The closest I've heard with EB is Joey Spampinato from NRBQ, using a Dano, I'm sure w some kinda flats. He has this thumb/finger plucking thing going on where he can sound like rockabilly upright slap bass. It's pretty wild.
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Strings to sound like a double bass?
- Thread starter Just Wrong
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—-Edit: i’m really sorry, I know you asked about strings, but this is something I have thought a lot about. TLDR: use a mute, use fresh flat wounds, shape your technique to pull out an upright sound. Rolling down tone knob is poo poo, tapewounds are double poo poo ——
so it depends on what you are really looking for- to some guys, just getting a fat booming sound with very little treble is all they’re actually looking for.. I’m going to operate on the assumption that you are trying to closely emulate a double bass, like in a jazz combo or something.
often, I feel that strings may be one of the less important factors..
flats are an obvious choice, though I do not think the flats alone do very much to achieve this goal.
The biggest trick to use, assuming that you are not trying to buy another instrument, would be a mute. It makes the attack and decay way more characteristic, and subdues the highs and upper mids very pleasantly, whereas simply rolling off the tone just doesn’t sound very much like a standup.
The combination of flats and a mute have a lot of good synergy for this goal, and will do about 90% of the “as close as you are gonna get” work. This is one of the cases where newer flats may work better than old dead flats- there is this thwack sound from flats slapping against frets which I think a lot of people find unpleasant with flats, but in the faux-upright context it’s very very helpful so give some convincing elements to the sound, and it’s very prevalent with fresh new flats. This is another reason the rolling off the tone knob is not the right move.
I’m certain people will/have suggest tapewounds; I think they are terrible at this goal. Firstly, the tone just plain doesn’t sound like an upright, it just doesn’t. Beyond that, I find that the attack/sustain envelope is just all wrong. I also think that the low tension rubberband feel leads to a technique-sound relationship and string noise/thwack that heads in the total wrong direction, and to me, makes the goal of a convincing upright sound completely unattainable.. I think you’re better off with regular round wounds with the tone rolled off
The icing on the cake is going to be from the technique used, in combination with the action and string tension. I have found that both pretty high action and pretty low action can be useful for an upright sound, provided we are on board with the flats and a mute..
High action and tight strings with a pretty robust mute can give you that “hard pull” sound with the big thunky boom you may want for a very trend or big band gig, for example. Interestingly, I find that extra low action can be very useful in a different way- again with high tension and a goldilocks mute, low action, you get that nice thwack string noise as you pull through and hit the next string with your right hand. It also affords a little bit more of the mwah fretless sound, compared to the Hyatt action sound ( and depending on the other parts of your set up and pickups).
An emerging theme in my approach is that you wanted to feel how it sounds, because it sounds how it feels. So with that, changing your technique two more like an upright is going to help the sound as well. for the most part that means having your index finger more parallel to the string and making a lot of contact with a long portion of the side of the finger. If you aren’t getting new calluses, you aren’t doing it right.
if you would at all consider another instrument, there are several hollowbody etc basses that are great. Ibanez mix two different ‘artcore’ body types that can do this really well and are not expensive.
I also follow @gustav.broman on Instagram, who does an extremely good and convincing “upright on electric” thing. I think his sound is extremely usable for a legit jazz context. Hard to say whether or not you can really ever get this “convincing” in the sense that you could fool serious players with good years, but I absolutely think you can get the sound appropriate for the art form.
Sometimes it's something you wouldn't expect. Like Spampinato I mention above, but also Steve Swallow. Swallow started on upright, and even though now he uses a fretted EB(a pretty unique one admittedly), roundwound strings and a pick, his playing often feels more like upright than many folks using flats/tapes, fretless, fingers, etc.^This.
You can’t fully duplicate an upright bass sound on bass guitar. But if you employ more of an upright bass playing technique you can provide enough auditory hints that it will come across as one. Or at least enough to satisfy most ears.
An upright bass player will approach the way he or she constructs a bassline differently than the way a bass guitar player normally would. So it’s a good idea to listen to as much music with an upright bass player as you can to get a feel for the stylistic differences.
As far as strings go, the general consensus seems to be to use tapewounds. And they do work well for that. But I’ve also gotten a decent enough upright sound with a set of very dead roundwounds on an ABG. And I know one bass player who gets an amazingly authentic upright vibe going with flats and a fretless bass. So again, it’s less about the strings and more about the player.
Luck!
Closest I thought I were was with a Precision, defretted and strung with GHS Precision, plus plucking near the neck as possible. Then I got myself a double bass and realized how far I actually was.
We are never ever ever gonna get that attack of a "giant violin" out of a member of the electric guitar family unless...
We emulate the raised floating bridge, tailpiece. Bassbar inside a HOLLOW body.
We emulate the raised floating bridge, tailpiece. Bassbar inside a HOLLOW body.
Turnaround
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To answer the question without going into side discussions, your best bet is to get a string that's constructed like a double bass string. Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats come closest. TI makes real double bass strings and they use that knowledge to create a string for electric bass using a highly pliable steel core which is wrapped with silk and a flat ribbon of nickel alloy for the outer winding.
The closet I've heard to a DB on a electric bass guitar was a
Rickenbacker with tapes. The Rick seems unlikely to sound that way.
