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I've only been on TB for about a year, but I've heard that tone is in the fingers my entire life.
Tone objectively is in your fingers. Where you place your fingers and how hard you pluck probably has the biggest impact on your tone. However, whether you pluck softly near the bridge or slam away near the neck, Alex Webster style, your tone is still largely determined by what type of strings you're using, what bass your using, EQ, etc. Sure, Geddy Lee will always sound like Geddy Lee, but if you give him a P Bass with dead flats on it, he isn't going to sound quite the same.
Yes it is.
Good on you!
If the tone sucks in that area, you are using your right hand fingers at the wrong position. Tone is in the fingers.
Yes it will.
No sane person tweaks EQ just for tone in the 10th fret position.
Again, bad right hand technique.
Sigh. Just play the damn thing.
Good luck finding strings you like. Maybe ask the retailer for strings that sound really good at 10th fret position. LOL.
Regardless of the "tone is in the fingers," I do find that method of testing new strings very specific, so I hope the OP found the best strings for his target goal-tone.
As for me, the only times I'm playing near the 10th fret is specifically going for a tone that is unlike the usual tone I prefer when playing on the lower frets. 10th fret tone is not the tone I want for the rest of the time.
I play a lot of songs that rely on Open-E notes, so obviously I have a different need.
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Returning to "tone is in the fingers" also includes where your fingers are for both hands. OP gets a specific tone with a preference playing near the 10th fret with the plucking hand where ever, whereas I would probably play the same passage near the 5th fret and Open-Strings and lightly pluck between the neck and neck-pickup. Two distinct tones based purely on playing technique (fingers).
But yes, I do believe tone starts with the Strings. Then your playing technique. Then whatever the bass is made out of including pickups. Then your bass' settings. Modified by whatever effects, then the amp, then out the speakers. Is it just fingers? Of course not. But it's one of the quickest and audibly obvious methods of changing tone.
As for me, the only times I'm playing near the 10th fret is specifically going for a tone that is unlike the usual tone I prefer when playing on the lower frets. 10th fret tone is not the tone I want for the rest of the time.
I play a lot of songs that rely on Open-E notes, so obviously I have a different need.
--
Returning to "tone is in the fingers" also includes where your fingers are for both hands. OP gets a specific tone with a preference playing near the 10th fret with the plucking hand where ever, whereas I would probably play the same passage near the 5th fret and Open-Strings and lightly pluck between the neck and neck-pickup. Two distinct tones based purely on playing technique (fingers).
But yes, I do believe tone starts with the Strings. Then your playing technique. Then whatever the bass is made out of including pickups. Then your bass' settings. Modified by whatever effects, then the amp, then out the speakers. Is it just fingers? Of course not. But it's one of the quickest and audibly obvious methods of changing tone.
Strange, every great player I know that I've met sound like themself sonically no matter what kind of cheap or expensive bass they were playing at the time, it's just that on their very own equipment they tend to get the same sound, just more distinct and seemingly more effortless.
Certainly the higher you get on any one string the sound is often different from the lower part, be it due to gauge or brand. There is certainly not a co-relationship however with the question of tone being in the fingers and this, thus the large commotion in this thread, of course.
What is the reason for posting this thread? Both the statements are interesting and a great subject to debate, altough so far it is pretty one-sided.
Yes. Yes indeed.
Wow! Seems like you got it all worked out. And with only two basses too. Awesome. How soon will you be finishing your book and grace the entire bass playing world with your divine revelations 'bro'?
There is no real point as there will never be a consensus on this subject so it's one of those things that keep repeating itself this and other forums.
HERE'S WHERE MY TONE COMES FROM
1 - First I run into an equalizer
2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.
3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.
4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.
5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.
6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.
7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.
Schematic diagram of my effects.
I've looked through your schematic, and I see no fingers anywhere....
I have a dozen basses all with different combinations of pickups, scale or the, strings and body styles fro hollow to solid. Each bass sounds different, yet the way I Play them is uniquely me. My hollowbody Ibanez 30 scale has different inherent sound than my 34-scale MIj Fender Jag deluxe, yet my style of playing makes them sound like me.
Interestingly, musicians are equally known for their style and note choices which is not directly related to their "tone" and is one of the reasons players are still recognised when they choose different basses to give them access to different tone opportunities and why I still sound like me when I play the same bass as someone else.
Rubbish.
