String theory?

[GregT]

Maybe the people making those videos should consider getting a bass with a zero fret. They probably doesn't use their blinkers either!

 

[FullumMusic]

Well, I did say it might be Mandella Effect: it couldve been somebody else LOL...I cant even remember what I did three days ago let alone who quoted what in an article almost 40 years ago lolol

No doubt. I was less worried about the specifics and more about how weird “rules” like this spring into existence and disseminate. But I know what you mean. I’m pretty sure when I was a teen in the 90s reading bass player magazine, some great bassist said some random thing that I took as gospel until another great bassist contradicted it or I learned more about the context of the statement or something.

Anyhoo… it’s music. Any time anyone tells you some sort of absolute, don’t trust them, especially if “them” is me.

 

[ebo]

A lot of videos may say that, but anyone can post a video online. In the age of free information you get what you pay for.

I often avoid open strings on electric fretted bass because of the slightly different tone and feel, and especially because muting and note length control can be a slight p.I.t.a. compared to all the other notes I’m fretting.

I often use open notes because having notes you can play without fretting opens you up to a lot of things and is sometimes necessary to play a line.

I feel like old school nuggets of wisdom such as “be cognizant of when to use and when not to use open notes because of the different way they sound and feel and the mechanics of playing them,” leads to random off-handed comment by some famous bassist who might mention they try to avoid open notes (without a real explanation why, or that they still use open notes all the time, because that would have been a tangent from the actual interview question or the interviewer doesn’t dig deeper into the response), which trickles down through various publications and leads to misunderstood reductionist false “rules” being spread online videos claiming “never play open notes! It’s a bass rule! If you don’t play open notes you’ll be a great musician right now!”

And because there’s only so much interesting content a YouTube creator or blogger or podcaster can come up with, and they don’t want to be the only person who sounds like they don’t know all the things, they repeat all the things the other content creators say, and before long, everyone is repeating the same bad information.

Then longtime bassists start to question reality like, why the hell are all these experts telling me I shouldn’t be doing this thing I’ve been doing for years and has been a perfectly fine and valuable way of doing things? Are they for real? Did I miss something? Am I crazy? Am I even real? Do basses even exist? Does music even exist? Should I just play the kazoo?

You had me, right up until the word kazoo.

 

[bassliner50]

Yes I use them. Carefully.

 

[Nebadon2000]

I was never told in the beginning 'to or not to' use open notes but I choose 'not to' [E being an obvious exception on 4 string] sounded better to me and opposed to comment that 'That 'Sir James' used open for speed; I don't use open for speed

IE; No open notes in Pink Floyd Money Riff; although seems written with open [maybe if I was singing would use open string version]

 

[Dincrest]

I say it depends on the song. Sometimes the open D ringing out on a 4-string bass tuned to drop-D fits the song better than the closed D on the 3rd fret of a 5-string because that closed D doesn't ring out as much. Same note, different tonality.

 

[RJC1811]

I use open E or A to end a couple songs and I guess I use an open E in “Running down a dream” but mostly not. I have a buddy who plays guitar and mixes open strings in with chords and Licks in a beautiful way. Unfortunately my brain just doesn’t work like that. Probably like everything else, it’s something you have to ingrain in the shed.

 

[FullumMusic]

You had me, right up until the word kazoo.

Don't worry. Kazoos don't actually exist.

 

[Freekmagnet]

While I am aware that the open strings do sound different than the fretted notes, I’m usually too busy playing bass to either notice or care. I use open notes whenever it is convenient to do so.

 

[Killing Floor]

I do. A couple of my basses came with them.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Do you play open strings ?

This to me is a strange question.

A lot of Videos on YouTube call it bad form, while others say you can use open strings for upright bass and fretless but not so much on an electric fretted bass.

Sir James used open strings in his playing to increase his speed. So yes they do have a place sometimes.

So like what has been said here before; What say you?

Thanks

Clayton

Yes, for 55 years and counting only playing fretted basses. Nobody has complained. Nobody ever asked me why I did. I don’t think your bass will blow up if you do.

 

[FullumMusic]

Yes, for 55 years and counting only playing fretted basses. Nobody has complained. Nobody ever asked me why I did. I don’t think your bass will blow up if you do.

