Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Have you played keyboard bass?
- Thread starter darwin-bass
- Start date
Yes, in the mid- to late-1980s, when it was de rigueur for all techno-pop dance bands to have a synth bass instead of bass guitar. A buddy lent me his Moog Source monophonic analog synth for one such project. I know my way around a keyboard well enough to be able to execute basslines fairly convincingly ...and mercifully, most of those lines can be played with only two fingers (one on each hand)!
What did I think of it? I thought it was a stupid waste of my musical talents. There was nothing the Moog added to that band that wouldn't have been better served by a better-played bass guitar.
Many years ago my band was doing lotsa prog and classic rock. I was playing keys and some guitar. For some of the Emerson Lake & Palmer stuff, Emerson doubles Lake’s bass lines (Tarkus), and plays bass lines during some of the acoustic guitar stuff. The stacked fourths on Tarkus are easier to play clean on the Hammond than they are on an electric bass, at least for my hand.
Yep. 40 years ago I was doing six nighters with a top 40 band, so I bought an ARP Odyssey to cover the poppier stuff.
I still have it!
I still have it!
In the past when synth/keys bass sounded bad, was usually when it was trying to sound like a live bass guitar. But if you treated it for what it is, its own instrument then it's awesome. I mean, synth bass can be crushing, funky, ambient, you-name-it. There's bass things you can do on a synth that you'll never ever be able to do on a BG no matter how many boutiquey pedals you buy.
Nowadays, using a VI with actual bass samples or really good modeling has changed the landscape of course (like every other instrument under the sun). You can do some very convincing tracks that will fool most anyone. But as with anything, there's still no replacement for a human playing with human hands, and all the warts and nuance that come from that.
Nowadays, using a VI with actual bass samples or really good modeling has changed the landscape of course (like every other instrument under the sun). You can do some very convincing tracks that will fool most anyone. But as with anything, there's still no replacement for a human playing with human hands, and all the warts and nuance that come from that.
I see bass as more of a role rather than a specific instrument. And think of myself more as the guy who plays the low notes rather than a bass guitarist. So I just use whatever instrument I feel best fits that role depending on the situation.
I’ll switch over to a mini synth if I need to play extremely low notes or the song calls for a keyboard bass sound.
I’ll switch over to a mini synth if I need to play extremely low notes or the song calls for a keyboard bass sound.
Bass is bass to me. I've had to resist the urge to get a tuba recently.
I almost always write on the keyboard, and sometimes a synth bass just hits right on a funky groove
I'd like to dabble on pedal bass if I can. Problem is that the MIDI controller itself costs as much as a good preamp or an affordable bass. I think pedals gives me more freedom than keys, as I can play my bass guitar along with it to cover both parts.
I couldn't have said it any better. I don't see the delivery of bass parts of a song as the exclusive domain of a stringed instrument. Keyboard bass, whether delivered by my left hand, by floor pedals, or by other means, gives me extra options and, while I might be fooling myself, I like to think that allows me to do a better job. Regardless, it makes me happy.
I used a "keytar" style controller for a few months in the 80's on 2 or 3 songs with a Top-40 dance band. I think it was a Korg controller.
I remember people being far more impressed with it than it deserved but given that it was "for show" as much as sound, mission accomplished.
I remember people being far more impressed with it than it deserved but given that it was "for show" as much as sound, mission accomplished.
FullumMusic
Commercial User
- Oct 13, 2022
- 2,010
- 5,686
- Disclosures
- Audio/Music software developer, contracted with a company you've heard of and deving my own stuff.
Music is just organized sounds.
Musical instruments are just tools to generate sounds, laid out in such a way that the sounds they generate are useful for certain kinds of musical paradigms.
There are probably an infinite number of ways to create low frequency sounds to use in music, including but not limited to: Upright bass; tuba; sousaphone; human voice; tb303; an internal combustion engine; dragging a chair across the floor; 808 kick or tom; a creaky piece of flooring...
Bass guitar is one way to make sounds for music.
Bass synth is another way to make sounds for music.
I use either depending on if it's the right tool for the job. I make electronic music, so, yeah, lotsa bass synths and sub synths there. Sometimes bass guitar too.
