Is there a key change bass guitar pedal?

[T.E.D.]

Hi Everyone,
So I've been out of the loop for awhile in general when it comes to bass playing, new gadgets, etc, and currently I started up in a band. So my question; is there a pedal that will say change from the key of E to maybe the key of A by just a push of a button while still in the key of E of my bass? ( Ex. Were playing Blues Brothers Sweet home Chicago which I learned in the key of A, but our drummer who is singing the song wants it done in the key of E. And as far as people who may comment by saying just change from one key to another in a song, I'm not that skilled of a person and I don't have the time or patience to learn that.

T.E.D.

 

[T.E.D.]

Also to note we generally stay in standard tuning for our songs.

 

[Bob_Ross]

While strictly speaking most of the recent Eventide Harmonizers (as well as the tc Helicon I think?) can do diatonic pitch shifting, in practice your bass would sound like ass if you tried playing in the key of E while having the pedal transpose to A.

 

[MonetBass]

Shifting from the key of A to E is pretty simple since the fingerings would be the same, just down one string.

 

[Free Bassing]

I don't think you need a key change pedal just change the key with your fretting hand.

Using a key change pedal sounds lazy. Why not just have a backing track play your whole part

 

[Killing Floor]

Maybe look at EHX Pitchfork? I'm all in for pedals. I could build a fort out of pedals. Literally. We're talking hundreds at least. But I'm not sure shifting pitch electronically is a perfect solution.

Check out some videos on the Pitchfork. Not saying it won't work or isn't good. Just whenever you synthesize like this you have to temper expectations. Don't expect to sound 100% the same as changing your hand position. But it sounds ok.

 

[Michedelic]

Hi Everyone,
So I've been out of the loop for awhile in general when it comes to bass playing, new gadgets, etc, and currently I started up in a band. So my question; is there a pedal that will say change from the key of E to maybe the key of A by just a push of a button while still in the key of E of my bass? ( Ex. Were playing Blues Brothers Sweet home Chicago which I learned in the key of A, but our drummer who is singing the song wants it done in the key of E. And as far as people who may comment by saying just change from one key to another in a song, I'm not that skilled of a person and I don't have the time or patience to learn that.

T.E.D.

Just drop down one string, keep the same fret positions. It will a lot easier than fiddling with such a device(there has been a Bass Whammy pedal in the past, but in this case the Pitchfork would be a functional choice)and the expense.

 

[themickster]

Shifting from the key of A to E is pretty simple since the fingerings would be the same, just down one string.

You mean up one string. The top and bottom strings are top and bottom in pitch.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I've tried the pedal thing with The Drop and HX Stomp among others. The latency will drive you nuts and the resulting tone has weird artifacts to it.

 

[CBRXJ]

Digitech Drop pedal maybe?

 

[bigdaddybass12]

You said: I'm not that skilled of a person and I don't have the time or patience to learn that.
I know you said not to talk technique,,,
The guy I play for is a capo junkie. I play by patterns. 1, 4, 5, 2. So I move the "pattern" according to his capo position on the neck.

 

[micguy]

There are pitch change pedals. The key issue is ......latency - they will, if you have a good sense timing, drive you up a tree with that issue. It takes a while for a pitch change pedal to figure out what frequency you are playing, and the lower the frequency you're starting with, the longer it takes to figure out what note you're playing. An octave pedal (a kind of pitch change pedal) is usually less bothersome in the latency department - typically you have some dry signal coming through, which comes without latency, so the note attack is still in time, and a bit later, the lower frequency arrives. When doing a pitch shift, though, you don't have the dry signal, and the latency is far more obvious.

Learning to transpose things yourself is the real long term solution to this problem. The pedal is a workaround, but not an optimal one.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

You could show up with 12 basses tuned to different standard tuning pitches kinda like a bag of golf clubs. I'm sure someone has done that. Or you could carry two of these, one in BEAD, the other in EADG and use the capo.

(The real solution is to just learn to transpose)

 

[Ostie]

If you're gonna be a bass player, you need to know how to play in different keys. Might as well learn now. So just play the same bass line on the E string.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

The Digitech Drop pedal is good for a half or whole step, but A to E is going to sound weird.

I think this may just be an opportunity to expand your skills.

 

[KohanMike]

I'm kind of surprised at the question since it's so easy with patterns to move to the correct root note of the key.

 

[Ulf Buck]

Like others have said the drop pedal is adequate for 1/2 step.

In my opinion the helix is ok down 2 semitones.

The Quad cortex I have been using live for several months works great down 4 or more semitones.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

A pedal??

 

[Snaxster]

The Quad cortex I have been using live for several months works great down 4 or more semitones.

That's cool. But the cerebral cortex works great in any direction for any degree of transposition. Highly recommended.

 

[skycruiser]

Learn the notes. Forget patterns.