leg? If you can sustain that sequence of playing position for even one recording session (shoot even one song 'way good enough') you are a rare quality of player and I would love to see a demonstration.

I have been playing that way since I purchased my first amplifier, or rather first heard myself amplified. I practiced for maybe 500 hours with no amp. I put my plucking hand thumb on the pickup. I thought I was good because I played Rush tunes. I went to a friends house to jam for the first time. I plugged into a Crate amp and was horrified and embarrassed, as there were hot chicks there.

Since then I have been a technique geek. I worked on the floating thumb technique before it had a name. I was determined to mute in two places. When I played disco octave tunes I used my middle backed up by my index and my pinky backed up by my ring as as to have it as clean as possible with no harmonic up uplift. I sold my Aria Pro and brought a 5er and pulled the frets out. The floating thumb really developed much more. I started to use my pinky to mute the g string and then I added the ring finger to the D string. I put in my "5,000 hours to become an expert" perfecting this technique. I played high to use my right forearm to mute. It's as easy as pie once the time is put in.

Fast forward to 2018 wherein I purchased my first 6 string. I made the adjustment and put in the time. If you learn the right way and not the *antiquated methods used by most you can have great flexibility. I also use electrical tape to fasten three glued together nickles on the back of my thumb for thumping/popping.

I am an original thinker and obsessive as well. Too bad I never took the time to sight read. I would gladly go back in time to take some of my anal technique practicing time and devote the traded hours to develop and strong reading ability.

When there is a will there is a way. "LOL" won't help in this regard.

*Perhaps inappropriate, but the old ways are so limiting even though I love the old masters.

PS I don't post vids or at least I have not so far but pics I can do. This might help describe what I am talking about to augment my words.

 

[Malcolm35]

...... I also use electrical tape to fasten three glued together nickles on the back of my thumb for thumping/popping.

Yes if there is a way some will find out how. Bottle neck, pocket knife, the list goes on...

 

[bassrique]

Yes if there is a way some will find out how. Bottle neck, pocket knife, the list goes on...

It doesn't have to be nickles, but they work for me as I need help playing Louis Johnson / Larry Graham with a smaller thumb. I take 6 or 7 nickels and use a box cutter to scratch up both sides so the glue will stick. I then take two pliers or one plier and a vice grip. I bend them appropriately. I take the best three and superglue/shoe glue/ Gorrilla glue (whatever is on hand) and glue them. I wait an hour, and then I use electrical tape. I am on a PC right now. I will edit with my phone after I take pics.

These are perhaps the worst pics i have ever taken, but you get the idea, no?

 

[Les Fret]

Haven’t read all comments. I think it is cheating if you don’t have your muting skills in order and use the wrap as a substitute for bad muting. I always advice to first get your muting to a level where you don’t need a fret wrap at all. So don’t use the fret wrap when you are a beginner. Especially on 5 or 6 string bass.

I have a few fret wraps but I hardly use them. Only when doing recordings of difficult tapping parts on my six string where there is no finger free for muting. So don’t rely on them and only use it for difficult specialized techniques.

I think a fret wrap can also limit your playing because you can’t really use open strings or harmonics anymore, at least not if you want them to ring fully. I think they were initially invented for guitar players that do a lot of tapping.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Haven’t read all comments. I think it is cheating if you don’t have your muting skills in order and use the wrap as a substitute for bad muting. I always advice to first get your muting to a level where you don’t need a fret wrap at all. So don’t use the fret wrap when you are a beginner. Especially on 5 or 6 string bass.

I have a few fret wraps but I hardly use them. Only when doing recordings of difficult tapping parts on my six string where there is no finger free for muting. So don’t rely on them and only use it for difficult specialized techniques.

I think a fret wrap can also limit your playing because you can’t really use open strings or harmonics anymore, at least not if you want them to ring fully. I think they were initially invented for guitar players that do a lot of tapping.

Bass players who do a lot of tapping.

 

[Les Fret]

Bass players who do a lot of tapping.