There's a great movie idea, like Speed, but for basses. A deranged madman has put explosives in your bass and once you start playing, you can't play an open note or it will explode. The screenplay practically writes itself.

 

[MtManiac]

I *was* taught to avoid them, like 40 years ago, maybe 38-39. The rationale was that tone would be different than fretted notes.

Can I tell a useful tonal difference? Not really. Do I still do it? Yep.

I’ll use open strings when I can’t comfortably or conveniently get around not using one, but I’m pinky-fingering the fifth fret an awful lot. One actual benefit I’ve have found is that changing keys means my muscle memory can just move a song around up or down the neck, without re-learning it around an open string. It’s not crucial, and honestly if I just practiced more often it would be even less of an issue.

But I’m definitely never gonna say to anyone about anything “thou shalt not.” Paring my own arrogance has been a life-long pursuit, and will continue until I die.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

There's a great movie idea, like Speed, but for basses. A deranged madman has put explosives in your bass and once you start playing, you can't play an open note or it will explode. The screenplay practically writes itself.

I’m Game! Who do we cast in the leads?

Bass player has to play the Flight of the Bumble Bee blindfolded sitting in a “Jolly Jumper” an error would cause the PA speaker stack system to collapse killing hundreds of adoring fans, and himself.

The villain (a former band manager) is seek revenge for losing his best band. The conclusion is the bassist plays flawlessly, so the agent climbs to the top of the speaker stack in in an effort to cause it to fail, is electrocuted when he tries to disconnect a counterfit Neutrik connector and falls dramatically to the stage. The critics were in pandemonium over the show. “It was a major triumph of artistic expression!!” When asked, the bassist replied, “ Yea, it was a great show, but we can only do it once.”

 

[2thAche]

Didn't seem to bother Steve Harris...

 

[ebo]

There's a great movie idea, like Speed, but for basses. A deranged madman has put explosives in your bass and once you start playing, you can't play an open note or it will explode. The screenplay practically writes itself.

Like spinal tap for bassists. “What happened to your third bass player?” Oh, that was sad. Open E string got him.

 

[rashrader]

Haha…. I don’t really care what folks will say about my technique or theory. The more you play, the more you’ll find what works best for you. Less internet. More bass.

 

[biobass]

I’ve heard this (to not use open strings) from when I first started playing - shortly before Rib 13 and the invention of the wheel. While I understand the difference in timbre, shifting patterns when transposing, etc. arguments, I’ve never paid too much attention to that “dogma”. I often use open strings when either technical or musical considerations call for it. Personally, I like slight difference in attack I can get and the sound of open strings, with the general exception of the G string.

For instance, using open strings while playing the bass line to the song Santa Fe from the musical Rent makes both technical and musical sense. From a technical stand point, using an open D facilitates the transition from the B9 tonality of the first part of the ostinato-like figure to the D9 tonality. From a musical sense, the use of the open A and D strings adds a bit of distinction later in the song for the first two beats of the root/root/fifth/ninth/fifth pattern. I can play all of those figures using stopped strings, but choose to use open strings.

When playing the upright or fretless, I use open strings as intonation checks and to facilitate position shifts, again when technically or musically appropriate. I generally avoid open strings on longer held notes because of the lack of vibrato.

 

[GlennRH]

@CaribooBass In my early days playing bass, my father paid for me to take 1:1 music lessons with a jazz guitarist. Some long-term value to me as a bassist resulted.

One of the essential lessons I learned from that teacher (my words, not his): Even though my bass has a fretted neck, the bass itself goes back centuries as a fretless instrument. Hence, bassists have for centuries played open-string notes whenever fitting as a way to maintain their tuning (intonation) in all of the notes they play. Thus, unless some efficiency can come from playing 5th-fret notes as you move from note to note, always prefer the open-string notes.

Especially when I play along with recordings on which the original bassist plays a fretless bass, I have repeatedly noticed advantages - both efficiency of movement and good timbre - to my playing fretted bass following that rule: always prefer the open-string notes.

No listener or watcher has ever suggested to me that my playing open-string notes might be inferior to the same notes played at the 5th fret.

 

[burgerdj]

Nope - since I moved to 5 strings, I’d say that 99% of my playing is fretted notes.