Open strings are a needed evil

[themickster]

I've read that we shouldn't play open strings. With that in mind, I took my open strings off. Now my bass is so quiet that I can't hear any of the fretted notes.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Use pedals for the missing notes.

 

[Gorn]

No more string noise.

 

[Slater]

Get a bass with a zero fret. No more open strings.

 

[michael_t]

Now my bass is so quiet that I can't hear any of the fretted notes.

Imagine all the ghost notes you can play now!

 

[themickster]

Imagine all the ghost notes you can play now!

I don't seem to hit any wrong notes any more, either.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I've read that we shouldn't play open strings. With that in mind, I took my open strings off. Now my bass is so quiet that I can't hear any of the fretted notes.

Same applies to amp noise.
Remove the power cord.

 

[themickster]

Same applies to amp noise.
Remove the power cord.

Singing with the mouth shut hides a few wrongs

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Singing with the mouth shut hides a few wrongs

Mic drop.

 

[2112]

No more clams!

 

[bassrique]

I grew up playing a 4 and then got a 5 when they became commercially viable to buy.

I then tried to never play open strings as that was somehow "cheating". I played the E on the 5th of thr B.

Crazy.

I also played like Jaco did in the Guild bass ad. One-finger-per-fret. ALWAYS.

Crazy.

What I didn't know is that Jaco played closed hand, or Simandl method, quite frequently. We didn't have YouTube then. Jaco also played "Teen Town" with lots of open strings. That blew my mind seeing it years later.

Now I play kinda like an upright player most of the time, but on electric. It's not cheating -- it's smart.

 

[iiipopes]

I've read that we shouldn't play open strings. With that in mind, I took my open strings off. Now my bass is so quiet that I can't hear any of the fretted notes.