I think guitar players with string dampers where earlier. I don’t mean the Motown foam dampers. I have seen guitar players who do a lot of tapping use hair ties in the 90s already. Jennifer Batten was the first guitar player I saw using a hair tie. The fret wraps followed the hair tie thing. But I would like to know for sure if bass or guitar players were the first to use these things.

 

[sean_on_bass]

I've used a fret wrap esque thing on my guitar, mainly due to sympathetic vibrations on the instrument. For example, playing an A on the D string would make the open A string vibrate audibly. I think the only real issue they can cause is if you play alot using open notes and in the lower register of the instrument.

 

[Lagado]

I have a fret-wrap but I hardly use it. If I have to arch extensively over open strings or play something with both hands on the board then it may come in handy but I can't remember the last time I put it on a bass. Good for closed positions but not so much for the use of open strings obviously. It certainly takes some unwanted overtones out, but it's a matter of tradeoff basically.

 

[Raman]

I realize this is an old, dead thread, but I was just researching the same question as the OP.
I've worked hard at my muting techniques and made good progress, but I can see situations where fretwraps would just be a shortcut and free my hands.

... Plus Carol Kaye used one (taped near the bridge). So don't tell me it's unprofessional!

 

[Anatosuchus]

Seeing as this one popped up again, I did get a wrap to see how it worked for me and in general I've ended up not using it much for general playing. Where I have used it is when I want a nice clean sound for direct recording, and it seems to help a lot in that environment.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Not a crime, but I would be inclined to work on technique first and refine that as much as possible before resorting to a fret wrap of any kind. I’ve been dealing with the same issue recently while working on certain pieces and I find that incorporating some floating thumb helps a lot.

I just canceled my order for a fretwrap! Aftrer watching a review. I then thought They are okay if you're doing stuff that requires both hands, & you cant properly mute otherwise. I dont do any tapping or slapping that requires it, so I thought Id just focus on better technique! Might be useful for muting tones though, but I dont really do that either! You do you!

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I think guitar players with string dampers where earlier. I don’t mean the Motown foam dampers. I have seen guitar players who do a lot of tapping use hair ties in the 90s already.

This is also my recollection, I first saw hair scrunchies and some other similar dampers on guitars. In fact, I recall some kind of bass/guitar expo where a bunch of mid-level names were demonstrating various techniques, and there was a guitarist explaining how the scrunchie helped with two-hand tapping. I had gone specifically to see Brian Bromberg at the same event, and he was tapping on his bass without a damper of any kind, IIRC.

I just did a quick YT search, and it seems he still taps without a damper:



I’m not experienced enough to tell anyone how to even hold a bass, much less tap on it, but in my Mediocre Bass Player’s Club experience with my NS/Stick, it’s possible to tap with the damper disengaged when playing slowly enough to have time to kind of mute the string as you release the tap.

Perhaps dampers and scrunchies hit guitars first because tapping on guitar was often associated with “shred,” while people like Bromberg were using it more for expressive voicing.

100% pure speculation and anecdotal recollection here, do not use my experience while operating heavy machinery.

 

[Hummergeist]

No different than anybody using any kind of mute. Definitely not cheating. But playing with/out will be good discipline.

 

[callofcthulhu]

It doesn't have to be nickles, but they work for me as I need help playing Louis Johnson / Larry Graham with a smaller thumb. I take 6 or 7 nickels and use a box cutter to scratch up both sides so the glue will stick. I then take two pliers or one plier and a vice grip. I bend them appropriately. I take the best three and superglue/shoe glue/ Gorrilla glue (whatever is on hand) and glue them. I wait an hour, and then I use electrical tape. I am on a PC right now. I will edit with my phone after I take pics.
View attachment 3981511 View attachment 3981512 View attachment 3981514 View attachment 3981515

These are perhaps the worst pics i have ever taken, but you get the idea, no?

Holy crap man this is genius.

 

[nonohmic]

I have one but i only use it for recording certain solo pieces. Live and in practice i go without

I'm interested why you take it off for live. You play jazz on a fretless, right? Wouldn't it be preferred preferred thump.