Poll: Rate my Tone

[twc1313]

Dude, you sound killer...tone and playing. I think your dedication and lack of ego is very inspiring; being able to look at oneself honestly and always seek to improve does not come easy to most of us. I can't even imagine where you will be in a year, or four!

 

[Axstar]

The musicianship is top notch, but I find that tone to be pretty generic. Yes it is nice and flat and honestly reproduces your playing, but that 'modern tone' has been around since the '80s. I prefer a wee bit of dirt and warmth. I think that tone doesn't always pair so well with distorted guitars, for example.

But, who cares? OP is one hell of a player and looks to be having lots of fun.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

All I can do is encourage you to keep hammering it and never let people make you think that your to old to learn. That's my twin in the video playing guitar and he's only been playing 1.5 years now. Someone told him that guitar is a "young man's instrument," He started when he was 40. I taught him the theory I knew and he applied himself everyday for a year. He's not the greatest yet but is already a lot better than some guitarist I know who never ever apply themselves. The difference between Victor Wooden or any other bassist that's better than me is not that they are smarter but rather they practiced more while I chose to watch TV therefore they are more gifted. Just Food for thought.

I have been playing since I was a teen, and I will play as long as I am able to do it. I really regret limiting myself when I was younger because I thought people like Stanley and Jaco were simply beyond me, but I am happy to be studying now, and my only goal is to get better. People wanted me to play when I pretty much flying blind, so I figure, I will always have an outlet.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

Soloing, you sound like someone who is into Jazz, Smooth or otherwise. Tonally, you sound like a very good player favoring the back pickup on an active bass. Barring a new technology in bass guitars, I don't think there any really dramatic new sounds in our favorite instrument. I remember Jaco came out, and even accomplished young bassists were trying to figure out how he got his sound. I remember buying my first fretless and panning to the bridge pickup, and I was like "Oh, that's how he does it!"

I am a good bit older than you. I took up Gospel when the little groups I played in petered out, and I had an opportunity to play for a university choir and a church. I honestly had never seriously listened to Gospel, and I just used my Funk chops. I was more than ten years in before I really began appreciate Gospel, and listen to Gospel bassists as a discrete genre. I am now seriously studying because I just tired of holes in my knowledge.

I think guys coming to Gospel from different sorts of Pop and Jazz is very common except players who grow up COGIC or a related denomination. Gospel has always had a ton of outside influence. I actually like Quartet, and Old School Gospel. I post a lot of clips on my YouTube channel, but my level of play is far below yours.

I actually grew up in COGIC and started playing when I was around 16 so I really never had a chance to really learn a lot of church stuff before my accident where I cut my finger off. I also cut straight thru 3 of my other fingers straight to the bone (ouch). My hand was so sensitive that I couldn't play for years because of the regenerating nerves. I did however always keep a bass and listen to smooth jazz. One day I pulled my bass out from under the bed and my hands didn't feel so bad to play any longer. Still sensitive but the pain was manageable until I could toughen up my hands thru playing again. I dreaded having to go thru the blisters again from the strings irritating my hands but finally got thru it. I remember seeing a one-handed/one armed bass player on YouTube who was kill'n the bass and that's what motivated me to continue on playing. Here I am complaining about a lost finger tip and a few cuts when this poor guys whole arm is gone! Jeeze put things in prospective real quick for me.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I actually grew up in COGIC and started playing when I was around 16 so I really never had a chance to really learn a lot of church stuff before my accident where I cut my finger off. I also cut straight thru 3 of my other fingers straight to the bone (ouch). My hand was so sensitive that I couldn't play for years because of the regenerating nerves. I did however always keep a bass and listen to smooth jazz. One day I pulled my bass out from under the bed and my hands didn't feel so bad to play any longer. Still sensitive but the pain was manageable until I could toughen up my hands thru playing again. I dreaded having to go thru the blisters again from the strings irritating my hands but finally got thru it. I remember seeing a one-handed/one armed bass player on YouTube who was kill'n the bass and that's what motivated me to continue on playing. Here I am complaining about a lost finger tip and a few cuts when this poor guys whole arm is gone! Jeeze put things in prospective real quick for me.

I have all of my fingers, but I have arthritis in both thumbs, and I once sliced through the nerve of my right index finger flipping my favorite pocket knife at the time. I can only imagine what you went through.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

The musicianship is top notch, but I find that tone to be pretty generic. Yes it is nice and flat and honestly reproduces your playing, but that 'modern tone' has been around since the '80s. I prefer a wee bit of dirt and warmth. I think that tone doesn't always pair so well with distorted guitars, for example.

But, who cares? OP is one hell of a player and looks to be having lots of fun.

