Knob placement and Rod Stewart

[okcrum]

In 1986, bass makers entered into an informal agreement among themselves regarding that Rod Stewart song and moved the controls on their basses to a less convenient spot precisely to make it more difficult to accomplish what you were attempting to do for that number. They considered it a humanitarian gesture on their part.

Sorry that you had to bump up against it.

+1, etc. Well played!

This one wins the thread, but for real, sometimes I have to bite the bullet and play something that lets me make the changes for a beat or bar. Ever try reaching around with your left hand? That works if you have a couple of beats you can cheat on open strings. On the Jaguar, it's the opposite. I've had to modify a couple of my RH techniques slightly to avoid hitting the volume knob.

 

[Ninevolt]

So? Did she? You kind of left out the most important part of the story.

Bass... Rod Stewart...

What about the girl?

 

[Watchootognbout]

I got blindsided at tonight's gig when my singer called the next tune while we were on the outro of the previous one. That's not unusual, and something I normally have no problem dealing with. Smile and go. At this juncture he evidently had his eye on a particular girl and had the hots to perform Rod Stewart's Da Ya Think I'm Sexy. OK. Also something I'm used to. However, my band consists of three musicians and singer, so I don't have a keyboardist to do all the rest of the bass line of that tune. I play a 5 string Spector Legend Custom (set neck, Korean built--sweet instrument btw. trying to find another...anyone have one you don't like? lol).

Anyway, on that tune I have zero free time on my right hand to change settings on knobs that are just three or so inches from my fingers. It's all disco octaves: boom ditta boom ditta boom ditta...I'm moving my plucking fingers higher up the neck to try to get the sound I want, but I know that to really make it happen I need to dial back the bridge pickup, pull off a lot of treble, add some mid, a skosh of bass and some neck pickup.

It was really weird, playing that line, looking down at those knobs and thinking "poopie...it could only tweak that one, that one and that one, I could just relax and dial this groove.

So that made me think further: why are those ****ing knobs so far away? If they were on the top side of the strings instead of the bottom, I could reach them more easily...

You might want to invest in a Boss GEB-7 equalizer.
Set it for dark,low mids.Ready to hit on the fly.

 

[40Hz]

+1, etc. Well played!

This one wins the thread, but for real, sometimes I have to bite the bullet and play something that lets me make the changes for a beat or bar. Ever try reaching around with your left hand? That works if you have a couple of beats you can cheat on open strings. On the Jaguar, it's the opposite. I've had to modify a couple of my RH techniques slightly to avoid hitting the volume knob.

For the intro to Do Ya Yadda-Yadda you could just hit mostly quarter/whole notes for the intro Dm/Dm7/F... Just a few basic C-D hammer-on and holds. You shouldn't even need your right hand.
They have something like a 12-bar intro that's big enough to do a full sound check in. That should give you plenty of time to do some quick knob twiddles, and then start the dum-didda dum-didda on the Bmaj7/G when the vocals come in with "She sits alone..." That might even work better than the original arrangement since it provides some contrast to the disco bit once it starts.

(Because IMHO it's pretty hard to make that particular song sound any worse than it does to begin with. )

 

[okcrum]

For the intro to Do Ya Yadda-Yadda you could just hit mostly quarter/whole notes for the intro Dm/Dm7/F... Just a few basic C-D hammer-on and holds. You shouldn't even need your right hand.
They have something like a 12-bar intro that's big enough to do a full sound check in. That should give you plenty of time to do some quick knob twiddles, and then start the dum-didda dum-didda on the Bmaj7/G when the vocals come in with "She sits alone..." That might even work better than the original arrangement since it provides some contrast to the disco bit once it starts.

(Because IMHO it's pretty hard to make that particular song sound any worse than it does to begin with. )

Haha, affirmative on that last bit. Phil Chen is awesome in the video for that, though. Best with sound muted.

I agree - where you run into these sorts of things as a regular deal, you might as well practice doing them cleanly and with some style. Heck, you get 8 quarters on the D in this one. Or just get an EQ pedal if you do pedals.

 

[hobosong]

I've been thinking about moving the knobs off the bass altogether and putting them on a pedal... or something. Unfortunately I know nothing about electronics, but I'm imagining an onboard bluetooth transmitter/receiver that can transmit the audio signal and a pedal that would receive and amplify, control the pickup balance and volumes and forward to the rest of the signal chain. This would solve that problem I think.

 

[Laklandfan]

Still not sure what I was expecting from this thread.

