How to Approximate an Upright w/ an Electric?

[EdwardofHuncote]

I can, and do play upright.

Closest I get to it with a bass guitar is an old Guild Starfire II bass, neck pickup only, don't roll off the highs. Too many people think an upright needs to sound muddy. They don't, at least not a good one.

And lastly, adjust your playing style to the music genre you are playing. This matters much more than the instrument.

 

[djmay]

I am an approximation of my pro days in 1975.

2023

 

[jd56hawk]

Flatwounds on a P bass, or a Jack Casady bass, or a Hofner, etc, etc, etc?
Maybe.
Kala U, even better, but D'Addario black tapewounds and an acoustic bass with good electronics and a foam string mute does it for me.

If you don't want to spend $300 or so for an acoustic bass or a U bass, definitely go with tapewounds, though.

 

[Michedelic]

Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!

You didn’t mention if you were adept at fretless or not, but if you can manage that, it would lend itself to the overall sound. I’ve been playing fretless, as part of the overall sonic toolbox, for 35 years, but my primary intent was not to imitate an upright. However, it can be done. I’m sure you could pick one up in the Glarry, etc., range fairly cheap.
And…in spite of owning a Warwick Alien AEB, the closest I got was on a 25” scale Goldtone fretless bass uke. Go figure.
Also, I’ll second what was said about Tic-Tac; it was devised to be everything an upright was not, meant to work in tandem with, not in place of. Occasionally there was some lower pitched lead work done on it, but that took it out of the rhythm role.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Things that will get you close.

1. Fretless
2. Flatwound strings
3. Foam mute
4. Semi hollow or better yet, ABG
5. Playing style

I use a Breedlove Solo Jumbo with TI flats when I'm looking for that sound.

 

[Hasty]

I would recommend this… play what you have and adapt your style to fit your sound or genre. Unless you just really want to buy something else… but even then buy something that will give you some real variety. Heck just buy an old delay pedal and set the delay really short if you’re wanting a little slap back sound.

75-80% of my playing is on double bass. The rest electric. To me, they are two distinctly different instruments. That doesn’t mean I won’t play Western swing on the electric and I’ve definitely played some funk on the double bass. I just adapt my style and note choices to make my job easier. Outside of the band, and maybe two people in the audience, no one really notices. They’re usually too busy wondering why I have a cello on the stage.

 

[Bonafide]

Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass.

If you are indeed forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, you don't need an upright sound.
Most of the time it is not the ideal tone or instrument for the genre.

Even mimicking super old school players like Lightnin' Chance, Hillious Butram, Howard Watts, Cliffie Stone and on and on... it's the feel you need to develop. Flats, higher action, foam maybe.

 

[Biggbass]

ah yes...the age old quest...how to make an electric bass sound like an upright.
well, you can get close with foam, flats, and technique. You could get an Ibanez SRH 500, which will get you 85% there (Foam and technique still in play)
or you can get an NS Designs Wav 4 and be 100% there.

 

[Ric Vice]

‘While this is an interesting concept the body shape of the Bace is a cello and would be very awkward to play even if you were sitting down.
A Hofner beatle bass doesn’t have violin corners for just that reason. Just my take. It sounds great.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Afternoon, all -

I'm in the process of forming a honky tonk/classic C&W band, and I'm trying to figure out how I can approximate an upright with an electric bass. I have a Fender Modern Player Tele bass w/ wide-range humbuckers, so I'm hoping betwixt those and whatever EQ tricks are recommended, I can at least get in the ballpark. If I can manage to keep a little of the tic-tac bass in there, so much the better, but those wide-range p'ups don't offer much hope of that.

(Before everyone jumps in, I don't play upright, never have, nor do I have the finances to buy and learn how to properly play it at this late stage in my life [almost 60], so I'll save everyone time and say any suggestions to just get one and learn to play it are off the table from the get-go.)

Thanks in advance!

String mute for sure, but this is a lot like how do I modify skate board to cross the Atlantic Ocean?

 

[Pop C]

I play a lot of C&W. Been playing it since '72. You don't need a new bass, IMO. Get yourself a Nordy Mute and run heavy flats, or tapes. It's close enough and 95% of your audience is just listening to the words, anyway. LOL!