Thanks for your compliment. Please don't take offense to this because I really don't know what you mean by this. Can you explain what add more "dirt' means? Is that mids? I've always heard this term but never understood it.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

Dude, you sound killer...tone and playing. I think your dedication and lack of ego is very inspiring; being able to look at oneself honestly and always seek to improve does not come easy to most of us. I can't even imagine where you will be in a year, or four!

Thank you sir

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

I have been playing since I was a teen, and I will play as long as I am able to do it. I really regret limiting myself when I was younger because I thought people like Stanley and Jaco were simply beyond me, but I am happy to be studying now, and my only goal is to get better. People wanted me to play when I pretty much flying blind, so I figure, I will always have an outlet.

Yeah I feel you man!

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

I have all of my fingers, but I have arthritis in both thumbs, and I once sliced through the nerve of my right index finger flipping my favorite pocket knife at the time. I can only imagine what you went through.

Wow!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Wow!

I have fidget spinner now. They are safer for fidgety hands than ball bearing flipper pocket knives!

That said, pocket knife collecting was my original GAS. I will always have some around.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Thanks for your compliment. Please don't take offense to this because I really don't know what you mean by this. Can you explain what add more "dirt' means? Is that mids? I've always heard this term but never understood it.

I know you didn't ask me, but dirt and grit means more of a tube amp tone with a hint of distortion or overdrive.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

I know you didn't ask me, but dirt and grit means more of a tube amp tone with a hint of distortion or overdrive.

Ok not sure what overdrive is. Can you explain that one? Do you get distortion from a pedal? I do have the most famous Kern IP777 Tube pre and I love it to death!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Ok not sure what overdrive is. Can you explain that one? Do you get distortion from a pedal? I do have the most famous Kern IP777 Tube pre and I love it to death!

You can get it with a pedal, and you dial in as much or as little as you want. The Sansamp preamp would be good for that. Larry Graham used distortion and so did Bootsy.




Above are examples from Rock.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

You can get it with a pedal, and you dial in as much or as little as you want. The Sansamp preamp would be good for that. Larry Graham used distortion and so did Bootsy.




Above are examples from Rock.

Bass sound good for the rock genre but not sure how that would sound for soloing jazz style. I like to hear a little bite and grit in my notes especially when playing finger-style. Nevertheless I still dig the tone.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Bass sound good for the rock genre but not sure how that would sound for soloing jazz style. I like to hear a little bite and grit in my notes especially when playing finger-style. Nevertheless I still dig the tone.

Anything is worth an experiment, try it out at home or a rehearsal.

 

[Pedullist]

Why is it important to conform to a arguably 'modern' type of tone? If we'd play unamplified double bass, our sounds would be even more similar. Your phrasing is good, your timing is good, the tone you make with your fingers is good. Yes, it's relatively clean. It's how a bass guitar sounds on a clean amp. And yes, it might be a sound similar to the sound of many other bass players (digging a clean sound). But it's a sound you dialled up because you liked it, and because you know how to work with it.

I'd experiment with other sounds if those sounds appeal to you. But just for the sake of modernness?

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

Why is it important to conform to a arguably 'modern' type of tone? If we'd play unamplified double bass, our sounds would be even more similar. Your phrasing is good, your timing is good, the tone you make with your fingers is good. Yes, it's relatively clean. It's how a bass guitar sounds on a clean amp. And yes, it might be a sound similar to the sound of many other bass players (digging a clean sound). But it's a sound you dialled up because you liked it, and because you know how to work with it.

I'd experiment with other sounds if those sounds appeal to you. But just for the sake of modernness?

First and foremost thanks for chiming in. I totally agree with you. The distortion and overdrive thing isn't right for me. Not for the type of music I play. I like clean warm tone for the most part I'm satisfied with what I heard but I believe it could of been a bit better with a few more mids and highs.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

First and foremost thanks for chiming in. I totally agree with you. The distortion and overdrive thing isn't right for me. Not for the type of music I play. I like clean warm tone for the most part I'm satisfied with what I heard but I believe it could of been a bit better with a few more mids and highs.

Do you ever use a pick? Being a fan of both Chris Squire and Anthony Jackson, I added a pick to what I do almost from the beginning. There have been times when I used it more and used it less, but a pick will alter your approach, change your attack, and make you play differently.

 

[Nine-and-three-Quarters]

Do you ever use a pick? Being a fan of both Chris Squire and Anthony Jackson, I added a pick to what I do almost from the beginning. There have been times when I used it more and used it left, but a pick will alter your approach, change your attack, and make you play differently.

Nope always been a finger man. Don't see a reason I would ever need one.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Nope always been a finger man. Don't see a reason I would ever need one.

Never tried it at all? It's worth looking at if you are interested in experimenting with your tone and really forcing your brain to think differently.