Maybe it was modified but look up the Brubeck brothers videos, He has been
using that axe for many years.
I use GHS tapes on a electric chambered bass w/piezo and it's OK but not close to a DB.
Rickenbacker with tapes. The Rick seems unlikely to sound that way.
Maybe it was modified but look up the Brubeck brothers videos, He has been
using that axe for many years.
I use GHS tapes on a electric chambered bass w/piezo and it's OK but not close to a DB.
Which upright bass? Solid, plywood, hybrid? German, French, Tyrolean, American? Which pickup type (piezo, mic, magnetic pickup)? Which upright player?
No 2 are created equally and one might sound like the most "acoustic" thing you've ever heard, while another sounds like a fretted solid body electric. Note choice and note envelope shape is more important than specific string type. Learn how to shape the note envelope and emulate note choices of upright players.
See if you can rent an upright and study with someone to experience it.
In a brief nutshell, you use the whole of your finger in parallel to the string, rather than the tip/pad of the finger across the string.
Nice looking rig! I'm going out on a limb and assuming that holster on the front of your DB is to hold the bow?
My initial thought was "Nice rifle holster!"
Depending on what part of town the gig is in, it can go either way.
As is always the case with these threads, it's not particularly helpful to have a dogpile of "nothing sounds like a double bass except a double bass". Those of us who have invested time and money into trying know that this is the case, already.
But, there are things you can do to get as much of that vibe as you can, with careful consideration of gear and technique, and even note choice.
You just need to look at what a double bass is and does, and transfer the things you can (string type, technique, puckup type), emulate the things you can (mutes and reverb), and give up on the things you can't transfer or emulate (scale length and the big hollow box).
You won't sound like a double bass, but you can achieve a pleasing tone that doesn't sound like a typical bass guitar tone, but still offers the portability of a bass guitar.
But, there are things you can do to get as much of that vibe as you can, with careful consideration of gear and technique, and even note choice.
You just need to look at what a double bass is and does, and transfer the things you can (string type, technique, puckup type), emulate the things you can (mutes and reverb), and give up on the things you can't transfer or emulate (scale length and the big hollow box).
You won't sound like a double bass, but you can achieve a pleasing tone that doesn't sound like a typical bass guitar tone, but still offers the portability of a bass guitar.
Learning Upright bass is very fun and rewarding, but it's lots of money and dedication, don't get me wrong, you can for sure be out playing Bluegrass maybe quick but arco takes time and it's not a race anyway. I loved learning it and became somewhat busy but hoping after college to get fully back into it. So I understand it's not easy, a lot of the comments on here saying to just "go play upright" yeah because it's that easy...
It really depends, this isn't just a string thing, it's many things. For me a shortscale-hollow body bass with tapes or flats can get me to that ball park and with a foam mute too. But yes it's never going to be an upright bass.
Adam Neely has a video that doesn't really explained but I think it's helpful.
Now while I do not agree with everything in this video, I think it's pretty good, and also Adam plays Electric bass in NYC, if you know about NYC, finding an Upright player I shouldn't say is easy but for sure there will be loads of more players on Upright compare to somewhere else in the US IMO. So if he has had a successful career on Electric bass in a DB heavy genre and area... you gotta give credit that's all!
But also, to go back to my first statement, if you can and have the time to learn Upright, please do if you want. You can rent, there's some good Uprights for sale that do not break the bank too much, hardest thing IMO is finding a teacher. Some people on here play only using pizzicato which I don't agree with but tons play like that, everyone also learning paste is different but you can for sure get to playing ability with dedication and if you have bass theory down and dedication you can be there in no time IMO. I was able to play some simple Bluegrass and Rockabilly, Classical of course still taking time and Arco is a whole new world for me but it's not a race, my goal was just community bands/Orchestras. Life is great when you just relax and work slowly but dedicated on things. Anyway hope this help in the sea of comments. All just my opinions at the end of the day and experiences. Have a great day all the best.
It really depends, this isn't just a string thing, it's many things. For me a shortscale-hollow body bass with tapes or flats can get me to that ball park and with a foam mute too. But yes it's never going to be an upright bass.
Adam Neely has a video that doesn't really explained but I think it's helpful.
Now while I do not agree with everything in this video, I think it's pretty good, and also Adam plays Electric bass in NYC, if you know about NYC, finding an Upright player I shouldn't say is easy but for sure there will be loads of more players on Upright compare to somewhere else in the US IMO. So if he has had a successful career on Electric bass in a DB heavy genre and area... you gotta give credit that's all!
But also, to go back to my first statement, if you can and have the time to learn Upright, please do if you want. You can rent, there's some good Uprights for sale that do not break the bank too much, hardest thing IMO is finding a teacher. Some people on here play only using pizzicato which I don't agree with but tons play like that, everyone also learning paste is different but you can for sure get to playing ability with dedication and if you have bass theory down and dedication you can be there in no time IMO. I was able to play some simple Bluegrass and Rockabilly, Classical of course still taking time and Arco is a whole new world for me but it's not a race, my goal was just community bands/Orchestras. Life is great when you just relax and work slowly but dedicated on things. Anyway hope this help in the sea of comments. All just my opinions at the end of the day and experiences. Have a great day all the best.
