What are the essential differences between guitar and bass

MentalSharps

It would be interesting to see an example where the bass parts of songs were played by a guitar, and guitar parts played by bass and see what the effects of making those substitutions.

fretmeister

MentalSharps said:

It would be interesting to see an example where the bass parts of songs were played by a guitar, and guitar parts played by bass and see what the effects of making those substitutions.

I write like that sometimes.

Have a riff and a bass line and then swap them for part of the tune. It’s fun.

fretmeister

I was just listening to The Yardbirds’ Lost Woman.

The bass is pretty much playing the melody and the guitars come in for stabby rhythmic things when needed. 

Then there’s a bit of a guitar solo and the bass drops and octave for that bit.

it’s a great tune.

Musicman20

Nothing quite like dominant bass bands like Joy Division.....big 'lead' bass chords.

Musicman20

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

fretmeister

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

ArchtopDave

fretmeister said:

mrkb said:

Is it that one attracts the opposite (or same) sex and the other doesn’t?

Most of the time!  

Mind you, on one solitary occasion after a pub gig a woman came up to me and asked me about my finger stamina and whether it was a transferable skill...

Unfortunately she asked in front of my girlfriend at the time.

Now that really is a good example of poor timing!

ICBM

fretmeister said:

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It constantly amazes me that when I hear my bass through my fuzz pedal - which doesn't even have a clean blend - on its own, the bass sounds incredibly gnarly and distorted... but as soon as everyone else is playing, it's only slightly "not clean". I really don't know why!

roberty

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

The bass in Wonderwall is positively filthy. Disgustingly so

Dave_Mc

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It's almost the opposite from guitar, then, guitar (I think!) seems to sound more distorted once it's recorded.

Supportact

'It's got too many strings and they're too close together'

- the bass player in my old band while looking at a guitar with obvious discomfort 

stickyfiddle

Dave_Mc said:

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It's almost the opposite from guitar, then, guitar (I think!) seems to sound more distorted once it's recorded.

Yeah, less is more with gain on guitar. But you do often want a much more scratchy trebly tone for a mix than when in your bedroom

Dave_Mc

stickyfiddle said:

Dave_Mc said:

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It's almost the opposite from guitar, then, guitar (I think!) seems to sound more distorted once it's recorded.

Yeah, less is more with gain on guitar. But you do often want a much more scratchy trebly tone for a mix than when in your bedroom

Yeah a lot of the isolated guitar tracks on recordings sound awful when listened to alone!

fretmeister

stickyfiddle said:

Dave_Mc said:

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It's almost the opposite from guitar, then, guitar (I think!) seems to sound more distorted once it's recorded.

Yeah, less is more with gain on guitar. But you do often want a much more scratchy trebly tone for a mix than when in your bedroom

I love recording metal with single coils for that reason.

I pretty much set the sound up with humbuckers, and then leave it alone and play it with a strat. Works really well.

Double tracked of course for those tiny variations that do so much. None of that copy-paste crap. There's zero point having duplicate identical tracks.

stickyfiddle

@fretmeister ;That sounds a good approach. I'm not a metal guy but I love a Jazzmaster with all the "shrill" top end that so many people hate. Put them in a mix and it's just fatness for days

roberty

@fretmeister I discovered this recently. I think scale length and string gauge comes into it as well as the pickups. I've had really good results doubling a G-style humbucker guitar with my Gretsch baritone

fretmeister

Thundercat's view

Dave_Mc

fretmeister said:

stickyfiddle said:

Dave_Mc said:

fretmeister said:

Musicman20 said:

Also, I've personally noticed that higher gain guitar is much easier to sound good compared to clean bass. 

The best bass sounds have a surprisingly high amount of dirt on them

Youtube is full of isolated bass tracks that sound horrible on their own, but amazing in the mix. They sound much cleaner in the mix too.

It's almost the opposite from guitar, then, guitar (I think!) seems to sound more distorted once it's recorded.

Yeah, less is more with gain on guitar. But you do often want a much more scratchy trebly tone for a mix than when in your bedroom

I love recording metal with single coils for that reason.

I pretty much set the sound up with humbuckers, and then leave it alone and play it with a strat. Works really well.

Double tracked of course for those tiny variations that do so much. None of that copy-paste crap. There's zero point having duplicate identical tracks.

Yeah. I don't record, but I tend to leave my amps set up the same way for that reason, too- that way I really hear how the different pickup types sound.

Rocker

Interesting that nobody commented on the bass for Johnny B Goode and how I feel it is disconnected from the song and the rhythm. Anyone care to take this a bit further?

fretmeister

Rocker said:

Interesting that nobody commented on the bass for Johnny B Goode and how I feel it is disconnected from the song and the rhythm. Anyone care to take this a bit further?

It isn't disconnected from the song or the rhythm at all. It's mostly played on every beat in 4/4 and then in some places as quavers. It is true that the original recording is quite lacking and some bass notes stand out in odd places, but it is one of the most "on time" bass parts ever written. It's just a walking bass line that moves with the chord changes without anything weird going on.

The bass part was played by Willie Dixon. The style is very common for the era and the music type.

This cover version has the bass turned up a bit and has the music on screen.