Well, he said just that: with the OC-2 he aims more at an _organ bass_ sound. “It's not upright, but it still sounds good”. And while I agree that it makes the sound of the bass itself _less_ acoustic, I find it plausible that in some larger ensemble mixes the OC-2 will make the electric bass _behave_ more like a double bass.
I don't think the point was that using the octave pedal sounds the best of the three options, more that it shows off a unique tone that you might want to go for sometimes.
I was surprised to not hear about foam! I got a jazz gig a few months ago and a thick piece of foam did the job perfectly. It's like combining the palm muting technique with the playing at the fretboard technique.
Malcolm Harris take a piece of spongy foam and stick it under the saddle. You can also achieve this by taking a hairband and wrapping it around the neck just past the first fret. It doesn't sound as good (to me) but it looks better.
Here is another tip, use a little sponge strip tucked underneath the strings near the bridge. The original Fender P-Bass had one underneath its bridge cover. This way you still get muted sound AND you can pluck near the fretboard.
Underline "certain basses". It all depends on what kind of "upright sound" you are looking for. Not even all uprights in live and recorded setting sound the same. In Charles Mingus' recordings, you'll find a more "slappy" (but not slap) bass sound from how hard he plays so that his solos come through better on the original vinyl records that couldn't capture low end frequencies very well (e.s. II B.S. from Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus(1963)). In other recordings, or more modern pieces of remasterings, you'll find the bass sitting in its corner on the low end of the sonic spectrum, especially in jazz songs (e.x. That Old Feeling from Chet Baker Sings (1956)) But in a lot of live settings, where you don't have to play hard to feel the bass, bassists play softer (relatively speaking; you have to get a little meat in the to get those strings moving). The higher frequencies that early recordings don't EQ out are just to make bass players feel included in normal, "non-bass-centric" pieces. As far as tone dials go, do whatever you think you need to to get that upright thump.
Not to mention how different every bass can sound just because of building process. A carved upright bass is a very organic creature with a unique cry.
I've found the best results by soloing the bridge pup (you obviously need a 2 pup bass) turning the tone down, putting a kitchen sponge under the strings near the bridge, and using the 1 finger pizz style up by the neck. This works even with roundwounds.
That octave pedal is a great idea! Maybe blending in just enough to get the tone really booming? Anyways, gotta say I like these shorter videos of yours. I have gone through your channel a few times in the past, and your old technique videos that discuss left-/right-hand techniques allowed me to continue bass playing. I have chronic tendonitis on both of my wrists from playing video games all day as a kid. So I owe you a big thank you.
gebedijahh Your welcome! I'm glad you got something from those old videos, I'll definitely be doing updated versions of those in this new format with some more info, but I'm glad you've been able to play despite the tendonitis.
Great tutorial! The only further suggestion I could make is to try a mic pointed towards the top end of the fingerboard to pick up some mechanical sound of strings on wood. Adds an extra degree of realism when blended in!
When I was in college, this French trio came in and did a masterclass. The bass player played electric but got an upright sound by playing every note with the LH index finger and subtly muting the string with the other 3.
At Grey Fox this summer I noticed lots of bass players using an acoustic/electric Uke bass with a bass amp. I was amazed at how good it sounded, and it's way more portable.
I've been playing upright bass fo 60 years(Theatres,concerts, classical, light music, duet gigs etc )and electric fretless for the last 15. Every dy is a school day, and I have just discovered your channel. If not looking at the screen the OC-2 I would have hought that was a string bass. I also agree wih everything you said. (I don't play "pop,metal etc.) A very well presented lesson.
Great video! Another trick that I use when I want to emulate the upright tone is play less notes than I would play on electric (In other words, I try to play my electric bass with an upright player mind frame) .
It's nice to see Ronan Guilfoyle get some love stateside. I've seen him a bunch of times here in Ireland but most memorably I recall him playing with Dave Liebman and Bobby Watson in Cork Jazz 1998/7 (memory is a bit fuzzy) but it was one of those all time great volcanic intensity jazz gigs. I'll never forget that one!
Wow, man! Thanks for the tips, really. I'm looking at playing bass on a jazz album my wife is doing and she requested more of an upright bass sound; I wasn't sure how to approach this. I appreciate the different techniques you demonstrated in this video. VERY helpful!
That second tip, I didn't realize how useful it was. Did that on my own while looking for more of a round thump. I also kept that uncomfortable angle when changing strings, it made it really hard to silence strings... But its soooo worth it. It really is a pleasant sound I will have to revisit.
I'm just this week experiencing your bass lessons, and as a primarily e. guitar player (Fender Starcaster/B.C Rich Warlock: Bronze) I was surprised to hear that my use of the fretboard (as well as the bridge section) to augment the overall tone and prescence of my instrument was considered a secret. I remember first seeing this usage in some youtube video, where the acoustic guitar player was playing a breakdown section and thought it to be a great but useful method. What I'm getting at though, is that I'm glad you have been sharing these great notes of knowledge and I understand that at some time you mentioned you don't feel like doing "this". Hey man, thanks for all that you HAVE done. It makes a great difference in my understanding of what is actually fundamental, and what I happened to learn early in my ongoing training. Enjoy your music AN!
I first saw Ronan Guilfoyle playing in John Abercrombie's band with Joey Baron in 2008. When they played one of Ronan's own compositions I was floored. Last month I went to see the premier of his new suite, Shy Going Boy.
You can get the thump of palm muting, and the full low-end of plucking toward the neck by putting some foam or rolled/folded cloth under the strings by the bridge...kills sustain and excess highs. Cheers!
1:49 - I play my guitar lute (acoustic, obviously) with THOMASTIK KF-110 flatwound steel strings and I _love_ the punch and the presence they give me on an instrument that would otherwise sound very much like a acoustic (Spanish) guitar. They are the *only* steel strings I was able to find usable on a low-tension classic guitar setup.
