Tone or Technique : most important for you?

[KromaatiKlauun]

For me tone is better, my style depends on sounding heavily distorted and I try to play simple in order to enjoy that better

 

[fdeck]

Imagine violinists having this conversation. Or upright bassists.

 

[JimmyM]

Imagine violinists having this conversation. Or upright bassists.

Word.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

i’ll take a great tone with terrible playing for $200

 

[Ragoo]

If the role of the bass in modern music is to link the rhythm of the drums and the harmony of the guitar/keys/voice/whatever, then homogeneity with the sound of the harmonic components and technical proficiency to lock in with the drums is necessary to fill this role.

It's like saying would you rather be able to read or write; they need each other.


...but I'd still rather sound good.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Both and neither. Have seen some great players with mediocre technique make cheap gear sound good. All that matters to me is that the groove is good and whatever is played fits the music. That was probably of no help.

 

[bass183]

With good technique comes great tone

That is more less what I was thinking. I wholeheartedly agree. I'll add that great tone comes from a left hand and a right hand sensitivity that comes with really good technique of both hands.

 

[stringtapper]

False dichotomy.

Next!

 

[MrLenny1]

Ray Brown had great tone and how did he achieve it ? Great technique.
Start another D%^& poll.

 

[LBS-bass]

Technique doesn’t mean playing fast. It means playing artfully and that includes developing the ability to pull different tones from your instrument. If you don’t have technique you don’t really have tone. You might have something that sounds good but you don’t have mastery over how that works.

 

[retslock]

Tone on an electronic instrument is totally subjective. Good technique doesn’t automatically give you great tone on an instrument that has electronic tone control. I never liked Jaco’s tone but I never questioned his technique.

 

[honeyiscool]

Technique.

If you don’t have good tone, then you don’t have good technique. Whereas you could, in theory, have good tone without having a good technique. Good tone is completely included in good technique. So, voting for tone over technique is voting for mediocrity, so I would rather vote for having standards.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

If

Salut all

Another silly poll, we all like them

Most important factor for you, bass players : a GREAT TONE or an IMPRESSIVE TECHNIQUE ?

We speak about what can make you like another bass player, or what you work the most, etc

I know the tone is linked to technique and technique linked to tone , but be serious!

Myself I appreciate better a player with super tone, than super technique.
I am also more proud of my tone than my technique and put more effort into it.
As an example :
I prefer spending time and effort crafting a tone through pedals and researchs and way of playing than spending time learning how to noodle as super fast slapitislapito pop or horse run at 180 bpm



And you ?

EDIT :
YES we all know that someone who plays super great in terms of skills can achieve a great tone.
But I can tell you that a lot of people that plays with a good level can sound like s*** and can have a random tone that no one cares.


For me , the tone option means : working your tone, choosing your gear ( pickups preamp pedals strings amp etc ) , searching for a specific tone, working on that and not just some random " plug and play"
For me the technique option means : working on your skill, knowing super secret ninja fingers tricks, be quick to play, having a super groove , showing your death playing


So the question is more :
What interests you more between both ?
What makes you say "wow"
What are you the most proud of?

Do you prefer a basic player who KNOWS how to play but has an identifiable killer tone or a show-off player that kills everything but sounds like everybody random tone ?


C'mon guys not just the basic answer " One leads to the other " because it is not the point and also it is not always true

EDIT 2 :

Well I prefer being a B+ player with a great tone, worked with love and pain to find the perfect alchemy between hands, gear, personality, than being a A+ player ( who can play things considered as harder to play ) with a random OK tone

Chicken or the egg question. I will say it would take most less time to develop good tone than good technique. I spent 35 years playing with a certain EQ some bassist told me about and never really bothered to investigate how bad it was in the house and how much sound men hated it, but my technique was impeccable... took me exactly 3 minutes with a good parametric EQ and
there it was, instant goood tone , just in time for my aging chops deterioration....lol!!!

 

[byronic_zero]

The two are inseparable. Put the same bass running through the same amp in two different sets of hands and it will sound completely different.

There's no one "impressive" technique, either. Dee Dee Ramone playing all downstrokes is IMO an impressive technique that produces a great tone, but I don't think that's quite what the OP means...

 

[logdrum]

Hmm - good tone is a product of good gear and well developed technique (including how to wrangle the best tone out of YOUR gear) in my book. If I pick up Marcus Miller's bass, and play the same notes he does, most of you, even blindfolded, could tell it's not him playing.

Based my response on the OPs premise

"I prefer spending time and effort crafting a tone through pedals and researchs and way of playing than spending time learning how to noodle as super fast slapitislapito pop or horse run at 180 bpm"

Running like a horse at 180 bpm is more effort. Pedals and effects are not free. Hence my simple answer

 

[juggahnaught]

Technique. No question. Technique covers:

- A solid sense of rhythm and groove
- An ear for melody and harmony
- Physical technique - being able to play the lines you've crafted
- Execution - being able to be consistent at all tempos without rushing or dragging
- Understanding of the instrument - its capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses
- Making good musical choices either compositionally or improvisationally
- Playing nuances and phrasing (I have to work on this one)
- Personality - being able to express yourself on the instrument

The most important thing to me is being a musician, not just a bass guitar player. A musician with good technique will always pull the most out of their working toolset, no matter how grand or how meager, no matter how complex or how simple. Specific tones can be bought, crafted, found - just like an expensive pair of basketball shoes, or low-profile tires and a turbocharger - but at the end of the day it's the musicianship that we strive for. Low-profile tires and a turbo won't make you a good driver. Expensive shoes won't make you a great basketball player. Great tone doesn't make you a great bassist.

Great technique makes you a great musician.

 

[logdrum]

For just tone, not groove, there is only so much you have to do on the bass guitar. You are not bowing or blowing. There are no or very few long note exercises that you have to do . If you want to really know how technique influences tone, get an upright DB and bow it or learn flute or saxophone or trumpet. Do long tones.

Having said. I like bass players that do a lot of cool and out stuff with pedals. The more whacked and even lo-fi the better. Sometimes I just enjoy the noise. I also like arco players that do new music, avant garde, conduction and produce crazy stuff out of extended bowing techniques. Making pedals work require some skill as well

 

[logdrum]

Sorry and I know I may be in the minority, but I have never listened to a good player that uses pedals on a bass. Distorted bass sounds like crap to me, and the the more distorted the more crap I hear.
.

Bobby Vega used Fuzz and other pedals

 

[crazyBassClown]

I can't believe the poll is anywhere near even...

Talkbass is full of people avoiding practice and drooling over gear. I don't find it surprising at all.

To answer the question at hand though, if on a tangent of tone in general rather than bass tone.
Compare the presidents of the USA first album, with lump, kitty peaches etc.
This album has bad guitar tone and sounds like it was recorded on solid state amps. This album made them world famous and millionaires.
The follow up album has much nicer tone, and better production values, and tube amps and was nowhere near as successful as the previous.

The moral. Tone matters far less than you think it does.

 

[Cliff Colton]

For myself, it’s technique. When I listen to others, it’s tone.