What's the transition like to bass from guitar?

chrispy108

Yeah, very good point about dynamics.

I remember a guitarist in a band I was in borrowing my bass at practice once to show me a riff he'd written - he was probably twice as loud as I was and nearly shit himself, and basically refused to believe that I hadn't turned the amp or bass up. I hadn't. Control!

Cirrus

When I play bass I think of it as the bridge between the rhythm and melody of the song. I know that sounds stupid and it's probably meaningless outside my head, but it's the bit that has to merge with what the drums are doing then turn that unifying groove into something that actually supports the melody, and to me the mark of a good bassist is when they can think melodically rather than just sticking safely to the lowest note in the chord.

Also the gaps between the notes matter. They form their own groove and a good bassist can be differentiated from a poor one because they pay as much attention to where and how each note ends as to how it starts.

As for dynamics, the biggest compliment I ever had was when a recording engineer said he didn't want to put compression on my part. Of course, it might just be he didn't have one powerful enough to fix me.
)

mellowsun

A chap I know who is a professional bassist said he can always spot a guitarist playing bass as they rush ahead of the beat!

Some of the best bass players I know started on classical guitar, there are similarities with the right-hand technique.

One thing I found when I had a go at playing the bass is that I had to compensate for the wider string spacing as it was affecting my timing. On guitar, your right-hand fingers learn at what point they need to move to arrive at the next string in time to play the next note. The distance is greater on the bass, so it took my fingers a while to learn to move just a fraction faster.

fnpt

I started to learn to play bass a couple months ago and find it harder to control string noise than on guitar, even considering that guitars ussually have a lot more distortion. On the other hand, it's doing wonders in my knowledge of arpegios and scales.

hugbot

You need to anticipate the note more I find. On guitar the attack is more instantanious wheras with bass the plucking motion is a lot harder requiring you to think ahead to where you want to place to next note.

chrispy108

@fnpt raises a good point about string noise - you need to be able to mute with both hands.

As for your fingers vs plectrum question @SquireJapan - don't see it as an either or, I'd change between them in a set, sometimes within a song. Some things are easier/feel 'nicer' with things, but sometimes you want the sharp attack of a pick. I can certainly play faster with a pick, but feel I 'groove' better with fingers.

SquireJapan

chrispy108 said:

@fnpt raises a good point about string noise - you need to be able to mute with both hands.

As for your fingers vs plectrum question @SquireJapan - don't see it as an either or, I'd change between them in a set, sometimes within a song. Some things are easier/feel 'nicer' with things, but sometimes you want the sharp attack of a pick. I can certainly play faster with a pick, but feel I 'groove' better with fingers.

Hmm - I always thought fingers was the pro say and plectrum was for guitarists playing bass ... Can't wait to get the bass out this weekend

fnpt

SquireJapan said:

chrispy108 said:

@fnpt raises a good point about string noise - you need to be able to mute with both hands.

As for your fingers vs plectrum question @SquireJapan - don't see it as an either or, I'd change between them in a set, sometimes within a song. Some things are easier/feel 'nicer' with things, but sometimes you want the sharp attack of a pick. I can certainly play faster with a pick, but feel I 'groove' better with fingers.

Hmm - I always thought fingers was the pro say and plectrum was for guitarists playing bass ... Can't wait to get the bass out this weekend

Carol Kaye may disagree with that point of view :-)

chrispy108

There is definitely some snobbery against bassists who use plectrums, alot of it from guitarists who think that a plectrum is 'wrong' for bassists.

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/119452-plectrum-or-fingers/ shows pretty much 50/50 with regard preference, with nearly everyone saying "but I use the other one too".

SquireJapan

chrispy108;675581" said:

There is definitely some snobbery against bassists who use plectrums, alot of it from guitarists who think that a plectrum is 'wrong' for bassists.

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/119452-plectrum-or-fingers/ shows pretty much 50/50 with regard preference, with nearly everyone saying "but I use the other one too".

That's good to hear - the only bass players I know are strictly fingers, hence my assumption.

Whike I'm asking novice questions, what's the standard gauge of strings people use? I can appreciate that's likely to be subjective

chrispy108

45-105 is seen the standard, but there's more variation on bass strings than guitar strings - gauge, material, wrappings. A standard, round-wound 45-105 is a sensible place to start and go from there.

SquireJapan

Awesome - thanks. I'm not even joking when I say the strings on my bass are 20 years old ...

So definitely round wound not flat for a beginner?

Clarky

every now and then I get Bass GAS for something like a Stingray...

and then it goes away.. this thread is re-igniting my Stingray GAS..

and now my lil' brian is going around in circles.. Stingray... no.. a Maccaferry... no... a Stingray... no... a Maccaferry.. and so on..

it's doing my head totally in

Phil_aka_Pip

SquireJapan said:

Awesome - thanks. I'm not even joking when I say the strings on my bass are 20 years old ...

So definitely round wound not flat for a beginner?

I can't think of a reason why your beginner status should affect the kind of string you use, or why one kind would be better for a beginner than another. I happen to like flatwounds. Roundwounds can be clanky in tone quality.

Clarky

Phil_aka_Pip said:

SquireJapan said:

Awesome - thanks. I'm not even joking when I say the strings on my bass are 20 years old ...

So definitely round wound not flat for a beginner?

I can't think of a reason why your beginner status should affect the kind of string you use, or why one kind would be better for a beginner than another. I happen to like flatwounds. Roundwounds can be clanky in tone quality.

nor me.. the wind type should be all about the tone you want..

personally I like round wound..

chrispy108

What kind of music are you going to be playing @SquireJapan? Anything rocky and the norm is definitely rounds.

Clarky

funk would be rounds too

SquireJapan

Pop and rock - working up to metal. I've been reading about it for the past half hour and it seems like round wound would be the ticket for me.

Dave_Vader

chrispy108 said:

What kind of music are you going to be playing @SquireJapan? Anything rocky and the norm is definitely rounds.

Phil_aka_Pip

Unless you happen to like the sound of flatwounds.

Mark Knopfler plays with his fingers despite most other guitarists using a pick. Steve Howe uses an archtop jazzbox despite most other prog rock guitarists playing solids

use what you like and don't go with the herd unless you've decided that what the herd likes is also what you like