My junior year in high school I played an upright bass in jazz band and it was great and all but it was a pain in the ass. For my senior year I decided to stick with mi electric since most of our songs were more geared towards the electric sound. But whenever I needed that upright sound I found that the one finger trick over the fingerboard works the absolute best with the mix. It also helps that I was and still am going through a bit of a flat wound string phase...but yeah. Use the one finger trick for dayyyys
Great tips! I’ve spent some time trying to perfect this myself & intend to upload my own video soon. I have a few more tips… Add the shortest possible reverb you can get and roll off all the highs. This helps to emulate the boomy resonance of a real DB that you just can’t get with an EBG. Second, for recording only, mic up the guitar around the neck to pickup extra string buzz and finger noise, but again with most of the highs rolled off. And as Adam said, a fretless is a must, jam a piece of sponge after the bridge and pluck over the neck .
Hey Adam, I'm a guitar player but I use an octave pedal to play bass in jazz settings all the time. In duos or trios with a vocalist or horn player I think it's nice to play guitar on some songs, and bass on others. Walking and comping on guitar is great, but I think some songs work better with a little musical space, and playing bass instead helps achieve that aesthetic. A bass may sound better, but keeping an octave pedal and a spare cable in my go bag is more practical.
It's time to update this video. Technology has improved vastly, and now there's a way to create the sound using Impulse Responses. I was able to recreate it with a couple IRs and my Headrush MX5. It worked flawlessly with my fretless and even my electric upright. It recreated the timbre that a real upright projects perfectly. It also worked great with my customized Squier with flat wounds.
Very thoughtful and useful points made here, thanks. Re the OC2, it’s interesting how it has a slight drift that gives a subtle fretless vibe. Thanks much
Great tips! I myself have been searching for a uprightlike sound. One more tip I would add is fitting a piece of sponge under the strings and close to the bridge, what gives you a permanent palmute.
WoW .. Just ran into you on RUclips didn't hurt much. I want to thank you for what you're doing .I changed a lot of the way I practice and think. It will take me a while to catch up on everything you have, this will be a journey.. Thanks for getting rid of all the myths out there.. Respectfully Jim
After all this time of playing with 1 finger over the fretboard, I never knew the sound was close to and upright bass, I discovered to play it like that because I love the deepness of the sound was making xD
I play upright, fretted acoustic bass guitar and fret less electric. Only the upright sounds like an upright. And it isn't a dull muted sound what a lot of people think. It has a strong pizzicato punch, like a bass drum but the note itself has a lot of harmonics. Something people behind the sound desk never seem to know.... They turn the bass up and the result is an undefined thud. On my ABG and fretless I use one trick that wasn't mentioned. High action! And really work those strings. That gives that Initial impulse. And that hooked Index finger is indeed part of the sound, although walking on my upright I often use three dependent fingers. A thumb over the fingerboard also works great. Good video!
Wasn't convinced about the octave pedal trick, sounds more digital than an acoustic instrument but with the other instruments, it works really well. Goes to show that it's ok to sound weird on your own if it sounds better with the band/in the mix.
I've always loved odd meters and the like, if you could do a bass specific lesson on unsual time signatures and rythms that'd be amazing! Keep up the awesome work.
You can also use Boss or Zoom (4 example) bass processor that have Defret pedal and makes sound like a fretless bass, it's also good because there are a lot of cool sounds for you bass.
I have a cloth typically used for cleaning a bass that I stick at the bridge between the string and the body as a kind of mute. It works real well at giving the thump of the upright bass.
What a great channel you have! Loved all your tips! One thing that I had noticed is that my fretless acoustic bass (not upright) had a natural chorus on it. So I've been playing with the fretless electric now with just a bit of chorus effect. Sounds great!
TheNamelessBassist I think that one will require finding an octave effect that you find pleasing. I agree, this particular example has a square wave ringing to it that sounds like an electronically generated tone more than an upright, but he did mention that he was using that for an organ sound.
You can combine Palm Muting and playing higher up the fretboard through putting a sock(maybe a sock where you lost the second one) next to your bridge under your strings. This combined with rolling tone of on roundwound or just with flatwounds works for me.
On my active bass I kill the treble as much as possible and sometimes bring up the low mids to still give it some "oompf" and prevent it from sounding too muddy. I also found that left hand finger muting (a bit like Francis Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power) instead of right hand palm muting + thumb can help to dull the attack and overtones (more "thud") while still allowing you to use the flexibility of your right hand's fingers for music such as fast swung 16th notes - it's just a bit more difficult for chromatic-style lines because you have to move your whole left hand to change notes.
The low E on a bass has a wavelength of 27 feet -- that's a sphere of air of 344 cubic foot -- that's EIGHT TIMES more than the low E on a 6-string guitar -- pushing that much air requires power/effort
Coated strings or flats make a huge difference. Due to ortho problems I had to sell my fretless bass guitar and have an electric upright, but I have flats on it. It doesn't have that giant resonant thump of a real doghouse, but running it into a delay pedal and it gets in the ballpark.
I have a bass with both traditional magnetic (soapbar) pickups and a bridge piezo pickup. The piezo allows it to have a very acoustic sound. It's not necessarily an upright sound, more of an acoustic fretted bass sound (the good kind, not the crappy thin sounding kind). I like this setup because I can switch quickly between the magnetic pickup and acoustic pickup sounds on the fly, or a combination of the 2, although I usually just fully pan to one or the other. It's like I have 2 different instruments in 1. I find myself using the acoustic pickup more and more because the sound is so unique and sweet-sounding.
I use a small woollen cloth rag under the strings at the bridge with the eq set as close to an upright sound, and play with palm-muting... pretty satisfied with the sound I get that way!
keixoun Check out Carol Kaye on Facebook and RUclips. She's an amazing session musician who recorded with everyone from Ray Charles to the Beach Boys and even the original Mission Impossible theme. She uses flats, a felt mute under the strings, and I think even adjusts her bridge sort of back and up to get a really smooth deep tone.
