bass players - technique questions inside

[Fragle]

first of all: not sure whether this is the right section lol

anyways, so after playing guitar for almost a decade i'm starting to get SERIOUSLY interested into playing bass....short of getting me an yamaha rbx375 too.

being a guitar player first and foremost, i don't know too much about bass techniques tbh. i know the basics about finger style playing (even though i still suck at it hard); my questions are more geared towards playing with a pick.

i wonder if you bass playing guys could give me some hints what to do, and what NOT to do when playing the instrument.....e.g., stuff like picking closer towards the bridge/the neck etc. this is certainly going to depend on the sound one is shooting for, but let's just assume were talking about the typical metal bass sound.
also, how hard to you usually attack the strings? when playing guitar i think it's essential to be a heavy handed player to really get that crunch and bite needed for aggressive music - how about bass? is it more about making the notes sound as even as possible, staying more in the background and focusing on the fundamend of the mix so to speak (= "normal" attack), or shoudl one strive for a heavy handed approach with a lot of ferocity, which from my experience often comes along with some fret noise and increased high end.

i know, these are quite broad and newbish questions, but well, i guess i'm mainly looking for some pointers on what to look out for when starting to learn the instrument.

also, tips about how to learn the finger playing technique will be greatly appreciated too!

let's just try to make this into a general bass guitar technique thread....

thanks in advance

 

[Razorjack]

Dynamics are the key to bass playing. If you're playing 1 note or 20 you need to make sure they sound tight. I change my pick attack depending on what else is going on, if the kick is fast and tight then my pick attack/muting will be quicker/harder to blend in. If the kick is deep and boomy and guitars sludgy then I'll have a longer, still hard, pick attack with very little muting.

Where you play depends on the bass itself but playing near the bridge will normally give more highmids and a tighter sound (more tension) and playing near the neck will give a smooth round sound.

 

[Fragle]

"if the kick is fast and tight then my pick attack/muting will be quicker/harder to blend in"

could you please explain that part more in-detail?

i'm mainly going to play death metal btw...and soundwise i'm a big fan of alex webster and Scott Clendenin, the guy who played on death's the sound of perseverance.

 

[Razorjack]

I can't work out how to explain it further as it's something that's always come naturally to me but basically I match the envelope of my bass notes to that of the kick drum. For example, I'll dig in a little bit more with the pick if there's a solid 8th or 4th kick pattern going on to give a strong but slow attack but if I'm playing 16ths then I'll change my pick angle to facilitate a faster attack and the increased speed.

Death metal bass playing should be no different from any other style. Dynamics and feel are the most important parts of music, it's what separates the men from the boys.

 

[plague_rider]

i always find it depends on the genre your playing, i like to keep it in sync with the drums for the main, but i also like to follow guitar lines as well, i normally jam a few covers for the fun of it, examples to help would be At the gates or Lamb of God...

playing close to the bridge is better for a solid tone, i normally keep it somewhere in between the pickups to between the pickups and the bridge...

i often find myself moving towards the bridge on the faster parts as the strings tend to flap less (as Razorjack was saying) when i'm playing a drop tuned 4-string...

 

[egan.]

Disclaimer, I'm a finger style player generally. That said when I play with a pick I generally move toward the bridge. IMO the two most telling signs of the guitarist playing bass are #1 hitting the strings very weakly and #2 always doubling the riff (instead of moving between the riff and the kick pattern).

 

[plague_rider]

i've always been a bass player, but developed towards guitar when i started recording (i still suck) i enjoy doubling the guitar on some of the trickier parts, though i appreciate being able to play my own thing with the drums...

 

[Metaltastic]

Disclaimer, I'm a finger style player generally. That said when I play with a pick I generally move toward the bridge. IMO the two most telling signs of the guitarist playing bass are #1 hitting the strings very weakly and #2 always doubling the riff (instead of moving between the riff and the kick pattern).

Good to know on #2!

 

[egan.]

i've always been a bass player, but developed towards guitar when i started recording (i still suck) i enjoy doubling the guitar on some of the trickier parts, though i appreciate being able to play my own thing with the drums...

Sure. There is nothing wrong with doubling a riff. The thing I find telling is the inability to do anything else.

 

[Fragle]

thanks for the answers! very insightful!

so what i've been doing so far is picking really hard, like i'm used to from playing guitar, to give it a really heavy sound...but sometimes that just doesn't seem to cut it, even if the part seemingly calls for it (read: heavy passage - i'm not trying to almost break strings in a jazzy part lol)...also i'm struggling with getting the notes really synced up on the faster (8th triplets around 200bpm) "tremolo" picking parts....seems like the increased time it takes for the pick to actually finish the pick stroke due to the much thicker strings is sort of putting me off. it's difficult to explain really...

ultimately i'd like to get into finger playing....as i said i'm a big fan of alex webster. to play that kinda style i suppose 3 finger picking is a must - however, how should one approach this when changing strings? is it a straight alternating picking pattern like with alternate picking fast guitar passages, so let's say you finish a run on the A string with the middle finger, and next is a change to the D string, should i continue with the second finger, or start all over on the ring finger for the new string??

