| Author | Message | ||
| aircooled69
New Username: aircooled69 Post Number: 9 Registered: 1-2003 |
Hi Guys, Just wondering if you could share with me some of your experiance of how short and medum scale basses play/ sound. I find I use a lot of bends in my playing and Ive been toying with the Idea of a short/ medium scale bass for a while. Any info would help a lot Thanks Mike | ||
| bucky
New Username: bucky Post Number: 10 Registered: 6-2003 |
Hey Mike: For what it's worth here’s my 2 cents worth - I've played (and owned) nearly every brand of quality bass in the 33 plus years I've played. From Fenders to the Alembic Brown Bass I play now. Ricks, even Hofners. . everything. . and my opinion is that the long scale basses tend to record better and the medium and short scale basses (my Alembic is a medium scale) are more fun and less tiring live. That's why I keep an old Fender '51 P-Bass Re-Issue to use just on the recordings. Unless of course it's something I want to get a little strange on (I write and do what I call Progressive Ambient stuff that is most definitely "outside-the-box" sometimes) and then I'll use the Alembic but usually heavily processed. It comes down to plain old physics really - the longer the scale the tighter and heavier the string can be. So if you want that bass sound that is like the low end on a grand piano (one of my favorites) then the long-scale is the way to go. The problem is the long scale basses can be a bitch to play. My P-Bass has a maple neck (neck material is a whole different subject) and plays like an ironing board. If I'm on the road for 40 gigs that can get pretty tiring. And of course the Alembic - my road bass (actually I take them both with me) - is SOOO much easier on the hands and forearms with cramping etc after and during long tours. Plus it's just the easiest bass on the planet to play and lets face it there’s usually an audible sigh among musicians when you take it out of the case. There is nothing around to compare to them. Of course all this must be filtered through individual playing needs. P-basses and Ricks and the long scales are tough to play slap on where the Alembic is almost made for it. . String gauge is another factor. I used to use RotoSound Round-Wound Medium gauges long scales (like my then-Idol Chris Squire) but found over time that they ate the frets up pretty quickly. And unlike Squire I don't have a guitar tech on tap to do fret replacement when needed. It can be expensive too. So now I've been using these Dean Markley round wound mediums with what they call the "exposed core". . they get the sound I like and seem to last longer than other round-wounds. However I'm always on the lookout for new strings. And of course there are all the string types in between. Half-wounds, Flat wounds etc. . it all depends on the sound you're trying to get. I like a bright high end and probably play around and above the 5th Fret more than a lot of bass players (I'm from that School of Guitarists that Got "Transferred" TO Bass Guitar at an early age) so I play bass very "guitar-like". Chords and everything. But that's just my style. The greatest bass players I've ever known - in the old Motown rhythm sections - rarely played above the 8th Fret and the groove they could lay down was truly *amazing*. So if you see your "job" in your band or your project as keeping time with the drums or laying down groove as being the primary focus, long scale basses even with flat-wounds might be just the ticket. Anyway, I'm rambling but the upshot is to think about bass string and scale physics as if the bass were the low strings on a piano. And then decide how "solid and low" you want your sound to be. Hope This Has Helped, Jeff Sherman Glass http://www.rpursuit.com/glass/index.asp |