I've done nearly the same thing for a long time. 20 years ago my bass teacher gave me a piece of rubbery foam to stuff under the strings, right up against the bridge, and said he'd rather use that than carry an upright. I turn the tone knob up a bit and use my thumb on the fretboard. Hair scrunchies and socks can kinda work if you're desperate.
I've been using a rolled up sponge under the strings pushed against the bridge for this sort of thing. For the Octaver trick - it works quite well but you just mix in a tiny bit not as much as in this video.
ive noticed from playing different electric basses that the ones with the precision or "P" pickup playing with one finger over the fret board best emulate the upright. The jazz bass style single coils are not as good for upright sound emulation. I really love those electric uprights. Portable and get the closest to the real thing
Those are cool tips...I've been doing something similar that I picked up from Jamerson...P Bass, really old flat wound or broken in tape wound strings and the tone knob turned down to about two or three. I like the idea with the octave pedal. I'm have a Boss Harmonist that will let me achieve the same. I can't wait to try it out. BTW, here's another tip. Musician's Friend house brand Rogue makes an Ibsnez style body four string fretless that costs about $150 new or about half that on EBay. I bought one used, set it up with flat wounds and changed out the PJ pickups with Duncans (I think it was a vintage set) and for about $200 bucks I had a bass that I could use at the occasional jazz gig I pickup. With the Ibanez body and headstock lines plus the jewel blue-purple gloss paint job, I've gotten looks from the rest of the band who only saw me at rehearsal with my tobacco sunburst '82 P Bass. Then they hear me play it and realize the tone is perfect...and then suggest I strip it and repaint it black or something. #nonconformist
Tomislav Simić ...I got it handled. I can eliminate some of that artifact with a semi-parametric multiband EQ pedal. My son is an engineer and he helped me design it specifically for that purpose. I bought the parts and soldered it up. 100% analog. I did this originally for my first instrument, guitar but I found it worked better for bass as I can filter out the higher order harmonics without affecting the fundamentals.
Thanks for very useful advice, Adam. :) I use both picking techniques you describe here. Both picking over the top frets, but mostly I mute with my right palm and play with my thumb. Whilst doing that I usually turn up the volume on my bass. I generally play with my volume knobs (on my Fenders Jazz Bass) at about 80%, and then turn it to a 100% when playing muted with thumb. To counter for the loss of sustain. A third technique I use where I also turn the volume to a 100% (like I just described), is that I play more dynamically. I'll generally play a little softer, and add a few accentuated 16th notes in between (usually on the upbeat), which I'll mute with my left hand. If that makes any sense. Also a variation of two of the techniques you described (chicken fingers and thumb with palm-muting) is just to play with your thumb without any muting. Adds more surface but keeps the sustain.
I recently found a used upright electric bass for an extremely low price. It's still not 100% like an actual upright, but it's way closer then you'd get with any electric bass
if you put a piece of foam where your palm would be muting you can combine methods 1 & 2. Rolling off the tone with both pb&j pickups can give you that strong sub sound whilst keeping enough of the attack. Choose a cab setup that has a combination of large and small speaker cones. Pick a bass amp that gets good cleans and can mimic acoustic tones with a tiny bit of reverb. try using pre-bends and dropping into the note. bends may not be typical on bass but if you don't have a fretless bends can get some of that smooth note movement with practice.
As it was mentioned it's same idea and effect as palm muting, only worse. Because any time you wouldn't want to get strings muted you'd have to take out the foam and put it back later. Just palm mute :)
I've tried it a while ago, and I didn't notice that big a difference in sound if I recall correctly. However it's more convenient if you want to play without a pick. I don't think there's anything wrong with it tbh, it just depends on what you want.
I've found that another good way to go is tuning my four string down to B E A D and putting a little piece of foam down at the bridge under the strings. That's with the high end dropped off and plucking on the neck. Flatwounds make a HUGE difference as well.
Actually, I thought that the palm muting sounded the most like an upright and partly because of the higher registers it catches. The upright does have a little high end to it. Also, the notes don't ring out as much. They stop quicker like an upright.
Great advice! I use sounds like these a lot when looping some chords, melodies etc. with a low bass line under What I sometimes do is holding down my ring finger close to the bridge and then pluck with my index and middle finger. This gives another muted sound that depends on how close or far from the bridge you go. Another, but pretty hard, way to get a fretless mute sound is to be fretting at the fret itself. Holding the finger of your left hand directly at the left side of the fret. This takes pretty much precision tough.
Simon M. Svensson Good ideas! The left hand muting idea can be done a little bit easier, actually, by fretting with your first finger, and very lightly resting your other fingers on the string in front of it. You can only fret with your first finger this way, but it's a lot easier to control! I'll be doing a video on the different kinds of muted notes later.
Thanks so much Adam! Myself and some buddies what to start a rockabilly band but I’m having trouble finding an upright bassist. If I can’t find one, this’ll help.
So I started on bass guitar playing church music, then I started trying out the double bass at jam sessions in college. Then I just played a lot, ask tips from actual upright players, watch videos on techniques, pay attention to the upright bass in recordings, and played some more. For a semester I had a roommate who has an upright and I borrowed it from him to practice and sometimes for gig. Then one time I jammed with my teacher on piano and his friend on the drums, I only had my bass guitar with me, just a cheap ibanez, fretted. the drummer said to me afterwards, that I made my bass sound like an upright bass. Now I don't play a lot of jazz on bass guitar a lot and I wasn't even thinking of emulating upright bass sound. I guess I was just already familiar with the sound of the upright, and familiar with the playing habits of upright players. I'd suggest if you have access to upright bass, or you can borrow someone's, try it out. And really familiarize how it feels. If you know what it sounds like, you then have that as your target/reference. Your own experience. My principal instruments is actually the piano, and I felt really beneficial to actually play the organ (hammond and pipe) to really sound like an organ player playing an organ rather than a pianist trying to play the organ or just play organ sound.
