No open strings?

[watt]

bassslinger el,

my vote is I disagree big time w/such a statement. I'm curious though... was this delivered to you via pouty lips? how about the arms - teapot or sugar bowl? was a shorter piece of chalk hurled at the deck? please recall carefully cuz it could mean a hill of beans...

on bass, watt

mike watt's hoot page

I was told when I started playing bass (many years ago)
"A good bass player never uses open strings."
I still find that odd after 37 years playing.
Any opinions on this?

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Who told you that, and did they give you a reason?

Here's a reason. I'm not saying it is the reason: It is easier to control a note's duration via finger on a fret. And I'd argue that you get better definition. Of course, there are places you want that open string to ring. The big bass riff in Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" comes to mind. I like that E string to vibrate.

 

[micguy]

OK, interesting coincidence - I'm working on music for next weekend, and the worship leader changed the key of the song. OK, so what?

One of the rationale quoted here for not playing open strings is to "make it easier to change keys" - you move the pattern, and you're done. OK, I understand that. However, the key in this situation moved to where, if I want to avoid using open strings, I now have to change the pattern - avoiding open strings, in this situation, makes it harder to transpose.

In reality, I am so used to transposing keys - sometimes in rehearsal, sometimes on the fly at a gig, that it's automatic - If I know a song, I can play it in pretty much any key without thinking - if a pattern has to change, it's just not an issue any more, so the issue of whether or not its easier to transpose is moot at this point - for me. But for others, its interesting that the advice does, at times, backfire for those trying to make thing easier on themselves.

 

[non]

justin chancellor, one of the greatest rock basses of all time wrote some of the most iconic bass lines ever using open strings.
end of discussion.

 

[micguy]

Here's a reason. I'm not saying it is the reason: It is easier to control a note's duration via finger on a fret.

Controlling a note's duration on an open note is done slightly differently than it is on a fretted note, but if one or the other doesn't work well for you, you just need to practice a bit more - they aren't really that different, and neither one is harder than the other.

 

[StatesideRambler]

I was told when I started playing bass (many years ago)
"A good bass player never uses open strings."
I still find that odd after 37 years playing.
Any opinions on this?

File that in the same trash bin as such pearls of wisdom as, “Playing bass ruins you for playing guitar.” and “When you learn on guitar tuning you’ll never figure out mandolin/violin tuning.” and “Nobody can play a classical guitar and an electric guitar equally well.” They may as well have told you not to play an F#.

The open strings yield a different timbre than stopped [fretted] strings. Playing A on the E-string 5th fret and on the D-string 7th fret and G-string 2nd fret and the A-string 12th fret all sound different than the open A. So does plucking over the pickup vs. plucking at the bridge vs. plucking over the neck. Q: Which of these is wrong? A: None, when used with forethought and taste.

A good player of ANY instrument keeps ALL options ready at hand. I haven't yet heard a good argument for deliberately limiting yourself and I’ve been playing music since the mid-late 1950s.

 

[ole Jason]

Get a zero fret and you'll never play an open string

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

So, a couple of thoughts... I used to avoid open strings as much as possible. This was a defensive maneuver to save myself grief when a front person would say "except we'll do the song in (not the original key)". Then, a decade or so ago, I started playing some EUB in a roots rock trio. Open notes came in very handy indeed! Changed my approach to playing a lot of other material as well. Finally (OK, 3 thoughts, so sue me) I have some basses with zero frets so they actually DO sound the same as fretted notes because, well, you get it. Pluck 'em all!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[slagheap]

somebody better tell James Jamerson.

 

[timmus]

I use less open strings since I switched to a 6er.

Pretty much the same here but I play a fiver most of the time...I don't really need to play open strings now unless I want to, especially pedaling on the low B...turning livers to jelly for over 25 years now.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Kip Winger made a career out of open strings!

 

[fdeck]

The rule I learned on the cello was: "Never play a note on an open string. Instead, play it out of tune and glare at the bass section."

Even in classical music there are reasons to play notes on open strings, and reasons not to. A slow passage might be fingered differently than a fast one. But you're never going to learn your way around the board, and develop good intonation, if you don't learn the fingered notes. Once you do, then you choose whatever makes sense for the passage, which includes considering what "lays" better in the right hand, plucked or bowed.

I play a lot with fiddlers. They use open strings unabashedly, and also play most tunes in the "fiddle keys." It's part of the music.

 

[2cooltoolz]

Last real band I played in (for about 4 years), we'd transpose to the vocalist. A lot. I moved to 5 strings, and gave up open strings. Lived mostly in 5th position and transposed (mostly down) as needed, on a given night.

 

[perfektspace6]

I love the tone of open strings. But I recognize you can hear some unwanted artifacts when recording and may avoid them for that reason. Live it does not matter.

 

[GreyBeard]

Been playing bass since 1968 and still use open strings from time to time. I must not be any good.

 

[Hyoga]

I use a capo on 2nd fret with A D G C F tuning. With that I keep the advantage of resting my left hand when playing "open" string, as well as the ease for certain riffs (don't quite see how to play highway star without open string, for example).
But the tone is the same as a fretted note, since it's, well, fretted. Also it's easy to transpose, just move the capo. Which I understand are the main "issues" people may have with open strings. Transposing was actually the main reason for doing so since I am often requested to change the key for a cover, either because of singer's range or because guitarist have neither a drop pedal or a 7 strings, that sort of thing.
The only time I remove it (or move it one full step lower if you want) is when I need extra low tuning, which happens only for one metal cover at the moment.

 

[Artman]

Stanley Clarke used open strings.

Off topic, but just had to give you props for citing one of the best jazz fusion albums of all time. Bass player album or not!

 

[lOmnivore S]

Yes a fretted note on the 5th does sound fuller and more 'in command' than the open string above.
But open strings have a fun of their own. They're also practical when you get a fast volley of notes.

I have big fun in playing an open and then muting it with my left hand, and then again, then again, in rythm...

Also I strongly suspect that this advice of not playing opens is more a learning trick to get a student or beginner in the right path of practices, patterns etc., than it is a real real advice for good playing.
So yes in a way, "don't do open strings" is perhaps a good advice "to become a good bassist" (i.e to learn and progress properly.)
But no it is not a good advice to be a good bassist.

 

[Topkat13]

Are open strings the opposite of closed strings?

 

[Thumpin6string]

Pretty much the same here but I play a fiver most of the time...I don't really need to play open strings now unless I want to, especially pedaling on the low B...turning livers to jelly for over 25 years now.

Or rocking buildings off their foundations.