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Your sound is in your hands

KellyM

KellyM

Jun 11, 2006
37
9
Lynnwood, WA
#1
I've probably posted a similar message before, so
to you who remember it, if I did, please bear with
me.

Since I have been back, I have seen a lot of non-
bass-related posts. Which is fine, I guess. But, I
really prefer bass-related posts. However, a lot
of the bass-related posts I've seen had to do with
this bass, that bass, these strings, those
strings, this amp, that amp, and so on.

Don't get me wrong, I have my fave basses, my fave
strings, and my fave other equipment. And they
definitely make a difference in my sound. But, the
key here is MY sound. I have never tried to sound
like someone else. And, were some famous bass
player, (for some inexplicable reason) to try to
sound like me, they probably couldn't.

We could swap basses and rigs, and we would still
sound like ourselves. Why? Well this is both a
horrible and wonderful thing.

We bass players tend to think that since basses
are just metal strings stretched across slabs of
wood, and run through a few effects, and played
through a certain amp, that all there is to sound
is having the right strings, the right slabs of
wood, the right effects, and the right amp. Oh,
sorry, I forgot the pickups. Those too.


Well, I guess, in one sense, this would be a good
thing, if it were true. It would allow a complete
beginner to sound just like Geddy Lee, Jeff
Berlin, Jaco Pastorius, Bobby McBay, or whoever,
if only they could afford to buy the exact same
stuff. Sure, they couldn't make all the same note
choices, or play as fast, and so on, but if you
buy into the "same equipment equals same sound"
thing, at least they could sound identical on
tunes that required simple whole notes, right?

Well, as the old saying goes, if you believe
that... well, I don't really need to finish it, do
I?

Of course not, when I explain it this way, (or at
least I hope not) but, still, we frequently see
posts that ask "What equipment do I need to get
THIS sound?"

The wonderful thing, at least for the players who
have been around long enough to establish a sound,
is that it does NOT merely come down to equipment.
The horrible part is that for beginners, it does
NOT merely come down to equipment.

Way better than 90% of your sound is in your
hands. I don't mean this euphemistically, as in
"Your life is in your own hands." I mean it
literally, as in your hands will shape your sound.
And, since the one thing of your idol's that you
can't buy is their hands, learn to play what you
have, and learn to develop your own sound.

I'm not saying you shouldn't strive for a sound
you want; I am instead saying that the simple
purchase of gear won't get you there. I'm also
saying that once you get most of the way to the
sound you want, you might find a new sound you
want more: your own.

Kelly
 
#2
As you said, it's a little of both your gear, and yourself. But I also think taht for many humble players, like myself, reaching a particular tone character with some gear helps forgetting about what you don't like in your sound, and focus more on what you play and how you play. To me it's kind of like opening your mind more to inspiration and feeling your music.
Sometimes the tone you want to reach, you've heard it from some more or less famous player. I don't think it's worng to try to get a similar tone if you like it, it's just getting help from others to achieve you own sound.
 
#4
Some good points KellyM,

I fuss and fuss with tone shaping based on the type of band/music I'm working with. But, in the end I still sound like me. This could be viewed as a good thing or a bad thing, but I've learned to accept my "limitations" and keep playing anyway.
 
#5
I agree and disagree at the same time. I don't like the percent added to the equation - 90%. It may be 90 at times, 100 at others and even less sometimes. I say this because I seem to play MY best when I have the tone I want from equipment. That is to say, unless I am playing my best it is not my sound completely and equipment aids in getting me there. Does that make any sense?
But yes, at the end of a day it is the bassist playing equipment not equipment playing the bassist.
 
#8
I couldn't disagree more. Mainly, because my job is to sound like a lot of different people on different songs over different eras, using as simple and reliable system as I can to do so. I accomplish that through the use of quality, versatile equipment that does what I want it to. Not all amps and basses can do that. Some are highly optimized for a particular use, and some are highly compromised for value. An SX through a Rumble can't go from Elvis to Hole live on two beats.

So, I'd imagine, with my rig, you'd sound like whatever you wanted to, or whatever I had it set to sound like. And with your rig, I'd imagine I'd sound like you.
 
#9
A lot of good points people are making here. I think people also really enjoy playing around with the equipment too. It's part of the fun. It's why there is so much discussion of GAS.

I'm a complete beginner at bass, but one of the things that continues to amaze me about the bass (and has me completely hooked on it) is how completely different the sound can be depending on how your hands meet the strings(I'm such a beginner, I don't even know how to word that! :o). Or exactly which part of your finger plucks the string. Or whcih finger plucks the string (I wish I could make my middle finger get the same sound as my index finger.) Even the "same note" on one string is so different from the "same note" on the next string.
 
#11
I think there's a lack of distinction between tone and style in your use of the word "sound". Different gear definitely affects tone. The player still sounds like the player b/c of style. It may be more an indication that as listeners we are attracted more to an player's style than his tone than anything else.
 
#12
dystopiate said:
I think there's a lack of distinction between tone and style in your use of the word "sound". Different gear definitely affects tone. The player still sounds like the player b/c of style. It may be more an indication that as listeners we are attracted more to an player's style than his tone than anything else.
Click to expand...

+1
 
#13
Somebody start
a slow clap
for this guy.

Anyway, I don't agree. Tone is in your hands is BS, well not totally, but mostly. Your fingers wont tighten up your lowend or add a bump in the lowmids like a cab or amp could. They do add the nuance that sets us apart from other plays, and thats the point that the "tone fingers" guys have.


EDIT: Yea, what they said^^^ "I'll always sound like me no matter what bass i play" yea, but the tone wont sound like yours! Thus, the tone is not in your fingers.
 
#14
Since we're generalizing and speculatin', I would say it's something like 70% hands and 30% gear. You can get more of about any tone quality with different gear and settings. A pickup with more oomph can make your technique a bit lighter and vice versa. However, your attack, where you attack on the strings, how clean your plucking is, etc, are the majority of your "sound". I think you could dial in a "Hole" or "Elvis" type tone, but if you pluck like Geddy Lee, then you are going to sound like Geddy playing Elvis. James Jamerson doesn't sound like Steve Harris. Steve is gonna sound like mud through James's rig. Motown Maiden and Rush Elvis would be pretty cool.

Beating things to death is what you do an a forum now isn't it? Beating basses to death is what it's all about.
 
#15
Ah, so some of you really do think an electric bass is a soulless plank, and that it's going to sound the same no matter who is playing it? What a bleak and hopeless world you live in. No matter how long you work at developing you own sound, all a complete beginner has to do to duplicate it is buy all the same gear?

I also play fingerstyle acoustic guitar, and I have certainly heard players who can get tone out of the very same guitar I just played that I envied. If you haven't heard anything similar, you are not very experienced, or you just don't know how to listen.

And for those who made comments about note choices, yes, many players are identifiable by the notes and phrases they play, however, here I was referring to tone, rather than style.

To you people who are willing to learn to hear, just listen, and it will become quite apparent that different people sound different on the same gear.

It would be truly horrible if YOU had no effect on your own sound, at least the way I see it. Don't you think?
 

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