I play bridge pickup only on my jazz bass and I roll down my tone knob almost to the end. With the right hand on the end of the fingerboard and maybe a light chorus it blends really fine with the drummer and the band.
Oh, another thing that I noticed on mine is sometimes it sounds quite fretless-y. Further up the neck is easier to bend and so you can put light bends on the strings as you play (just be lazy of where you're putting your pressure basically). You've probably done the same where if you press down on the fret as hard as you can it tightens and will go slightly sharp. Super light strings will do this, if you're desperate you could change to the lightest strings and really focus on overdoing the strumming and fretting so that all the pitch becomes fairly distorted.
I got very good results with a P-Bass strung with flatwound strings, tone knob at minimum, a piece of foam and by plucking at the end of the fretboard.
I've used all of the techniques described here, and found that different situations favor different ones. palm muting is great for NOLA jazz. But I play often with no drummer, so a delayed attack works against keeping the tempo from dragging. So I'll often plsy with a sharper attack, near the bridge, and sacrifice the more URB tone I'd prefer.
Adam I love your vids, you’re a great bass player and a great musician. I love the OC-2, but there’s a pedal that blows it away for faux upright tones, it’s the DOD FX-25 or even the FX-25B. If you set it so the filter doesn’t open up completely, it gives you and incredible faux upright tone and some serious deep dubby type tone, way better than the OC-2 (IMO) for this application. Bill Laswell is big on this pedal, I was using it long before I’d even heard of him so I didn’t steal the idea from him, he uses it for a quacky funk tone which is cool too. Anyway, love your work.
Ok, I have always wondered how it would be possible to get upright-esque sound from an electric bass. When you said the upright bass was basically a 40inch speaker, it made me think... Jaco used dual 18" accoustic 360 cabinets. That means that he had around 510 square inches of speaker while the upright (calculated for "single 40" speaker" 2:26 ) would have 1250" of speaker. Then I got thinking, the 361 cab has folded horns, so at the horn opening, the size is 864" (looking at a schematic) and if you are playing with two, that's 1728" of bass from those cabnets. thats quite a bit of bass! I bet that at low volume, its pretty upright-esque :)
A little more detail-y than just playing with the right hand up over the fretboard: try to keep the right hand mid-way between the left hand and the bridge. It requires moving the right hand around a bit, but it means you're plucking the string right around the first partial node, which will give even more emphasis to the fundamental and produce fewer upper partials.
Use a "fump". It's a little plastic and felt device that mutes the strings at the bridge while allowing you to use your hand to play at the neck. My little trade secret that got me through college jazz band and even some jazz pieces in my guitar ensemble. Room was small enough that i heard someone in the crowd whisper "that sounds like a double bass hows he doing that?"
I play an electric upright bass as well as bass guitar. The electric upright has two big advantages over an acoustic double bass: it's a lot cheaper, and I can actually fit it into my Mini.
wandered over here from another of your videos ... love this from way back /... can you do something on how to get your bass to sound its best ... pickup height ...neck relief ... action height ... amp choice ... how to get stage sound at home
I'm sure somebody else already mentioned it somewhere in the comments section, but another good tip is if your bass has 2 pickups, definitely turn off the bridge pickup and only use the neck pickup.
![Bass Muting Technique (Controlling Your Tone) [ AN's Bass Lessons #1 ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zVj3Gi5ruYc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Bass Muting Technique (Controlling Your Tone) [ AN's Bass Lessons #1 ]](/img/tr.png)
the pedal actually makes it sound electronic to me, and therefore way less "upright bassy" but more "techno bassy"
I was about to say the same thing
Well, he said just that: with the OC-2 he aims more at an _organ bass_ sound. “It's not upright, but it still sounds good”. And while I agree that it makes the sound of the bass itself _less_ acoustic, I find it plausible that in some larger ensemble mixes the OC-2 will make the electric bass _behave_ more like a double bass.
I don't think the point was that using the octave pedal sounds the best of the three options, more that it shows off a unique tone that you might want to go for sometimes.
Yeah it's a little bit too wet, maybe at like 20% or something it would capture more of the desired effect.
Yeah, it sounds like a moog bass to me
I really love how clean that OC-2 makes the bass tone - it makes it really present and effective, without competing. Very unique sound
I was surprised to not hear about foam! I got a jazz gig a few months ago and a thick piece of foam did the job perfectly. It's like combining the palm muting technique with the playing at the fretboard technique.
can anyone give more detail about how to do this? Cheers
Malcolm Harris take a piece of spongy foam and stick it under the saddle.
You can also achieve this by taking a hairband and wrapping it around the neck just past the first fret. It doesn't sound as good (to me) but it looks better.
@@deviationblue wrapping it around the neck just mutes open strings it dosent actually mute fretted notes
@@OlePistolCooperation right but it does deaden some of the overtones, just, imo, not enough of them.
Here is another tip, use a little sponge strip tucked underneath the strings near the bridge. The original Fender P-Bass had one underneath its bridge cover.
This way you still get muted sound AND you can pluck near the fretboard.
Thanks !
dude, I've watched like 15 videos, and I don't even play bass... :))
marko89kv fucking same
I just watch for the theory.
Same
I watched like all the videos then got a bass... I should stop watching youtube before I get anoth- OOH VIOLIN! Oh no not again
marko89kv same here
No mention of using the tone knob! I use that trick with palm muting all the time to get an upright sound.
Andrew Pincock True! I forgot to mention that, but rolling off the clicky high end can help for certain basses.
