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Pickup Selection based on key?

C

Cotsey

Guest
Sep 14, 2011
6
0
#1
I was playing with another bass player the other day and he told me that he blends more of the neck pickup for major keys and more of the bridge pickup for minor keys.

Does this sound right? I've always just gone for what fits the song/band best, and basing it off of the key seems like a pretty basic generalisation.

What do you do?
 
#3
Not really, blend your pickup to whatever sounds good to you for that specific tune. Sometimes a minor key can require a brighter sounding bass and so forth. It really has more to do with the feel of the tune... not all minor tunes sound/feel the same and not all major tunes sound/feel the same so there is no reason to make it so strict.
 
#6
Cotsey said:
I was playing with another bass player the other day and he told me that he blends more of the neck pickup for major keys and more of the bridge pickup for minor keys.

Does this sound right? I've always just gone for what fits the song/band best, and basing it off of the key seems like a pretty basic generalisation.

What do you do?
Click to expand...

If he has this ritual, let him.
But it's nonsense. :-)
 
#9
The basic idea of different timbres suiting different scales is fine - the level of percieved consonance and dissonance is affected by the overtones in the note. But from that POV I would expect him to do the reverse of what he does...

OR... maybe a bright twangy sound together with a major key just sounds too... happy?
 

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