How I absolutely changed my tone (using just 1 technique)
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- Опубликовано: 13 авг 2021
- It's the age-old argument: tone is in the fingers. But is it really?
Your bass playing starts with your tone. And improving your tone is largely a matter of cleaning up your technique and getting more control of the bass. But can the right player really make any instrument sound good?
In today’s new video, Ian Allison shares his #1 tone secret and the plucking hand concept that completely transformed his sound. This one simple trick is all you need...
As always, see you in the shed…
Scott :)
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Love the positive energy of this guy. He was meant to teach.
Oh yeah. I liked him.eay better than Scott
This is amazing. 5 minutes in and I am sounding better already. And better, Incan identify and understand when I am not sounding good and how to correct it! Thank you so much Ian!
This is the most important technique lesson for bass. It can be taught in very different ways, but it really pushes the quality of the sound one can produce to new heights.
It also feels reeeeeal good. I became addicted to how the bass felt under my fingers after I got comfortable with this technique.
I say that this is the most important lesson because I truly believe that once you love the sound you can produce with your plucking hand, and the way it feels to pluck the strings, you'll be more keen in teaching yourself everything else. It just makes bass playing more enjoyable over all.
Adrian, YES 🙏🏼
@@IanMartinAllison Great content as always Ian, thank you!! I think you're really good at comunicating musical concepts, and just an overall great bass player 🙂🙂
A wild request here... there's so little info out there about Sal Cuevas, one of the great innovators of salsa and the first latin bass rockstar. I'd looove to see him featured in one of your videos...🙃
Bravo! I started from the Geddy Lee school for EVER, but several years back Ian got this same idea stuck in my head and it absolutely changed how I play. I now have a much wider palette than I ever used to have. Great stuff, Ian!
Aww! Thanks Rom!
This is amazing! I tend to be a “clacker” (watched a lot of Entwistle when I started learning), but I’ve been working to develop more versatility in my playing. This goes a long way.
if you can make it sound like Entwistle there's zero wrong with that. His touch was CRAZY light; it's hard to pull off (no pun)
@@weedywet absolutely, and I most definitely don’t sound like him, just always favored that approach. I’m playing in a band now that covers a wide range of styles and some just aren’t appropriate for my normal approach, so I’m learning to shake it up a bit.
John Entwistle and Geddy Lee were both in bands with one guitarist. Their aggressive styles helped to fill out the sound. It’s all a matter of context imo.
Pulling-through is absolutely preferred for session guys and most bassists, however. Both are valuable tools. :)
@@OrbitalDeathRay That helps explain why I tend to be a more aggresive player, I've almost exlusively played in bands with one guitarist.
I've always played that way, I'd never really thought about pulling up or "clacking." For me it just gives a more deep, round, and balanced sound. And since my action is extremely low, it helps a lot with fret buzz.
Me too, I naturally leaned to the technique Ian is describing.
A real insight into right-hand technique Ian. - This is something as I've never really observed as a player!
OH Snap! After 30+ years of playing bass, then you show me this. Thanks! Putting this to very good use.
Versatility in making different techniques work is the real key
OMG, I am a Clacker!! I've been playing for 40 years and this is the first time I've heard someone make sense of what I NEED to do instead of what I'm doing. Time to unlearn bad habits.
You could drop that bass in the floor and it would still sound amazing
Almost!
It's probably already been dropped a few times based on it's age. Hey, it happens!
When someone can make difference in your playing in such a short amount of time, they're worth their weight in gold! Solid Gold, Thanks Ian.
What a phenomenal tip for a better bass tone. Thank you very much....
As usual Ian, you give us players just what we want to learn because its these details that make the larger differences for us. Thanks man!
I loved hearing how the notes bloomed, if that's a so-so bass, a good one must sound amazing.
When I adopted the mindset you shared of “how can I make the band sound better,” everything in my playing changed.
That mindset is HUGE
good teaching Ian. Thanks, i will try this.
Really nice this one!!! Great video Ian
This man is a real teacher. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing. ✌🏾 Peace !
Thanks Ian-I appreciate your insight on this technique.