I disagree. If you listen to a upright bass recordings, they do not filter the higher harmonies, the more important being the ones above 10 kHz
Underline "certain basses". It all depends on what kind of "upright sound" you are looking for. Not even all uprights in live and recorded setting sound the same. In Charles Mingus' recordings, you'll find a more "slappy" (but not slap) bass sound from how hard he plays so that his solos come through better on the original vinyl records that couldn't capture low end frequencies very well (e.s. II B.S. from Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus(1963)). In other recordings, or more modern pieces of remasterings, you'll find the bass sitting in its corner on the low end of the sonic spectrum, especially in jazz songs (e.x. That Old Feeling from Chet Baker Sings (1956)) But in a lot of live settings, where you don't have to play hard to feel the bass, bassists play softer (relatively speaking; you have to get a little meat in the to get those strings moving). The higher frequencies that early recordings don't EQ out are just to make bass players feel included in normal, "non-bass-centric" pieces. As far as tone dials go, do whatever you think you need to to get that upright thump.
Not to mention how different every bass can sound just because of building process. A carved upright bass is a very organic creature with a unique cry.
I've found the best results by soloing the bridge pup (you obviously need a 2 pup bass) turning the tone down, putting a kitchen sponge under the strings near the bridge, and using the 1 finger pizz style up by the neck. This works even with roundwounds.
That octave pedal is a great idea! Maybe blending in just enough to get the tone really booming? Anyways, gotta say I like these shorter videos of yours. I have gone through your channel a few times in the past, and your old technique videos that discuss left-/right-hand techniques allowed me to continue bass playing. I have chronic tendonitis on both of my wrists from playing video games all day as a kid. So I owe you a big thank you.
gebedijahh Your welcome! I'm glad you got something from those old videos, I'll definitely be doing updated versions of those in this new format with some more info, but I'm glad you've been able to play despite the tendonitis.
Great tutorial! The only further suggestion I could make is to try a mic pointed towards the top end of the fingerboard to pick up some mechanical sound of strings on wood. Adds an extra degree of realism when blended in!
When I was in college, this French trio came in and did a masterclass. The bass player played electric but got an upright sound by playing every note with the LH index finger and subtly muting the string with the other 3.
At Grey Fox this summer I noticed lots of bass players using an acoustic/electric Uke bass with a bass amp. I was amazed at how good it sounded, and it's way more portable.
Congrats on 1 mil. I think this was the first vid I watched on your channel and I’ve seen your vids every Monday since then! Keep up the great work
I've been playing upright bass fo 60 years(Theatres,concerts, classical, light music, duet gigs etc )and electric fretless for the last 15. Every dy is a school day, and I have just discovered your channel. If not looking at the screen the OC-2 I would have hought that was a string bass. I also agree wih everything you said. (I don't play "pop,metal etc.) A very well presented lesson.
Great video! Another trick that I use when I want to emulate the upright tone is play less notes than I would play on electric (In other words, I try to play my electric bass with an upright player mind frame) .
It's nice to see Ronan Guilfoyle get some love stateside. I've seen him a bunch of times here in Ireland but most memorably I recall him playing with Dave Liebman and Bobby Watson in Cork Jazz 1998/7 (memory is a bit fuzzy) but it was one of those all time great volcanic intensity jazz gigs. I'll never forget that one!
i put a sock by the bridge to keep the muted sound and also play closer to the neck :D worked wonders
Just got a electric bass, inspired mainly by you. As i play guitar and piano, i think this is gonna be really fun. Thanks for the tips!
Idea: don’t buy a new fretless bass, buy a fretless neck and put it on the bass you already have
that’s exactly what i was thinking
Why not just jaco it
@@lilkris3008 versatility: you can choose frets / fretless with interchangeable necks.
Unless you have a neck-thru
Oooooh good idea
Wow, man! Thanks for the tips, really. I'm looking at playing bass on a jazz album my wife is doing and she requested more of an upright bass sound; I wasn't sure how to approach this. I appreciate the different techniques you demonstrated in this video. VERY helpful!
Sponge or foam under the strings at the bridge works fine.
That second tip, I didn't realize how useful it was. Did that on my own while looking for more of a round thump. I also kept that uncomfortable angle when changing strings, it made it really hard to silence strings... But its soooo worth it. It really is a pleasant sound I will have to revisit.
I'm just this week experiencing your bass lessons, and as a primarily e. guitar player (Fender Starcaster/B.C Rich Warlock: Bronze) I was surprised to hear that my use of the fretboard (as well as the bridge section) to augment the overall tone and prescence of my instrument was considered a secret. I remember first seeing this usage in some youtube video, where the acoustic guitar player was playing a breakdown section and thought it to be a great but useful method.
What I'm getting at though, is that I'm glad you have been sharing these great notes of knowledge and I understand that at some time you mentioned you don't feel like doing "this". Hey man, thanks for all that you HAVE done. It makes a great difference in my understanding of what is actually fundamental, and what I happened to learn early in my ongoing training. Enjoy your music AN!
I first saw Ronan Guilfoyle playing in John Abercrombie's band with Joey Baron in 2008. When they played one of Ronan's own compositions I was floored. Last month I went to see the premier of his new suite, Shy Going Boy.
You can get the thump of palm muting, and the full low-end of plucking toward the neck by putting some foam or rolled/folded cloth under the strings by the bridge...kills sustain and excess highs. Cheers!
Knowledgeable speaker, informative content, short and to the point. Perfect video Adam.
1:49 - I play my guitar lute (acoustic, obviously) with THOMASTIK KF-110 flatwound steel strings and I _love_ the punch and the presence they give me on an instrument that would otherwise sound very much like a acoustic (Spanish) guitar. They are the *only* steel strings I was able to find usable on a low-tension classic guitar setup.
My junior year in high school I played an upright bass in jazz band and it was great and all but it was a pain in the ass. For my senior year I decided to stick with mi electric since most of our songs were more geared towards the electric sound. But whenever I needed that upright sound I found that the one finger trick over the fingerboard works the absolute best with the mix. It also helps that I was and still am going through a bit of a flat wound string phase...but yeah. Use the one finger trick for dayyyys
Great tips! I’ve spent some time trying to perfect this myself & intend to upload my own video soon.
I have a few more tips…
Add the shortest possible reverb you can get and roll off all the highs. This helps to emulate the boomy resonance of a real DB that you just can’t get with an EBG.