 

[Rickengeezer]

That's my favorite thing about a Precision--just need to tweak that one knob and it will get you most of the way there. Even if "there" is Rod Stewart.

 

[mcarp555]

"I'm a drummer, and normally, I carry three sets to every gig: a Slingerland for that jazz feel, a Ludwig for that nice warm woody low end, and a Premier for the bright treble when I paradiddle. Anyway, at a gig last night, the singer announced the next tune before I had time to change kits. Normally it takes about twenty to thirty minutes to tear down one set, bring up the other and tune all the drums just the way I like. I think he had imbibed one too many and was trying to get to the toilet before he relieved himself in the tip jar. So we tore into Let It Go (from the Disney movie Frozen), and I had to play on the wrong set (the Slingerlands, as we had just finished our Dave Brubeck medley). It was so frustrating, not being able to use the Premiers! I could see them, a few yards away stacked up behind the keyboards, but I was unable to reach even the rack toms. They have the nicest, 'thump' on the glisses! I felt so humiliated! Afterwards, nobody said a word, but I knew they didn't have to. I'm tempted to ragequit the band by texting the horn player tonight on the way to the gig. It's my brother's wedding, but I'm sure he would understand."

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

Maybe this is just me, but I'm not sure that I want to go and try and chase down a woman old enough to be familier that song.
(and in other Another Rod Stewart related topic, this is 2015: How old is Maggie May, by now? 80...85?)
Just sayin...

 

[kcole4001]

No one in the audience noticed.

If they did, they didn't care.

If they did care, they are musicians who weren't gigging on a Friday night.

And if they were musicians, they were just glad someone else had to play that song!

 

[carl h.]

I stopped playing a bass because the knobs got in the way when I did palm muting.

 

[DavC]

I saw "knob" and "Rod Stewart" = done reading .!

I'd just play closer to the bridge ... who else would know any different ??!!??

 

[Space Pickle]

I would just not play for a few seconds and adjust the controls.

 

[Space Pickle]

also one time i played maggie may

 

[troy mcclure]

I got blindsided at tonight's gig when my singer called the next tune while we were on the outro of the previous one. That's not unusual, and something I normally have no problem dealing with. Smile and go. At this juncture he evidently had his eye on a particular girl and had the hots to perform Rod Stewart's Da Ya Think I'm Sexy. OK. Also something I'm used to. However, my band consists of three musicians and singer, so I don't have a keyboardist to do all the rest of the bass line of that tune. I play a 5 string Spector Legend Custom (set neck, Korean built--sweet instrument btw. trying to find another...anyone have one you don't like? lol).

Anyway, on that tune I have zero free time on my right hand to change settings on knobs that are just three or so inches from my fingers. It's all disco octaves: boom ditta boom ditta boom ditta...I'm moving my plucking fingers higher up the neck to try to get the sound I want, but I know that to really make it happen I need to dial back the bridge pickup, pull off a lot of treble, add some mid, a skosh of bass and some neck pickup.

It was really weird, playing that line, looking down at those knobs and thinking "poopie...it could only tweak that one, that one and that one, I could just relax and dial this groove.

So that made me think further: why are those ****ing knobs so far away? If they were on the top side of the strings instead of the bottom, I could reach them more easily...

Funny I watch my guitarist adjusting his knobs all night and I just never seem to find a decent spot in most tunes to turn a knob. I mean I am laying down the groove... the groove can't so I can adjust my tone or volume..

 

[ole Jason]

Trust me, no one is going to notice if the bass player takes a second to fiddle with the knobs. Also, no one is going to notice if you don't fiddle with the knobs in the first place.

 

[TripleDouble]

Little known fact: Rod "The Mod" Stewart has a younger less successful brother who is also a singer and a fine accordionist....Rob....Rob "The Knob" Gallinksi. I assumed you meant him. No clue why he didn't hit it just as big.

 

[Eidolon0274]

Hammer-on the crap out of those octaves for a bar and be quick with your right hand...and hope you dont have an aguilar obp3, a 1/8 inch off on your bass boost and everyone ***** their pants.

 

[samson3382]

I saw "knob" and "Rod Stewart" = done reading .!

I'd just play closer to the bridge ... who else would know any different ??!!??

Little known fact: Rod "The Mod" Stewart has a younger less successful brother who is also a singer and a fine accordionist....Rob....Rob "The Knob" Gallinksi. I assumed you meant him. No clue why he didn't hit it just as big.

My dyslexic side read the thread title as "Rod placement and Knob Stewart."