Absolutely fantastic! This video will change the way I’ll play and sound in the future. Thanks a million Ian!
Thank you. Glad I took the time to watch this.
Ian really is one of the best teachers ive ever known, his passion is absolutely infectious and he does a really good job at explaining concepts and techniques in a way that absolutely everyone can understand. Bravo man, it’s truly impressive.
This is transformative. As a guitarist very slowly learning bass, I appreciate this lesson at much!
I don't hate the clacking - just another tone tool in the arsenal.
I’m definitely a clacker. Geddy Lee was my hero, the reason I play bass (a Rickenbacker!), and I want a Geddy Lee tone… not James Jamerson. I’m roundwounds, not flats. I’m Rock, not Pop/R&B.
I Love that bass and this channel is completely priceless. As a professional bassist since ‘92 I must say the information on this channel is spot on and really inspiring.
Man, a big, big difference! I love how the bass sounds with this technique. Thank you so much!
Great tutorial, So much great information for all bassist. How important the right hand is in playing great bass. Bravo!!
Wow!! I found out I've been doing that instinctively forever! How awesome is that? Maybe that's why I've always found plucking the bass so natural.
Thanks for the video! it's awesome!
Thanks Ian for the reminder that I need to ease up with my right hand and let my amp do the work!
I am definitely going to try that. Thanks!
Great lesson! Thank you so much!
Great tips. Working with the metronome really helps smooth it out. Thankyou
Wonderful class!!! Thanks for sharing 👍😊
Great lesson!!
Excellent - real stuff for bass playing - all in the feel - empowerment is the key.
Thx a lot :-)
Great lesson as usual, Ian!
I never thought of it like that. Thank you 🙏
one thing I notice about all this, is you can do all 3 versions of the technique. One thing I learned studying with my teacher on upright classical bass, was every time you play something that doesn't sound good, stop and learn how to re-create it so you master that "bad sound", have control over it and in that context, know what you're doing to avoid it later.
Good call Sam.
Thanks a lot for this lesson!
Hell yeah my man, that’s how it’s done! I’ve adapted a similar idea when playing 5 strings. The 5th string is so much looser, and my thumb tends to rest on the B so I began using my thumb as a downstroke when I don’t need extreme speed on the B. The notes really do bloom more and doing so makes the 5th string sound more congruent with the other 4.
Pulling through works for me. Thanks for the exercises, too!
Brilliant as always Ian!!
I love your thoughtfulness. AND totally agree with this technique.
Absolutely brilliant. You are spot on with the feel. Love it.
Thank you for sharing this valuable lesson Scott -- this has opened my ears wider - you're top-notch teaching & a fine player
Such nice vintage style sound. Awesome. Your “clacking” also known as “digging in” reminds me of Geddy, Entwistle and especially Jack Casady style, all of which I like too. But good to know how to get away from grinding!
Very Nice advice. I will try
I've been playing bass for almost exactly 6 years. When I first started I only used a pick. After about a year I started to teach myself how to use my fingers, and I did that plucking thing for about 3.5 years. I got pretty damn fast for having to use that much effort, but I started to get pains in my right wrist.
I noticed that a friend of mine, who is the best bassist and musician I have ever met, played with the much more relaxed style featured in this video. It took A LOT of practicing to move away from that plucking, but once I got it to the point where it was the only way I played, even when noodling, my ability shot through the fucking roof.
Every bass played needs to know that their right hand is 1000% the most important part of their playing. I spend an hour every single morning just on different right hand techniques (2, 3, 4 fingers, bounce slap, through slap, double thumb, pick) and I'm constantly amazed at what it does for my playing when I just let loose in a band setting. The more you push the bleeding edge of your ability in a strict context with a metronome the more relaxed and free you are to just play.
I came to bass from a classical guitar. Well, that is how I play bass. Interesting. You have so much control over the tone and timing using this technique.
Same here, in classical guitar you have more defined this way of playing so I guess if you have this background it should be easier for you.
Excellent Ian thank you
I used to refer to this as playing "through" the string to my students.
Great lesson!