Second, for recording only, mic up the guitar around the neck to pickup extra string buzz and finger noise, but again with most of the highs rolled off.
And as Adam said, a fretless is a must, jam a piece of sponge after the bridge and pluck over the neck .
Hey Adam,
I'm a guitar player but I use an octave pedal to play bass in jazz settings all the time. In duos or trios with a vocalist or horn player I think it's nice to play guitar on some songs, and bass on others. Walking and comping on guitar is great, but I think some songs work better with a little musical space, and playing bass instead helps achieve that aesthetic. A bass may sound better, but keeping an octave pedal and a spare cable in my go bag is more practical.
It's time to update this video. Technology has improved vastly, and now there's a way to create the sound using Impulse Responses. I was able to recreate it with a couple IRs and my Headrush MX5. It worked flawlessly with my fretless and even my electric upright. It recreated the timbre that a real upright projects perfectly. It also worked great with my customized Squier with flat wounds.
Very thoughtful and useful points made here, thanks. Re the OC2, it’s interesting how it has a slight drift that gives a subtle fretless vibe. Thanks much
Great tips! I myself have been searching for a uprightlike sound. One more tip I would add is fitting a piece of sponge under the strings and close to the bridge, what gives you a permanent palmute.
WoW .. Just ran into you on RUclips didn't hurt much. I want to thank you for what you're doing .I changed a lot of the way I practice and think. It will take me a while to catch up on everything you have, this will be a journey.. Thanks for getting rid of all the myths out there.. Respectfully Jim
After all this time of playing with 1 finger over the fretboard, I never knew the sound was close to and upright bass, I discovered to play it like that because I love the deepness of the sound was making xD
I play upright, fretted acoustic bass guitar and fret less electric. Only the upright sounds like an upright. And it isn't a dull muted sound what a lot of people think. It has a strong pizzicato punch, like a bass drum but the note itself has a lot of harmonics. Something people behind the sound desk never seem to know.... They turn the bass up and the result is an undefined thud. On my ABG and fretless I use one trick that wasn't mentioned. High action! And really work those strings. That gives that Initial impulse. And that hooked Index finger is indeed part of the sound, although walking on my upright I often use three dependent fingers. A thumb over the fingerboard also works great.
Good video!
Exactly this! It’s not a dull muted sound, bring out the buzz & clatter!
Wasn't convinced about the octave pedal trick, sounds more digital than an acoustic instrument but with the other instruments, it works really well. Goes to show that it's ok to sound weird on your own if it sounds better with the band/in the mix.
Everybody is dissing on the octave pedal, but I kinda liked it. Then again, I love deep organ and analog synth bass tones.
I've always loved odd meters and the like, if you could do a bass specific lesson on unsual time signatures and rythms that'd be amazing! Keep up the awesome work.
Everything you suggested (except for octave pedal) I stumbled upon in the early 60s while learning to play.
Great tip on the octave pedal. Thanks.
You can also use Boss or Zoom (4 example) bass processor that have Defret pedal and makes sound like a fretless bass, it's also good because there are a lot of cool sounds for you bass.
I turn all the way down the tone knob and use a foam mute on the bridge. It works pretty well.
I have a cloth typically used for cleaning a bass that I stick at the bridge between the string and the body as a kind of mute. It works real well at giving the thump of the upright bass.
What a great channel you have! Loved all your tips! One thing that I had noticed is that my fretless acoustic bass (not upright) had a natural chorus on it. So I've been playing with the fretless electric now with just a bit of chorus effect. Sounds great!
The octave trick is good, tho i really don't like the "eletronic" feel it injects on the tone of the bass with it.
Good video!
TheNamelessBassist I think that one will require finding an octave effect that you find pleasing. I agree, this particular example has a square wave ringing to it that sounds like an electronically generated tone more than an upright, but he did mention that he was using that for an organ sound.
You can combine Palm Muting and playing higher up the fretboard through putting a sock(maybe a sock where you lost the second one) next to your bridge under your strings. This combined with rolling tone of on roundwound or just with flatwounds works for me.
On my active bass I kill the treble as much as possible and sometimes bring up the low mids to still give it some "oompf" and prevent it from sounding too muddy.
I also found that left hand finger muting (a bit like Francis Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power) instead of right hand palm muting + thumb can help to dull the attack and overtones (more "thud") while still allowing you to use the flexibility of your right hand's fingers for music such as fast swung 16th notes - it's just a bit more difficult for chromatic-style lines because you have to move your whole left hand to change notes.
Excellent, thanks Adam. Agree: Thomastik-Infeld are the best! Great tip on the octaver. Still holds up.
The low E on a bass has a wavelength of 27 feet -- that's a sphere of air of 344 cubic foot -- that's EIGHT TIMES more than the low E on a 6-string guitar -- pushing that much air requires power/effort
feet?foot? how many wrists is that?
Mick Kennedy are you a scientist ? That’s impressive how you relay such cool information
Nerd!
Coated strings or flats make a huge difference. Due to ortho problems I had to sell my fretless bass guitar and have an electric upright, but I have flats on it. It doesn't have that giant resonant thump of a real doghouse, but running it into a delay pedal and it gets in the ballpark.
I have a bass with both traditional magnetic (soapbar) pickups and a bridge piezo pickup. The piezo allows it to have a very acoustic sound. It's not necessarily an upright sound, more of an acoustic fretted bass sound (the good kind, not the crappy thin sounding kind). I like this setup because I can switch quickly between the magnetic pickup and acoustic pickup sounds on the fly, or a combination of the 2, although I usually just fully pan to one or the other. It's like I have 2 different instruments in 1. I find myself using the acoustic pickup more and more because the sound is so unique and sweet-sounding.
I use a small woollen cloth rag under the strings at the bridge with the eq set as close to an upright sound, and play with palm-muting... pretty satisfied with the sound I get that way!