I have drawers full of strings sets. Almost no two sets have ever been exactly the same in tone.
Spent dozens of hours experimenting with tone and strings
And many an hour trying technique , finger pressure, playing technique to see how it affects tone.
My fingers are no different than anybody else's really as far as ways to play a note on a string.
At the end of the day tone is basically determined by strings , pickups and amp used.
I have flat strings sets that sound completely different to roundwound sets.
I have roundwound sets that vary in tone greatly from set to set, as do the flats.
I also have and have had amps that sound quite dissimilar in tone/sound .
As well as basses that emphatically sound dissimilar.
You can get some minor variation in tone depending on how you play.
But you won't change the fundamental characteristic of the string sound.
"Tone is all in the fingers " is absolute b*llsh*t.
Fender P-bass loyalists, for one example, will be glad to fill everyone in on how you can't get that tone from other basses. Along with many a record producer through the years.
Not that I'm promoting Fender or P-basses.
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What's your point? You're fighting so hard against the concept of tone being in your fingers. Why? Believe what you want. No argument will sway you. Good for you.
Dozens of hours experimenting with different sets of strings focussing entirely on the 10th fret have you?
Not been paying attention much have you? Different types of wood used in the instruments, bridge, nut have a tremendous effect on how equal your tone will be between fret 1 and the octave. Also, active pickups will make the tone sound more even across the fretboard but imo that tone is a bit too hi-fi sounding.
The way you fret your notes, the way you trigger the string also has a tremendous effect on how that tone will sound.
What type of strings you use does have an effect on tone, be it flatwound, roundwound or something in between.
I stick to stainless steel roundwound strings with hexacore. Which brand they are I really do not care that much, most strings of this type will do.
My basses do sound different when I play them from when a friend plays that same bass and I think pretty much everyone on the planet will agree on this.
You however decided the player has no effect whatsoever on the tone of the instrument. GOOD ON YOU!
Frankly, find another hobby kid. Off you go now. Bye!
Not been paying attention much have you? Different types of wood used in the instruments, bridge, nut have a tremendous effect on how equal your tone will be between fret 1 and the octave. Also, active pickups will make the tone sound more even across the fretboard but imo that tone is a bit too hi-fi sounding.
The way you fret your notes, the way you trigger the string also has a tremendous effect on how that tone will sound.
What type of strings you use does have an effect on tone, be it flatwound, roundwound or something in between.
I stick to stainless steel roundwound strings with hexacore. Which brand they are I really do not care that much, most strings of this type will do.
My basses do sound different when I play them from when a friend plays that same bass and I think pretty much everyone on the planet will agree on this.
You however decided the player has no effect whatsoever on the tone of the instrument. GOOD ON YOU!
Frankly, find another hobby kid. Off you go now. Bye!
OP, have you actually tried to get different tones with your fingers? Obviously different strings, amps, etc will sound different, but probably the largest part of your tone (unless you run some very heavy effects) is your fingers. Try playing rather hard near the neck, bouncing the strings off your fretboard, then try to pluck lightly near the bridge. Try some freestrokes out if you get the chance. Use your nails a bit if you want.
Been there done it. Hundreds of times.
So here you have TalkBass, where, there are thousands of posts with people dissatisfied with the tones of certain strings.
and.......thousands of posts about which pickups sound the best (darkest to lightest, deepest, mellowest, twangiest etc etc etc.)
and..thousands of posts about which bass sounds better and which pup configuration sounds best and whether shorts sound better than longscales or vice-versa.
The phrase "EB-O mudbucker pickup?....too muddy for my tastes so I swapped it out for a (XXX)" has been repeated here ad infinitum for example.
In many cases answered by resident "gurus" paragraph after paragraph after paragraph.
Which would all be totally unnecessary if it was just a matter of adjusting your finger/plucking style.
Did we mention adjusting your pick style?
Actually yesterday I swapped out an A and D string on a bass because they were too tubby and weird sounding at the frets I described. Took me a bit of experimenting with strings to get them where I wanted. But it worked out well and now they sound good. And they also sound quite a bit different than the strings I took off.
If I had a dollar for every hour I've spent messing with strings and tone I could probably buy a new bass.
If there was nothing wrong in the first place I would never bother.
Hobbyist shmobbyist. There isn't a bass I own that anybody here could walk in and produce a tone on it that I couldn't get myself.
Sorry...not buying any of the counter arguments...because I know for a fact they are b.s.