 

[egan.]

Yeah, I wouldn't try to trem pick. That's some guitar stuff. Half the notes tight ALWAYS sounds better than all of the notes loose.

 

[iekobrid]

i'm struggling with getting the notes really synced up on the faster (8th triplets around 200bpm) "tremolo" picking parts....seems like the increased time it takes for the pick to actually finish the pick stroke due to the much thicker strings is sort of putting me off. it's difficult to explain really...

When the guitar is playing, for example,
"CHUG-a-chugga CHUG-a-chugga CHUG-a-chugga CHUG-a-chugga"
and I wanted to 'double' it on bass, I would just play
"TTHUD........... THUD........... THUD........... THUD........... "

But I'm lazy.

i suppose 3 finger picking is a must - however, how should one approach this when changing strings? is it a straight alternating picking pattern like with alternate picking fast guitar passages, so let's say you finish a run on the A string with the middle finger, and next is a change to the D string, should i continue with the second finger, or start all over on the ring finger for the new string??

Which string do you start on? Assuming you're playing a right-handed bass right-handed, do you finger-pick from left to right or right to left?

 

[egan.]

When I three finger pick I start on my ring finger-- that said I don't do it much. I'd say work on getting your attack even with two fingers before you delve into 3. The vast, vast majority of guys just use a straight two finger technique.

 

[iekobrid]

When picking with two or three fingers I lead with whichever is closest to the bridge, but there's no thought or technique behind it -- my fingers simply don't 'roll' well from thumb to pinkie. Makes me pretty much useless at ascending runs on piano and guitar.

 

[NoDestiny]

Rest that thumb somewhere if you finger pick. I always rest my thumb on the neck bridge and pluck just to the inner side of that pickup, almost in between the pickups. I like that sound more than more towards the bridge pickup myself, though can be harder to play fast there than at the bridge.

When plucking, try to keep your wrist cocked in a way that insures that you are pulling more upwards towards your face rather then towards the body of the bass guitar itself. Strap possitioning may play a factor into this for some people.

Unlike a guitar, you obviously hit one note. But my way of doing it is to find something about the guitar that I can pick at differently and in multiple notes. Such as, if the guitarist is doing an open low string and moving around the neck on high strings, ill often hit 2 octaves lower than the guitar's higher notes and stick with that, but it just depends. Lots of ways to do it, I just love hitting 2 octaves lower than the guitar myself, but again, depends on what the song calls for right there.

Your fingers being wet while playing can really screw you up. Try to keep clean, dry fingers at all times.

The best way I found to get "better" at playing more complex bass lines is to start with something you might find slightly hard to play. Master it. Find something that challenges you again, play over and over until you master it. I mean, its just like anything in life really, but just keep going until your fingers fall off.

About all I got.

 

[deanbailey]

#1 hitting the strings very weakly.

Not that I'm defending them, because playing bass like a guitar is one of my pet peeves.
But wouldn't playing softly be better because bass strings oscillate a little more aggressively than guitar strings? It's more prone to being pushed too sharp if picked/plucked harder.

I also tell my bass players to raise their action a little to get the fret-buzz-to-low-action ratio balanced so that there's more "note" than "clang" from slappy strings.

I also recommend they cut their finger nails (at least on the right/plucking hand) as it sounds less smooth when the nails accidentally clip the strings.

 

[JMarz]

Best bass tips in the world

Pluck the strings.

Show up to practice.

Follow these two rules and you will make millions

 

[Fragle]

sorry, i was talking about straight 8th notes at like 200bpm speeds, not 8th triplets.

and as for the three finger technique, well, while i tend to prefer the sound of a picked bass, i'll definitely try to learn fingerstyle too, and i figured it would be better to start with 3 fingers right away. i'm picking ring middle second btw, like you would tap on the desk.

 

[deanbailey]

I'm not sure If this was posted here before
Alex Webster explains his technique.

 

[StefTD]

I actually really suck at the three finger technique, but with a lot of training you can get really fast with 2 fingers.
I am using my thumb sometimes, too, a little bit like a classical guitar player.
But that's more for jazzier stuff.
For heavy stuff I really like 2 fingers hitting the strings hard-if the guitars are playing really stuff I just play along half-time or play something different than the guitars.
When I am playing with three fingers, I always start with my ringfinger.