The string vibrating is very satisfying
what about using foam/cloth under the strings near the bridge?
keixoun Check out Carol Kaye on Facebook and RUclips. She's an amazing session musician who recorded with everyone from Ray Charles to the Beach Boys and even the original Mission Impossible theme. She uses flats, a felt mute under the strings, and I think even adjusts her bridge sort of back and up to get a really smooth deep tone.
I've done nearly the same thing for a long time. 20 years ago my bass teacher gave me a piece of rubbery foam to stuff under the strings, right up against the bridge, and said he'd rather use that than carry an upright. I turn the tone knob up a bit and use my thumb on the fretboard.
Hair scrunchies and socks can kinda work if you're desperate.
There's a device you can purchase called the bass mute. you just glue it close to the bridge and with a lever you can set it to mute the strings.
I've been using a rolled up sponge under the strings pushed against the bridge for this sort of thing. For the Octaver trick - it works quite well but you just mix in a tiny bit not as much as in this video.
ive noticed from playing different electric basses that the ones with the precision or "P" pickup playing with one finger over the fret board best emulate the upright. The jazz bass style single coils are not as good for upright sound emulation. I really love those electric uprights. Portable and get the closest to the real thing
Those are cool tips...I've been doing something similar that I picked up from Jamerson...P Bass, really old flat wound or broken in tape wound strings and the tone knob turned down to about two or three. I like the idea with the octave pedal. I'm have a Boss Harmonist that will let me achieve the same. I can't wait to try it out. BTW, here's another tip. Musician's Friend house brand Rogue makes an Ibsnez style body four string fretless that costs about $150 new or about half that on EBay. I bought one used, set it up with flat wounds and changed out the PJ pickups with Duncans (I think it was a vintage set) and for about $200 bucks I had a bass that I could use at the occasional jazz gig I pickup. With the Ibanez body and headstock lines plus the jewel blue-purple gloss paint job, I've gotten looks from the rest of the band who only saw me at rehearsal with my tobacco sunburst '82 P Bass. Then they hear me play it and realize the tone is perfect...and then suggest I strip it and repaint it black or something.
#nonconformist
Harmonist will have introduce slight-to-moderate delay to the sound, which is not really usefull as with analogue octaver.
Tomislav Simić ...I got it handled. I can eliminate some of that artifact with a semi-parametric multiband EQ pedal. My son is an engineer and he helped me design it specifically for that purpose. I bought the parts and soldered it up. 100% analog. I did this originally for my first instrument, guitar but I found it worked better for bass as I can filter out the higher order harmonics without affecting the fundamentals.
Thanks for very useful advice, Adam. :) I use both picking techniques you describe here. Both picking over the top frets, but mostly I mute with my right palm and play with my thumb. Whilst doing that I usually turn up the volume on my bass. I generally play with my volume knobs (on my Fenders Jazz Bass) at about 80%, and then turn it to a 100% when playing muted with thumb. To counter for the loss of sustain.
A third technique I use where I also turn the volume to a 100% (like I just described), is that I play more dynamically. I'll generally play a little softer, and add a few accentuated 16th notes in between (usually on the upbeat), which I'll mute with my left hand. If that makes any sense.
Also a variation of two of the techniques you described (chicken fingers and thumb with palm-muting) is just to play with your thumb without any muting. Adds more surface but keeps the sustain.
I recently found a used upright electric bass for an extremely low price. It's still not 100% like an actual upright, but it's way closer then you'd get with any electric bass
if you put a piece of foam where your palm would be muting you can combine methods 1 & 2. Rolling off the tone with both pb&j pickups can give you that strong sub sound whilst keeping enough of the attack. Choose a cab setup that has a combination of large and small speaker cones. Pick a bass amp that gets good cleans and can mimic acoustic tones with a tiny bit of reverb. try using pre-bends and dropping into the note. bends may not be typical on bass but if you don't have a fretless bends can get some of that smooth note movement with practice.
What about sticking a bit of foam next to the bridge to mute the strings?
Well, that's the same principle as palm mute.
Lelong Well, that's what I expected. But when I tried it, it sounded quite different. And gave me more freedom to pick the strings in other ways.
As it was mentioned it's same idea and effect as palm muting, only worse. Because any time you wouldn't want to get strings muted you'd have to take out the foam and put it back later. Just palm mute :)
I've tried it a while ago, and I didn't notice that big a difference in sound if I recall correctly. However it's more convenient if you want to play without a pick.
I don't think there's anything wrong with it tbh, it just depends on what you want.
"Just palm mute".
Yes, but then you can't pluck the strings up by the fretboard. With foam or a rag by the bridge, you could do both.
Thank you! :)
I've found that another good way to go is tuning my four string down to B E A D and putting a little piece of foam down at the bridge under the strings. That's with the high end dropped off and plucking on the neck. Flatwounds make a HUGE difference as well.
ive tried playing over the fretboard and using my thumb solely and it works pretty alright
Actually, I thought that the palm muting sounded the most like an upright and partly because of the higher registers it catches. The upright does have a little high end to it. Also, the notes don't ring out as much. They stop quicker like an upright.
Great advice! I use sounds like these a lot when looping some chords, melodies etc. with a low bass line under What I sometimes do is holding down my ring finger close to the bridge and then pluck with my index and middle finger. This gives another muted sound that depends on how close or far from the bridge you go. Another, but pretty hard, way to get a fretless mute sound is to be fretting at the fret itself. Holding the finger of your left hand directly at the left side of the fret. This takes pretty much precision tough.
Simon M. Svensson Good ideas! The left hand muting idea can be done a little bit easier, actually, by fretting with your first finger, and very lightly resting your other fingers on the string in front of it. You can only fret with your first finger this way, but it's a lot easier to control! I'll be doing a video on the different kinds of muted notes later.
Adam Neely Yes, that one is great if you fret with one finger. Will be nice to see the upcoming videos on it :)!
Really helpful, can’t wait to try these techniques. Also you effectively sold me that octave pedal
#4 Nailed it... It's one of our best kept secrets.
