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How high do you wear your bass?

How high do you wear your bass?

  • Chest.

    Votes: 86 22.5%
  • Waist.

    Votes: 172 44.9%
  • Balls (best descriptive place word, but female players also can vote!). ;)

    Votes: 100 26.1%
  • Knees.

    Votes: 12 3.1%
  • Other (please specify).

    Votes: 13 3.4%

  • Total voters
    383
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Originally posted by rickbass1


Not really Super. Me too. I don't want to start a flame war, but in all the years of playing, I've yet to see any of these guys who have it placed practically at their ankles who is worth squat as a player. As a poser, they're great. :rolleyes:

That's generally true, except Flea. I know what your thinking..."oh another teenage flea wannabe". But he is damn fast with both hands and he has the thing hanging very low...at least he does in my video :) lol.
 
i personally wear my bass pretty high - about tummy level - much easier on my wrists.

as far as low goes, has anyone ever seen the rev. horton heat bass player stand on his upright and get crazy? you can't get lower than standing on your bass.

jaco pastorius was a monumental bass player.

hate to get into this, but...

...to those who think metal is without virtue, dig up some mp3's of the swedish metal band meshuggah. i have a music degree, and i like nearly all types of music, but often times i get bored with hearing canned, overly produced, heart/soul-less, uninspired, derivitive crap music. there is alot of it out there (just turn on the radio, y'know?), and no genre of music is immune to bs. anyway, when i become too disenchanted, i pop in some meshuggah (check out 'future breed machine' or 'soul burn' off of 'destroy erase improve' - also the entire chaosphere album), and it always comes through. sometimes i just can't get excited about hearing some new bebop album or whatever wynton marsalis just did at lincoln center, but 'future breed machine' always kicks ass.

somebody a few pages (heh) back in this post said that metal just isn't as complex or as deep as jazz. from a pedagogical standpoint, most of the time, that's probably true. but not always. if you want something really different, check out frederick thordendahl's (meshuggah guitarist - hope i didn't spell his name wrong) solo album. you can get it on amazon, i believe. it's amazing. it's way more complex than some new hipster cat out of julliard throwing down 32nd notes over the giant steps changes. (i'm not saying that that's not challenging or worth doing, but it's been done so much it's tired, IMHO)

it's worthless to say, 'oh, can you ever be as talented/innovative as so- and-so'. who cares? no matter how good so-and-so was or is, you can't innovate or break new ground by copying what they did! it's too late - it's been done! even trying to take what they did to the next level isn't entirely original, now is it? you've got to be yourself. learn as much as you can, listen to everything with as little prejudice as possible, and build your own musical vocabulary, so maybe someday you'll do something truly original and worthwhile.

sorry for the overly-long admittedly-idealistic quasi-rant. i'm done now.
 
Originally posted by Disco_Gee


That's generally true, except Flea. I know what your thinking..."oh another teenage flea wannabe". But he is damn fast with both hands and he has the thing hanging very low...at least he does in my video :) lol.

Playing with your bass high's not good for everyone... So I second your saying that you don't need it high to be able to play comfortably or fast. I think people should just set their bass where it feels most comfortable, and where it's easiest to play what you play. Some people don't play above the 12th fret, so they don't need to be able to reach those frets. Also, people have different sized arms. So you can't just say "waist" for everyone, or anything like that.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Depends on the individual. I play my bass about waist high. The other bassist at our church plays his bass groin level like a lead guitarist. Another bassist who plays with me in our fusion band plays his bass chest high - I literally cannot put the bass on without unstrapping it, and the headstock is like way above my head - but he has been doing it longer than I have been playing, and he plays well.

Like Gary Sheehan once said - adjust your strap once, then don't change it, because everytime you change it, the bones and muscles in your hand has to change too.
 
Originally posted by captainpabst


...to those who think metal is without virtue, dig up some mp3's of the swedish metal band meshuggah. i have a music degree, and i like nearly all types of music, but often times i get bored with hearing canned, overly produced, heart/soul-less, uninspired, derivitive crap music. there is alot of it out there (just turn on the radio, y'know?), and no genre of music is immune to bs. anyway, when i become too disenchanted, i pop in some meshuggah (check out 'future breed machine' or 'soul burn' off of 'destroy erase improve' - also the entire chaosphere album), and it always comes through. sometimes i just can't get excited about hearing some new bebop album or whatever wynton marsalis just did at lincoln center, but 'future breed machine' always kicks ass.

somebody a few pages (heh) back in this post said that metal just isn't as complex or as deep as jazz. from a pedagogical standpoint, most of the time, that's probably true. but not always. if you want something really different, check out frederick thordendahl's (meshuggah guitarist - hope i didn't spell his name wrong) solo album. you can get it on amazon, i believe. it's amazing. it's way more complex than some new hipster cat out of julliard throwing down 32nd notes over the giant steps changes. (i'm not saying that that's not challenging or worth doing, but it's been done so much it's tired, IMHO)

it's worthless to say, 'oh, can you ever be as talented/innovative as so- and-so'. who cares? no matter how good so-and-so was or is, you can't innovate or break new ground by copying what they did! it's too late - it's been done! even trying to take what they did to the next level isn't entirely original, now is it? you've got to be yourself. learn as much as you can, listen to everything with as little prejudice as possible, and build your own musical vocabulary, so maybe someday you'll do something truly original and worthwhile.

sorry for the overly-long admittedly-idealistic quasi-rant. i'm done now.

