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Tips to play extra clean?

vindibona1

vindibona1

Apr 18, 2015
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#1
I'm at that point where my bass playing has improved enough that I have to start paying more close attention to detail. I'm now (only) beginning to develop an ear for the sound that I want to get (not quite there yet). And while I don't see myself in a "rock" band, I want to pursue more musical theater and perhaps at some point even recording. As I listen to the pros that I want to emulate, everything I'm hearing is super clean. And while I can play most of the stuff that's put in front of me, sometimes it's not as clean as I would like it to be. So I'd like to know what some of you guys think about, or how you approach your bass so that every note becomes clean and clear and precise, with no buzz; just pure bass tone with controlled attacks.

TIA
 
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#2
vindibona1 said:
I'm at that point where my bass playing has improved enough that I have to start paying more close attention to detail. I'm now (only) beginning to develop an ear for the sound that I want to get (not quite there yet). And while I don't see myself in a "rock" band, I want to pursue more musical theater and perhaps at some point even recording. As I listen to the pros that I want to emulate, everything I'm hearing is super clean. And while I can play most of the stuff that's put in front of me, sometimes it's not as clean as I would like it to be. So I'd like to know what some of you guys think about, or how you approach your bass so that every note becomes clean and clear and precise, with no buzz; just pure bass tone with controlled attacks.

TIA
Click to expand...
Having a good setup on your bass, and being aware of your muting goes a long way. Also, most (nearly all) of the recorded bass parts you hear make judicious use of compression.
 
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#3
Spin Doctor said:
Having a good setup on your bass, and being aware of your muting goes a long way. Also, most (nearly all) of the recorded bass parts you hear make judicious use of compression.
Click to expand...

Setups are good. Working on muting technique. I need to learn a lot more about using compression. When I do acoustic gigs my DI/EQ box has a "soft compression" feature that I like a lot. I am not sure how to use compression for bass yet. I've also just begun learning Reaper and would put it on a par with learning Photoshop; the only difference being that when PS came out it had few features (only 1 undo), so the learning curve was incremental. With Reaper is so complex that it seems like I have to swallow half the enchilada before I can do anything with it.
 
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#4
Chances are good that you're listening to music played by studio musicians. These guys have reached a level most of us will never attain.

On the other hand ... if you listen to any bass track soloed, you'll likely hear some noise - clanks, squeaks, and the like.

Aside from making sure your instrument is set up properly, I think the key to attaining a clean sound is in (sigh) practice. Find some lines which challenge your ability to play them cleanly, play them slowly enough, and determine what is the challenge. Overcome said challenge, increase your speed.

I don't know about compression, because I play mostly double bass... ain't no compression if there ain't no amp.
 
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#5
vindibona1 said:
Setups are good. Working on muting technique. I need to learn a lot more about using compression. When I do acoustic gigs my DI/EQ box has a "soft compression" feature that I like a lot. I am not sure how to use compression for bass yet. I've also just begun learning Reaper and would put it on a par with learning Photoshop; the only difference being that when PS came out it had few features (only 1 undo), so the learning curve was incremental. With Reaper is so complex that it seems like I have to swallow half the enchilada before I can do anything with it.
Click to expand...
As Mr. Curry said, practice is the main thing. You don't HAVE to use compression, but all recordings get some during the mixdown to even out the tone and sustain. You can achieve the same clean sound on your own over time when you play live. Having said that, I recently put a Seymore Duncan compressor into my signal chain and it makes everything sound like a recorded part. Plus it's super easy to use and is very subtle. A lot of compressors have way too many settings. Ain't nobody got time for that.
 
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#6
vindibona1 said:
I've also just begun learning Reaper and would put it on a par with learning Photoshop; the only difference being that when PS came out it had few features (only 1 undo), so the learning curve was incremental.
Click to expand...

slightly OT, but Reaper is awesome. It has an “undo history” like photoshop, so don’t be afraid to “break” a song, you can always undo it.

Timing and note length are great places to start working on to get clean playing.
 
#7
rohi said:
slightly OT, but Reaper is awesome. It has an “undo history” like photoshop, so don’t be afraid to “break” a song, you can always undo it.

Timing and note length are great places to start working on to get clean playing.
Click to expand...
Timing I have pretty much down. I've been playing semi-professional trumpet for decades. Note length and attack is something I'm working on. I'm only beginning to become attentive to the nuances of bass. I'm still struggling to know what I want to hear when I'm working on slap technique. A lot of it is getting dialed into the nuances of the sounds that make one sound like a professional.
 
#10
If you ever get the chance to listen to isolated live bass tracks, you'll quickly realize that studio tracks are a completely different thing than what happens out in the world of live performance. Live isolated bass tracks (I just sent in one for Easter services - we're doing a distributed virtual band thing) are clanky, growly, and noisy to some extent. Sure, work on getting cleaner - we all do that. Just don't expect your bass with rounds and a decent setup to sound like an Old Precision with 30 year old flats, sky high action, and the tone rolled off - most studio tracks utilize something of that order and/or a lot of rolloff of treble stuff on the track.
 
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#18
vindibona1 said:
I'm at that point where my bass playing has improved enough that I have to start paying more close attention to detail. I'm now (only) beginning to develop an ear for the sound that I want to get (not quite there yet). And while I don't see myself in a "rock" band, I want to pursue more musical theater and perhaps at some point even recording. As I listen to the pros that I want to emulate, everything I'm hearing is super clean. And while I can play most of the stuff that's put in front of me, sometimes it's not as clean as I would like it to be. So I'd like to know what some of you guys think about, or how you approach your bass so that every note becomes clean and clear and precise, with no buzz; just pure bass tone with controlled attacks.

TIA
Click to expand...

Two things:

1) Practice. Practice again. Practice some more.
Concentrate not so much on getting all the notes at speed but getting the notes to sound clean. Slow down, practice making sure your muting is up to scratch and the notes are plucked evenly etc, making sure that any changes in dynamics are because you want them there, not because they just happened. Only try faster after you can play cleanly slowly. Use a metronome.

2) Listen to the isolated bass tracks of your favourite tracks. Many are available online, on youtube and other places... and you'll find that many are not very clean at all! However, once in the mix, they work. This is not to say "hey, don't worry about playing cleanly!"... do try to play cleanly, but don't lose heart if it takes you longer than you'd like.
 
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#19
I haven't read through all the comments so someone may have already touched upon this, but I think one of the most important things to consider when striving to play "extra clean" would be to focus on your muting techniques. Striving to get the best possible sound out of each note is very important, but so is ending them cleanly and precisely, as well as keeping the chatter behind them to a minimum.
 
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#20
TJH3113 said:
I haven't read through all the comments so someone may have already touched upon this, but I think one of the most important things to consider when striving to play "extra clean" would be to focus on your muting techniques. Striving to get the best possible sound out of each note is very important, but so is ending them cleanly and precisely, as well as keeping the chatter behind them to a minimum.
Click to expand...

You know, in all the tutorials that mention muting, I think not enough focus is on muting technique and different ways to apply muting. Usually the subject of muting is glossed over with someone saying "use the floating thumb", or "lay your thumb against the strings". I think muting is much more subtle than that. I have a large curvature in my thumb, and while it doesn't anchor anywhere and largely lays across the strings, there are sonic gaps where the strings don't get muted while I think I'm going the mechanics correctly, but the result is insufficient. Are there any instructionals that focus solely on muting?
 
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