#5 Noooooooooo, go home, You're drunk.
No, you go home!
I agree it sounded like a synth after that step lol
the octave makes it really close to that upright sound!
No, it doesn't.
Thanks Adam. You made me pull my Washburn AB 1 up from the basement.
That was fantastic!
Nice work, Adam. Really great stuff.
I found using foam as a mute and turning the bass up and the mid and treble all the way down works pretty well
i just wanna say that intro is amazing
Loved the octave pedal 😁
Thanks so much Adam! Myself and some buddies what to start a rockabilly band but I’m having trouble finding an upright bassist. If I can’t find one, this’ll help.
That I think one finger over the fretboard sound fast and most accurate theory but that OC2 trick sounds really nice and jazzy as well
Adam, I don't even play bass and I like your videos. Good show!
So I started on bass guitar playing church music, then I started trying out the double bass at jam sessions in college. Then I just played a lot, ask tips from actual upright players, watch videos on techniques, pay attention to the upright bass in recordings, and played some more. For a semester I had a roommate who has an upright and I borrowed it from him to practice and sometimes for gig. Then one time I jammed with my teacher on piano and his friend on the drums, I only had my bass guitar with me, just a cheap ibanez, fretted. the drummer said to me afterwards, that I made my bass sound like an upright bass. Now I don't play a lot of jazz on bass guitar a lot and I wasn't even thinking of emulating upright bass sound. I guess I was just already familiar with the sound of the upright, and familiar with the playing habits of upright players.
I'd suggest if you have access to upright bass, or you can borrow someone's, try it out. And really familiarize how it feels. If you know what it sounds like, you then have that as your target/reference. Your own experience. My principal instruments is actually the piano, and I felt really beneficial to actually play the organ (hammond and pipe) to really sound like an organ player playing an organ rather than a pianist trying to play the organ or just play organ sound.
Great advice. I have been looking for someone to cover all the steps to achieve the upright bass sound.
I play bridge pickup only on my jazz bass and I roll down my tone knob almost to the end. With the right hand on the end of the fingerboard and maybe a light chorus it blends really fine with the drummer and the band.
Oh, another thing that I noticed on mine is sometimes it sounds quite fretless-y. Further up the neck is easier to bend and so you can put light bends on the strings as you play (just be lazy of where you're putting your pressure basically). You've probably done the same where if you press down on the fret as hard as you can it tightens and will go slightly sharp. Super light strings will do this, if you're desperate you could change to the lightest strings and really focus on overdoing the strumming and fretting so that all the pitch becomes fairly distorted.
I got very good results with a P-Bass strung with flatwound strings, tone knob at minimum, a piece of foam and by plucking at the end of the fretboard.
Thanks for the scientific approach! Great video.
I've used all of the techniques described here, and found that different situations favor different ones. palm muting is great for NOLA jazz. But I play often with no drummer, so a delayed attack works against keeping the tempo from dragging. So I'll often plsy with a sharper attack, near the bridge, and sacrifice the more URB tone I'd prefer.
Adam I love your vids, you’re a great bass player and a great musician.
I love the OC-2, but there’s a pedal that blows it away for faux upright tones, it’s the DOD FX-25 or even the FX-25B. If you set it so the filter doesn’t open up completely, it gives you and incredible faux upright tone and some serious deep dubby type tone, way better than the OC-2 (IMO) for this application. Bill Laswell is big on this pedal, I was using it long before I’d even heard of him so I didn’t steal the idea from him, he uses it for a quacky funk tone which is cool too.
Anyway, love your work.
id say the one finger over the fretboard shows the sound upright better, but the palm mute is better for getting that smooth jazz feeling.
I really like your channel has a ton of fun facts an educational ones :)
Ok, I have always wondered how it would be possible to get upright-esque sound from an electric bass. When you said the upright bass was basically a 40inch speaker, it made me think... Jaco used dual 18" accoustic 360 cabinets. That means that he had around 510 square inches of speaker while the upright (calculated for "single 40" speaker" 2:26 ) would have 1250" of speaker. Then I got thinking, the 361 cab has folded horns, so at the horn opening, the size is 864" (looking at a schematic) and if you are playing with two, that's 1728" of bass from those cabnets. thats quite a bit of bass! I bet that at low volume, its pretty upright-esque :)
awesome! keep it up!
greetings from austria!
Man your intro song is AWESOME, Can you make that a whole song? Please.
Nicely done. Thank you.
A little more detail-y than just playing with the right hand up over the fretboard: try to keep the right hand mid-way between the left hand and the bridge. It requires moving the right hand around a bit, but it means you're plucking the string right around the first partial node, which will give even more emphasis to the fundamental and produce fewer upper partials.
Use a "fump". It's a little plastic and felt device that mutes the strings at the bridge while allowing you to use your hand to play at the neck. My little trade secret that got me through college jazz band and even some jazz pieces in my guitar ensemble. Room was small enough that i heard someone in the crowd whisper "that sounds like a double bass hows he doing that?"
Excellent info! Thank you!!
I have always used the Octave effect on my Boss ME-50B. Also, I use flat wound nylon coated. lol
I play an electric upright bass as well as bass guitar. The electric upright has two big advantages over an acoustic double bass: it's a lot cheaper, and I can actually fit it into my Mini.
I try to emulate the upright bass using a pick. That way you get more definition when playing over the neck (but only upstrokes)
Was that Autumn Leaves in G?!! HERESY!
Awesome video as always.
wandered over here from another of your videos ... love this from way back /... can you do something on how to get your bass to sound its best ... pickup height ...neck relief ... action height ... amp choice ... how to get stage sound at home
My budd recently got a fretless bas and I really want to try those Thomastik Infeld Vienna strings on it.
I'm sure somebody else already mentioned it somewhere in the comments section, but another good tip is if your bass has 2 pickups, definitely turn off the bridge pickup and only use the neck pickup.