hip hop bassists...

[your idol]

...what basses are you playing?

i know some of you guys have to be playing hip hop either full time or just for fun. it used to be kinda rare to see hip hop/rap acts with a live band and when you did all you ever saw was Fender jazz basses. now that live music seems to be growing in the genere i have to ask if the Jazz is still the norm or if some of yall are venturing out.

 

[BigFetus]

I play my esp.

pretty much anything works as long as you have the right eq setting.
fat, full, and lots of lows.

 

[your idol]

dude....

i was just looking at an ESP les paul style bass today..i was impressed. couldnt see it being visually the bees knees for a hip hop gig though.

 

[BigFetus]

yeah.
ESPs have great eq range, but for hip hop, a five string is best.
because you want those 5 notes of lowness.

 

[your idol]

yeah i was gonna make that a sub question..4 or 5. ive always been partial to 5s for groovin and 4s for attack

 

[BigFetus]

exactly how i feel.

hip hop is definitely more groove. very little attack.
you can even slap if you want.

 

[Oric]

I just use my Jazz bass, which I use for everything I play. The neck pickup can get really deep, which works great.

 

[your idol]

anyone else

 

[lousybassplayer]

Fender needs to make a hip hop bass to clear this kind of thing up. I would use it.

 

[your idol]

apparently Jazz bass is the only bass filling this gap so i guess fender has it on lock. Owen Biddle plays a Callowhill and thats the ONLY dude i see not holding it down with a jazz

 

[Spinal Tapper]

I'm really into old school hip-hop stuff...does anyone know who played the bassline for "Let Me Ride?" from Dr Dre's the Chronic album...I heard Dre played the drums on all the tracks, but not sure about the bass...anyways, sick bassline. *Never mind, just found out it was Colin Wolfe

My fave hip-hop bassist/producer currently has to be Mike Elizondo - I believe he uses a Jazz bass, Sadowsky and Sadowsky 5-string, he probably has a few actually...LOL

 

[your idol]

I'm really into old school hip-hop stuff...does anyone know who played the bassline for "Let Me Ride?" from Dr Dre's the Chronic album...I heard Dre played the drums on all the tracks, but not sure about the bass...anyways, sick bassline. *Never mind, just found out it was Colin Wolfe

parliament- I thought the music was sampled..then female vox and mpc was added on top. if you say Colin Wolfe i guess i was wrong

 

[iamlowsound]

You will probably see a lot of higher end custom jobs and modern sounding basses. Think Ken Smith and Cirrus if the guy playing bass is a hired gun. Basically anything that you would see in the urban gospel scene you will probably see in the hip hop scene.

lowsound

 

[wellshuxley]

I'm really into old school hip-hop stuff...does anyone know who played the bassline for "Let Me Ride?" from Dr Dre's the Chronic album...I heard Dre played the drums on all the tracks, but not sure about the bass...anyways, sick bassline. *Never mind, just found out it was Colin Wolfe

My fave hip-hop bassist/producer currently has to be Mike Elizondo - I believe he uses a Jazz bass, Sadowsky and Sadowsky 5-string, he probably has a few actually...LOL

According to allmusic.com it was Colin Wolfe, unless that particular line is a sample. Mike Elizondo produced/played bass on most of the more recent Dre and he's a bada$$

 

[your idol]

OMG do we have some hip hop heads coming out of the woodwork?!?!

 

[thisSNsucks]

Jazz basses definately work, though you'd probably better off with a modern variation with an active pre (Sadowsky's are pretty damn popular for hip hop) I've seen a few MTD's being played, some Ken Smiths too. I'd imagine a Warwick would probably sound killer in a hip hop setting as well.

I'd say just about any bass with 5 strings and preferably a preamp would do the job.

 

[Demonator]

Wicks would sound good just about anywhere.

 

[Elmo Oxygen]

Yep sorry, MIM j 5 DLX; the "Freak Mutha". I'd love to break the trend, but it works so well for recording hip-hop and for my live female-fronted groove oriented project!
(But I do have my eye on that neck-through Brice 5'er)

 

[your idol]

the reason is im considering a hip hop gig and i have a Fender Active Jazz that seems fine and my ultimate goal is to rock a Callowhill but i truly didnt know if there was any other options for my in between stage before Callowhill goodness

 

[silky smoove]

Hip-hop is a pretty wide-spanning genre. That said, whenever I've been in a hip-hop context I've always found that there's so much going on sonically (drums, vocals, backup vocals, hype-men, loops, samples, sub-triggers, keys, guitars, horns, etc.) that it's easy to get buried if you're shooting for a really thick tone. It's similar to playing gospel where you have to stay above the kick drum and the bottom end of the organ, but below the guitars. The same rules apply in a dense hip-hop mix. Plenty of mids and stay away from the sub-low-end territory. Ken Smith basses immediately come to mind.

On the flipside of that coin, if you were playing hip-hop ala The Roots, I would shoot for the same type of tonality you'd find on classic soul, R&B and even classic rock. Fender Jazz and P-Bass (as well as all the other "off-shoot" manufacturers like Sadowsky and Lakland).