Such a good guidance. I remember when I was learning my teachers would guide me to play on top of the bridge. Whilst that was a good advice for learning so that my notes would be captured I saw myself years later looking for different areas of the bass to get a fuller sound. I feel like I have been following his advice for quite sometime without really noticing it. Today at church I tried to be more conscious of this technique and it makes such a difference for my taste. Keep up the good work, Ian 👌🏻
Man… this makes me happy.
nice! great lesson...thanks!!!!!
I am so trying this! What a huge difference!
Thanks for giving a shoutout to Terry Burns, he was the head of the bass dept at McNally Smith and my favorite instructor. Guy is a monster player, his "pentatonic platforms" approach forever changed my playing. Last time I spoke with him he moved back to New Mexico, hope he is doing well, keep up the great work with this channel!!
Such a nice groove!
Man, I really wish I could take lessons from Ian. What a great teacher.
It is amazing how we tend to pay more attention to the fretting hand but the plucking hand (engine) is so important! Moving to a rest stroke really made a huge difference to my playing and tone. Great lesson Ian!
YES. Thanks Eric
The real work on a guitar or bass is the picking/plucking hand. It's where the rhythm is, and the tone generation.
Absolutely had same teaching moment w my upright bass instructor, having been elec 1st ! Such a great point and explanation, thank you !
Meanwhile my first action when I see an Ian Martin Allison Video coming up is to click the like button ... cause I know I gonna like it!
Thank you Ian.
There is always one moment, whether it's a bass or 6 string guitar or cello playing pizzicato etc, that your mind goes back to when you think of a good tone. There is that ONE time with each instrument when you know you made that string vibrate perfectly for that instrument - and it was so obvious but at the same time such a subtle difference in technique that it freaked you out. When I was 4 I began taking violin lessons at SIUE and a student teacher was instructing me but she was a violist. I can't remember much about the rest of one specific lesson, probably in my second year with her before she graduated and bailed and broke my heart, but she described proper bow technique to me for making the body vibrate as loud as it could before reaching saturation and falling apart, literally the instrument can't absorb any more and it overloads and starts to naturally distort. It's not a volume thing, more like a specific maximum density of harmonics that any solid object can sustain and still produce pure fundamental frequencies. Anyway, she put that bow on the 2nd string (G) and played, I believe, an A.... that room changed. Everything in the universe at that moment was about that note and it was surrounded by a woody mid rangy viola thing that brings to mind marble and dense hardwood forests and a smell of old oaken casks. I went both tunnel vision and singularity all at the same time.
That was in, iirc, 1978 but those 3 or 4 seconds that she sustained that note are like still brand new in my mind. I still hear it, I still feel it. It was like that sensation of something that makes your jaw lock up when someone else is singing. Totally freaky and illusive but the most mysterious thing in existence and the ONLY thing worth chasing for the rest of your life. Yeah, Ian, I get it. I have plucked, picked, bowed, slapped, snapped, thunked, popped, whacked and flubbed probably 100,000s of notes since the moment I just described but only a couple dozen of them were perfect and usually they happened when I was alone, not plugged into anything, and just was playing from a comfortable state of mind. I do, however, agree that there are techniques that put you in a much higher probability zone for producing perfect notes.
This technique feels more natural and more technically clean, I’m just beginning my bass journey but this is the technique that I was taught to use. I’ve tried some other techniques and those my work for specific types of sound but this pulling technique seems to work in all aspects. Great lesson.
Wow Ian, thanks a lot. This might very well be one of the most important videos on this channel. :)
Indispensable lesson. I’ve never been taught and was starting, after many years of sh- playing, to intuit some of this. But to hear it said.... aAnd explained so well.... Many thanks
Ian I don't know where Scott found you, but I am very happy he did! Let us know a little more about you.
Cheers Jon! More vids coming for sure
Splendid!
Great illumination Ian, I’ve always thought that this playin’ technique was wrong on an electric Bass, but it sounded good to me and I kept doing it on R&B songs and on Rock n Roll tunes as well because the overall effect was a fat & warm matching with the Drums. Great tip! Thanks Bro.
This is CRAZY! I could LITERALLY hear a difference!
Thanks! This was great insight, not as much as a sound thing, but as an approach for staying better in the pocket!