The tool matters less than the music you make with it. If a musical tool makes a sound that a song needs, that's the tool to use. The more tools you know how to use, the more music you can make.
Musical instruments are just tools to generate sounds, laid out in such a way that the sounds they generate are useful for certain kinds of musical paradigms.
There are probably an infinite number of ways to create low frequency sounds to use in music, including but not limited to: Upright bass; tuba; sousaphone; human voice; tb303; an internal combustion engine; dragging a chair across the floor; 808 kick or tom; a creaky piece of flooring...
Bass guitar is one way to make sounds for music.
Bass synth is another way to make sounds for music.
I use either depending on if it's the right tool for the job. I make electronic music, so, yeah, lotsa bass synths and sub synths there. Sometimes bass guitar too.
The tool matters less than the music you make with it. If a musical tool makes a sound that a song needs, that's the tool to use. The more tools you know how to use, the more music you can make.
This thread has me thinking: As I'm recovering from shoulder surgery, now might be a fine time to explore keyboard bas.
I was just about to say that I mainly got interested in key bass briefly back when I was having some muscle issues and thought it might be a possible replacement option if there ever came a time where I couldn't physically play bass effectively. Things got better so I never got past the earliest stages of messing around with it, but I have it in the back of my mind as something to keep exploring in the future.
The poll is interesting. About 56% of us have tried it. Of those tried it, about 80% stayed with it. Those who have not tried it, 57% have no interest.
I was expecting a much less favorable view of keys/synth bass.
I was expecting a much less favorable view of keys/synth bass.
My two current bands.
Zeppelin tribute, so I’m playing either bass or keys (with bass in LH) on all songs.
Doors tribute, so I’m playing keys with LH bass on every song.
So definitely yes from me.
Zeppelin tribute, so I’m playing either bass or keys (with bass in LH) on all songs.
Doors tribute, so I’m playing keys with LH bass on every song.
So definitely yes from me.
i loveee synth bass! ive been wanting to play synths in general, but ive been focusing more on electric bass for now because i don't wanna learn 10 things at once
Around ‘81, without having had any proper keyboard training, I delved into it as I was a fan of the whole wave of bands in that time who were influenced by Kraftwerk, Bowie, Roxy, Eno and the like, plus being a fan of those OG’s themselves(let alone earlier stuff like Silver Apples, Dick Hyman, Tangerine Dream), and then funk like Parliament.
As effects pedals specifically for bass hadn’t really come along yet(let alone anything closely imitative of synth sounds), and the Roland G-33/77 systems were so expensive and technologically not all there, I just got a Sequential Circuits monophonic Pro-One, their answer to a Mini-Moog, but with a brighter sound and on-board sequencer. I got into it, loved the sustain and all the little things that a bass guitar couldn’t do. I used it about a third of the time, considered it just another tool/flavor of low end.
Eventually I moved on to other musical styles, and as I wasn’t an actual keyboardist(although I can do the equivalent of guitar ‘campfire chords’, and play stuff like “96 Tears”)there was no calling to sustain my interest, so I sold it for a lot less than what they’re going for these days as a vintage piece. And now pedal technology has made miraculous advances to where I can use a stringed instrument to get those sounds. But I’m seriously considering getting back into it.
As effects pedals specifically for bass hadn’t really come along yet(let alone anything closely imitative of synth sounds), and the Roland G-33/77 systems were so expensive and technologically not all there, I just got a Sequential Circuits monophonic Pro-One, their answer to a Mini-Moog, but with a brighter sound and on-board sequencer. I got into it, loved the sustain and all the little things that a bass guitar couldn’t do. I used it about a third of the time, considered it just another tool/flavor of low end.
Eventually I moved on to other musical styles, and as I wasn’t an actual keyboardist(although I can do the equivalent of guitar ‘campfire chords’, and play stuff like “96 Tears”)there was no calling to sustain my interest, so I sold it for a lot less than what they’re going for these days as a vintage piece. And now pedal technology has made miraculous advances to where I can use a stringed instrument to get those sounds. But I’m seriously considering getting back into it.
Last edited:
