playing without sounding like you're playing

[DRut]

Hey guys Im back

So needless to say i haven't put much time in during my hiatus. However, my bass is never far from me and I cant seem to leave it alone, I think the bass is my soul animal.
Anyway the title is a little ambiguous as is my question.
I listen to the radio and songs that I enjoy I notice that the bas notes seem seamless however when I play you can hear the notes being plucked if that makes sense. how do I get my notes to sound seamless. Other than practice is this an eq or effect setting.

 

[bholder]

It's called "legato" playing, and yes, it takes practice and good timing. Effects-wise, compression can help too.

 

[mambo4]

Could be an issue with your legato technique, here's an exercise for that


could be an issue with plucking technique

 

[Groove Doctor]

I turn my volume down when I’m playing but don’t want sound like I’m playing.

What was the question?

 

[Les Fret]

Not sure what you mean? But don’t you just strike the strings too hard?

 

[Wasnex]

As a player, it relates to setup, technique, and how you set your tone.

It can also relate to a specific mixing technique such as sidechain compression: The bass can be run through a compressor that is keyed of the bass drum. The idea is the bass is ducked (reduced in level) every time the bass drum hits.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Practicing and perfecting your technique is one. Two has a lot to do with how the recording is mixed.

 

[Slevage]

It's called "legato" playing, and yes, it takes practice and good timing. Effects-wise, compression can help too.

Practice-yes
Equipment to make up for technique-bad idea

 

[john_g]

Practice and technique definitely, but...remember the bass is in the mix with alot of other instruments and voices, it covers up alot of that.

 

[Five or Six]

As a player, it relates to setup, technique, and how you set your tone

This is it in a nutshell. Adding pedals or other equipment to cover up poor technique just won't work.

 

[KenD]

What you hear on a recording has been professionally processed, EQ'd, mixed and mastered.

 

[Grinderman]

Are you referring to what you hear coming from your amp as you play in real-time along with and over a recorded song coming from another source?



Edit to complete the thought and add suggestions:

Listening to your playing from your amp over in one corner while juxtaposed with a recorded song coming from your stereo or radio can confuse the matter. That's far from what it would sound like if your playing were magically reordered, mixed, and mastered with the song playing on the radio in real-time.

Listen to the song. Learn, practice, and perfect the song broken down into parts or sections until you're satisfied with how your playing sounds -- just playing alone.

Once you've worked out the parts or sections repeat that process, this time playing the parts or sections out together until you've mastered playing the complete song.

Ultimately the higher goal isn't to sound like a clone of someone else; it's that you play and sound great with your own voice or style.

If you have the means you could also benefit from recording and listening to your playing.

 

[Killing Floor]

Practice or keyboard

 

[Sortarican]

but...remember the bass is in the mix with alot of other instruments and voices, it covers up alot of that.

+1, Listen to this JPJ isolated track that's probably one of the most "seamless" sounding bass lines in history on the final mix, but isolated you do in fact hear a lot more attack, fretting, squeaks, etc. tones.
Maybe you're just being too hard on yourself.

 

[iTzPrime]

It is a mixture of playing legato, playing evenly (so that if you play 8th notes and record yourself - they all nearly have the same volume), and of course compression and saturation.

 

[Thumpin6string]

A lot of the bass you here are computer generated or perhaps even a keyboard, so no plucking sound will be there.

 

[Gervais Cote]

What you hear on a recording has been professionally processed, EQ'd, mixed and mastered.

Exactly this.
Live performance with amps and speakers instead of having your bass plugged into the console in a noiseless studio is a complete different story.

 

[Hounddog409]

Difference in a recording or live.

There is a lot of things happening on that recorded sound....compression, eq, etc. Will never get that 100% playing live. No band sounds 100% playing live vs recording.