 

[J Wilson]

Lots of good advice on working with an electric to suggest an upright bass tone, so I would simply say
to play your electric the way an upright player would play his. In other words, no pick, no funk-style slap, no back pickup, etc.

We've all heard synth and drum machine sounds in recordings where it's OBVIOUS it was not the genuine instrument, as you just couldn't have three kick drums and four different snares played by someone with five arms and three legs. Or the keyboard-ish horn or string lines that real players would never play, and often simply couldn't.

So I'd suggest homeworking guys that played upright in the style you're going to be in. You'd be surprised how often playing the authentic style (combined with an approximation of the tone from the instrument/amp) will take you farther than you'd think.

 

[Jefenator]

I've found the ABG (Acoustic Bass Guitar) gets closest - not to fooling people in a blindfold test, but for filling that space in a song the way a DB would.
The piezo pickup seems to be a big part of it, along with the greater note decay.

 

[fhm555]

Start playing up on the neck. I play my J basses with my thumb resting on the neck about halfway between the neck heel and where the neck clears the pocket. The higher you go, the more muted it sounds. I’ve got humbuckers in most of my J basses and playing on the neck, tone and bridge pickup rolled all the way off also helps.
I played with a hillbilly string band using an electric bass and people were always telling me how much I sounded like a doghouse.

 

[GregT]

Don't use a pick or your fingers. Use your thumb! Any time I need to sound more like an upright, that's what I do. For my ears, it gets you closer than anything else. I also have and play an upright bass.

 

[lermgalieu]

I second U-Bass. Closest I have come - I do play double bass, but I did a fly gig once where I didn't have an upright for the 2-3 songs that called for it. Used my little solid body U-Bass and it was definitely close enough.

 

[RSBBass]

I will echo what REV said and expand a bit. The sound of an upright has a lot to do with having long heavy strings and a big box of air. it takes time for all that mass to move and make sound. So your attack is very important. My upright teacher sounded like he was on upright when playing a Ric with roundwound strings. Listen to players you like and try and mimic their phrasing.

 

[Ric Vice]

Don't use a pick or your fingers. Use your thumb! Any time I need to sound more like an upright, that's what I do. For my ears, it gets you closer than anything else. I also have and play an upright bass.

There were DB players who did that when they transitioned to EB. Monk Montgomery like his brother Wes certainly did that and got a very DB like sound on a fretted electric. It's actually what Leo Fender thought players would do as the original "tug bars" were on the finger
side of of a Fender Precision. I find that it's not a very comfortable way for me to play EB because generally speaking your thumb is half the length of your second finger and is jointed differently. Just my take though.

 

[SteveCS]

Only a couple of mention so far, but the obvious first step is to get your frets off!
The Peizo pickup is another big step in the right direction.
Finally, the idea that DB have no sustain and no tone above the fundamental is total bunkum - again only mentioned once above but so true - don't be afraid to lose the mute and open the tone controls!

This was posted a few weeks ago and got a mixed reception, but the instrument itself sounds prety good to me:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ki...nton-acoustic-fretless.1616108/#post-27670506

 

[mdlewis]

I played in a country trio doing 50-60's tunes without a drummer pre-COVID slowdown. I don't play DB effectively. Here's what I learned. YMMV as they say:

1. Playing in the idiom is hands down, the most important thing you can do if you want it to sound "period appropriate". This means understanding what and why these players did what they did. This is an effective approach for walking and alternating bass lines and works a surprisingly large amount of the time.

2. Flats, picking near the octave, mutes all help to get more in range. Some string brands are better than others but all of this will depend on the actual bass and amp combinations you might be using as well as your PA and room acoustics.

3. With some types of DB playing, I just had to give up and play something different that worked on an electric bass. The hardest styles to cop for me are certain types of DB slapping found in some of the more uptempo rockabilly-like numbers. Here what I found worked was either to play something with a pick that basically sounded like a baritone guitar riff, or play it like the top end of a tic-tac line, or change the line to a jazz-style swing walk, or in a few cases just let my freak flag go and play it like I would normally on electric.

Good luck! It's actually a lot of fun and far more difficult than playing in a four or five piece rock band imo. Although maligned by many, particularly jazz drummers, I grew up around traditional country and have always enjoyed listening to it. For those with more "refined" tastes, I think you just need to consider it an exercise in minimalism. A single precisely placed bass quarter note can actually be a song hook!