Thanks for tuning in!
Yea, he's one of the best tutorial guys on here, I think ..always picking up new learning skills from him...
i have always played like that since i started playing bass. i have always used this technique because it gives a very precise consistent sound, and, it makes it easier to play fast.
Wonderfull Scott...
Exactly how I’ve always played , from a kid as my pops taught me .
It’s the weight of the thwack , Mike Watt does it similar with two fingers anchored together, so much meat on the tone . Like the big Paul chambers or Scott laffaro thump.
did that Motown cat James Jamerson play like this?
the genius of scott lafaro 😶🌫️
OMG! What goes around, comes around. You just changed my life, Ian.
This is so good! Such a simple concept that makes a HUGE difference in sound…but I bet most players never think about it.
Great lesson, Ian! I think I was doing this naturally and just unaware of it.
So love it. These are the kinds of lessons that stick with you. Really fundamental stuff. I still think there's ba place for clacking, heavy attack, whatnot, depending on what you want the music calls for, but this fat, thick sound is crucial to have control of.
And not to get too much into the gear thing, but despite never being a flats guy I think I'm going to try a set on one of me Jazz basses after hearing this.
I love trying to break down SUPER fundamental stuff. And you should for SURE put flats on a Jazz!
Man, I heard you and tried this, and it changed everything! My sound is fuller now, and it doesn't even require more strength. I'm working on it though, to change my way of playing, I've got to relearn new habits. Thanks!
great lesson. A great bass player years ago showed me the same thing but used the samba as a way of teaching it..... everything just fell into place after that.
Wow. I didn’t grasp the concept until introduction of the metronome. Must be all those years of drumming. 😉
Grace and Peace
Absolutely love this, adds dynamics but I find clack adds to easy in recording digitally with latency coming to play. Also as a metal player I recognise what you mean, also the Entwistle comment. Man's a god. Thanks for the heads up
Lol “my 1968 jazz bass isn’t all that special…..” I’m glad I watched the whole video though. Good stuff as always
Using the pickup cover as a finger rest helps a LOT too !! Nice video !
outstanding, as always...I was thinking of jamming that Dua Lipa bassline line tonight, my neighbors need some bass in their lives
“Dude you’re using a vintage fender jazz and trying to tell me it’s all in the hands!?!?” 🤣🤣🤣
I've taken so much upright technique and put it on the electric. Sometimes even turning my hand so I can get that flipper action going. The more finger meat the better!
This is how I've always played since I started. I just never realized it until now.
I can’t wait to dedicate some practice time to this idea! Like many who’ve already commented, I come from the Geddy Lee/Steve Harris/Geezer Butler when plucking with my fingers, and also like Ian, I’ve been rightfully accused of playing an upright too much like an electric. As much fun as I have wearing the in-your-face rock hat, it’s not always the most practical hat to wear on a given gig. Thank you immensely, Ian!
Thanks. Now it turned out I usually play this way. Maybe that's why I always sound great on recordings.
Super video 👍✔️
Ian is a vibe king
Working on this. Definitely smoother and I think I keep time better against the metronome or drum tracks.
This is similar to the technique I learned on classical guitar which I translated into the bass. I'm definitely going to try an incorporate the arm movement into the rest strokes
Nice video. As a primary upright player loading up the string and letting it go is a common method for teaching arco which seems to supplement the pizz idea of pulling with the arm. I’ll be honest I love clacking on the electric bass.
I love this. I spent years switching between upright and my fretless p-bass and I was always asking my electric-only bassists friends why they keep tickling the string. Tug into that thing and play it like you own it, but gently. It's key.
I've found that spending some woodshed time on just your attack/pluck of the string, finding that perfect part of your finger to pull from and nailing your timing to a click or beat is THE best way to get your sound together in a super noticeable way. I'm a little unsure if the arm is actually playing a physical role in the sound, and I've heard conflicting perspectives about how it applies to upright, but at the very least it's engaging the physicality of your body and creating an idea of weight that sounds real good on strings. Zooming into that attack and timing IS everything! You are the man
As a thumb player who recognizes the utility in learning to play with his fingers... this sounds like a great place to start.