Mono Neon - now that's finger strength!!

[bholder]

Interesting, but Frank Zappa and Steve Vai were doing that kind of thing almost 40 years ago.

yup. Mr Vai is no less of a talent than Mono Neon, imho (even if I actually prefer his teacher).

 

[DJ Bebop]

Interesting, but Frank Zappa and Steve Vai were doing that kind of thing almost 40 years ago.

...and then there was a skinny girl.

 

[skycruiser]

It's cool because there is already a tradition of left handed blues guitarists playing upside down in order to get crazy pull bends on the high strings. When Neon's playing funk music, he's kind of just taking that idea to the next level, and on the bass.

But now he's also taking the experimental microtonal stuff to another level by mimicking the fluctuations in human speech with the string bends. It's in the form of silly memes on his Youtube channel, but the technique is actually brilliant:

That is just fantastic.

 

[DWBass]

Already mentioned.....light gauge strings. Which reminds me I need to buy a set for my Spector.

 

[BobDeRosa]

Sure, fast, strong fingers. But is that music?

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

It's cool because there is already a tradition of left handed blues guitarists playing upside down in order to get crazy pull bends on the high strings. When Neon's playing funk music, he's kind of just taking that idea to the next level, and on the bass.

But now he's also taking the experimental microtonal stuff to another level by mimicking the fluctuations in human speech with the string bends. It's in the form of silly memes on his Youtube channel, but the technique is actually brilliant:

This was nice ..

 

[Jazz Ad]

And cracking nuts!

Why am I not surprised that it's a Russian doing this?

 

[DJ Bebop]

Sure, fast, strong fingers. But is that music?

 

[Jazz Ad]

Mono Neon did all this microtonal composition during his education, where the whole deal was using ultra-light strings and training himself to hit these micro pitches accurately with string bends. He's probably made himself the best in the world at performing this feat of microtonal playing, which is amazing.

I find this really impressive but can't see myself listening to this for more than 30 seconds. I find this disturbingly messy.

 

[PennyroyalWe]

Who is this un-named bassist?! If only he had his name printed all over his gear!!!!!

In all seriousness, mono-neon shreds and his chops are impressive. Glad he put in all the time to practice to learn these bends, because I sure won't!

 

[bholder]

It's cool because there is already a tradition of left handed blues guitarists playing upside down in order to get crazy pull bends on the high strings. When Neon's playing funk music, he's kind of just taking that idea to the next level, and on the bass.

But now he's also taking the experimental microtonal stuff to another level by mimicking the fluctuations in human speech with the string bends. It's in the form of silly memes on his Youtube channel, but the technique is actually brilliant:

Today's installment is particularly topical. Warning: NSFW, kids, or anything else (swearing involved):

 

[CatDaddyOTB]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I'm quite sure Mono tunes his basses down a whole step. I've understood it to be a huge part of his sound. A little less tension can be super fun : )

 

[MrClassicMetal]

Interesting, but Frank Zappa and Steve Vai were doing that kind of thing almost 40 years ago.

Indeed, he did that in the track So Happy as well.



The guy screaming in the background is Stu Hamm!

 

[Snaxster]

Don't know about die Nussknacker, but still my favorite:

 

[jim nolte]

I used to wonder the same thing about Victor Wooten. Then I played his bass. Ridiculously low action and incredibly light guage strings. I thought I was going to break them all. He gave me a set of the strings and after installing them on my bass I had to take them off immediately. I imagine Mono is the same way. He doesn't appear to be man-handling the bass. His plucking hand pretty much seems relaxed.

Do you remember what the gauges were, just curious.

 

[tb-player]

Today's installment is particularly topical. Warning: NSFW, kids, or anything else (swearing involved):

It's been 24 hours and I'm already sooo over the whole Will Smith thing.

(but that was creative… reminds me of Vic's tune 'Kaila Speaks' from Yin-Yang)

 

[Les Fret]

Then there's this in da mix...

View attachment 4638091

Yes after reading the post I think not everyone including the OP is realizing that he uses a Whammy for those bending notes. Sure he is bending some notes with his left hand but many times he uses the Whammy in conjunction. I am not sure if he is using super light strings. I think I read normal gauge but I am not sure. Anyone knows his string gauges for sure?

 

[dirtychinchilla]

It seems like lots of bassists never experiment with the super light gauge string thing since we've all been so conditioned to focus on "fat tone" and string tension (especially on the B). It really does make some techniques much easier to pull off though, it really makes the bass feel much different overall. Not trying to discredit the playing of people like Vic at all, I just think more bassists should give that type of setup a shot because it's a lot of fun.

I moved my B string down from 0.130 to 0.120 recently and it's made the world of difference. It now has actual clarity to it, instead of sounding flatulent. Literally the best upgrade I've ever made on a bass! I do like the other strings that were in a 0.130 to 0.50 set, though, so I might have to mix and match in the future, which isn't ideal.

 

[two fingers]

Do you remember what the gauges were, just curious.

No. It was a Fodera signature set. This was 2001. I usually play mediums on most of my basses. These were ridiculously light and super flexible.

 

[mwbassace]

Are you talking about his fretting, his plucking, or both? Cause I can bend my strings with my fretting hand that far & I use 45, 65, 80, 100 gauge strings. And in no way am I claiming I'm at his level of awesomeness, LOL