Austin Powers voice on:

Yeah, baby, yeah!

Austin Powers voice off.

I really dig meshuggah, did you hear that they're going on tour with tool this fall? I've never heard Tool, but if they like Meshuggah, they have to be good! I'm from the same town as them, once lived neighbours with Jens, the singer, nice guy! :eek: Just had to brag a little.

Seriously, these guys are super musicians, totally crazy.

And by the way, it's Fredrik, not Frederick. ;)
 
I think the bass should be kind of high, it's much easier on your wrists, and is also easier to play being that you can reach pretty much any notes, also if you play evry night rehearse during the day or record I think that helps a lot wearing it kind of high, some guys practice sitting down most of the time but when they strap the bass on, the thing is down to their knees, no wonder it becomes hard to play, just try to keep the same high as if you were sitting.
 
Originally posted by Bijoux
I think the bass should be kind of high, it's much easier on your wrists, and is also easier to play being that you can reach pretty much any notes, also if you play evry night rehearse during the day or record I think that helps a lot wearing it kind of high, some guys practice sitting down most of the time but when they strap the bass on, the thing is down to their knees, no wonder it becomes hard to play, just try to keep the same high as if you were sitting.


Or you could always just play while standing up?

I play with my bass a little below my waist. I think it's comfortable there. I used to play with it extremely high, but then i realized that my attack gets screwy when it's so high. So I lowered it, and it felt more comfortable. You can't generalize and say while sitting down it's easier to play, or anything like that. People's arm length's vary. If you have long arms, think of how crunched you're gonna be with your bass at your neck?

It's a good suggestion, in theory. But in reality, your suggestion's just inane.


Oh yeah... Just some contributing info:
I hardly ever play while sitting down, i only play while sitting down at my bass lessons. I find it easier to play (as I said) with it a tiny bit below my waist, and having my bass angled up, so i can get to the higher frets.


Just my... umm.. I think I've posted a lot in this thread, so "Just my 50 cents".

;)
 
CE...is there any real reason for being so argumentive? I believe he was saying it's easiest for him to play sitting down; it's implied. Was there ANY real purpose?

I, for one, am tired of reading your constant insults about things people say. It's absolutely unecessary. Please, tell me if you think it's necessary to insult someone over something the said and why, because I'd like to hear it!
 
Originally posted by Angus
CE...is there any real reason for being so argumentive? I believe he was saying it's easiest for him to play sitting down; it's implied. Was there ANY real purpose?

I, for one, am tired of reading your constant insults about things people say. It's absolutely unecessary. Please, tell me if you think it's necessary to insult someone over something the said and why, because I'd like to hear it!

I don't see how you're getting argumentative out of what I was saying? I wasn't even being aggressive in that post. I was merely showing him how the same rules don't apply for everyone.

I didn't take his post as being suggestive, I took it as him giving his honest opinion on where a bass should be placed, which is a regular post given the topic...


I don't see why you're complaining about my post though. I just simply responded stating that even if peoples arms would be just as far down, it wouldn't put everyones bass above their waist.

So fourth restating that the thread's subjective.
I don't see why you bothered replying, if you have a serious complaint to make, don't make it in a thread.

I think you owe me an apology, considering you attempted to flame me, with not even a remotely justifiable reason.

P.S. When I use a smiley face, I do it to show that I'm not out to take someones head off on the subject. So that should've been signal #1.
 
:rolleyes:

Should I even bother to respond?

There was no flaming. None. I simply said that it was implied that it was his opinion. If it was his opinion, why do you need to say "its subjective"? Everyone knows that!

However, my problem with it is you called his post inane. Was there a reason? Absolutely not! I bring it up publically because it brings more pressure on you to remove the comment from your post. There was no reason to call it inane! It's very rude!
 
Originally posted by Angus
:rolleyes:

Should I even bother to respond?

There was no flaming. None. I simply said that it was implied that it was his opinion. If it was his opinion, why do you need to say "its subjective"? Everyone knows that!

However, my problem with it is you called his post inane. Was there a reason? Absolutely not! I bring it up publically because it brings more pressure on you to remove the comment from your post. There was no reason to call it inane! It's very rude!


You're getting this incredibly off topic, I don't see a point to respond, although, I will.

Let me start out by enlightening you on what "inane" means. Inane = lacking substance

His reply lacked definition, in giving reason why it'd be better to play with your bass up higher. Yes, granted, he listed that it's easier if you sit down and play a lot. Although, when you sit down, your bass isn't neccessarily at your chest, maybe tummy level, that's about all though.

I played fill in the blanks. I don't feel a mature debate can be held with you. You always get pissy and tear threads incredibly off topic. This thread hasn't been off topic once, and it's how many pages long?

Now, I really think you owe me an apology. You just called me rude, with no reasoning.

Let me show you two reasons why you should apologize... One of them, being you making a hyporcritical statement.

Originally posted by Angus
:rolleyes:

Should I even bother to respond?

There was no flaming.

Secondly...

Originally posted by Angus
I bring it up publically because it brings more pressure on you to remove the comment from your post.

I once again bring the point to you that you don't own the board, the board isn't some sort of facist run work of propaganda. I believe that there shouldn't be any pressure trying to be brought on me, or anyone, for having said something you don't agree with. I once again state you're immature.

I'm done.
 
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