mshilarious
Banned
I really like my Epi viola bass, had it six years and counting 
rayc
retroreprobate
The best bass to suit a guitarist is:
A BASSIST.
You should get used to a real bass for the real sound but a short or 3/4 length bass is fine so long as your not looking for that lowered bottom E wall shaking effect.
I started on a 3/4 as I'm short & have a short reach but moved along after a couple of years having realized the difference. It's even harder with a shorter scale these days as there's difficulty getting a set of 3/4 flat wound strings to enhance the bottom end.
What I think you really want is to be able to play basslines with an authentic sound, style and facility & do it NOW. Whatever solution you come up with you'll have to accept that the ideal isn't going to happen without time & effort.
As a bassist I had to put time, blood, sweat & the occasional tear into learning to play some guitar to assist my recordings.
You could buy band in a box though!
A BASSIST.
You should get used to a real bass for the real sound but a short or 3/4 length bass is fine so long as your not looking for that lowered bottom E wall shaking effect.
I started on a 3/4 as I'm short & have a short reach but moved along after a couple of years having realized the difference. It's even harder with a shorter scale these days as there's difficulty getting a set of 3/4 flat wound strings to enhance the bottom end.
What I think you really want is to be able to play basslines with an authentic sound, style and facility & do it NOW. Whatever solution you come up with you'll have to accept that the ideal isn't going to happen without time & effort.
As a bassist I had to put time, blood, sweat & the occasional tear into learning to play some guitar to assist my recordings.
You could buy band in a box though!
pohaku
New member
Mustang or Jazz bass work pretty well. I ended up getting a Rick Turner Renaissance Bass because I really liked the way it played, but you would really have to play one first before buyng it. They are quite different and I suspect people either love or hate them.
surfmaster
New member
i found a site with some dirt cheap copies of basses.
http://www.rondomusic.net/bassguitars4.html
a bunch of short scale ones in there, but who knows how they sound.
http://www.rondomusic.net/bassguitars4.html
a bunch of short scale ones in there, but who knows how they sound.
Milnoque
Resident Curmudgeon
The Gretch budget line "Electromatic" includes a short scale bass. Its funky and fun to play. My son-in law has one and uses it to add bass to his recordings. It wouldn't win any awards for bass tone but it serves the purpose. Also consider something like the Fender "P-Bass Lyte". Long scale but contoured for the guitarist.
E
Ed Dixon
New member
A short scale bass like a Hofner will work well. It didn't seem to hold Paul McCartney back much.
Ed
Ed
D
David M
New member
If you have been playing guitar a while it is very easy to learn bass. Believe me, it does not take long at all to get used to the longer neck. After I got my first bass what I did was pick a bass player I really liked and learned a few of his tunes. For me that was John Taylor from Duran Duran. The first song I ever learned on bass was Girls on Film. It was hard as shit to get down but once I had it I knew that I could play pretty much anything I needed to on the bass. After a few months on the bass I knew that I would never need to bring in a bass player for my home recordings. I much prefer doing it myself.
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
David M said:
It's easy to learn the fretboard because it's simpler (no major 3rd interval), and it's not that big a deal to get used to the longer distances. It takes a bit more effort, however, to sound like a bass player rather than just a lead guitarist an octave lower. Playing bass is a mindset as well as a technique.
S
Superhuman
Shagaholic
notCardio said:
The type of music I play is kind of progressive instrumental metal/rock with a bit of electronica. Sounds like... Dream Theatre, Symphony X, Liquid Tension Experiment... sometimes heavier, sometimes more mellow... would love to be able to play like Steve Di'Giorggio but that ain't going to happen!
Good suggestions all around, enough for me to go out and make an informed decision. Thanks for the input guys.
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Superhuman said:
Geez, you don't want much, do you?
OK, sound-wise (there's Burns again) I don't think a short-scale is going to make you happy doing that kind of music. I associate Dream Theater with some pretty earth-shaking bass, which you can do on ss, but it will require some processing and won't sound very natural, but that's just my opinion.
I was pushing the short scale because the length was what you implied bothered you, as it does me. As they say, YMMV.
Good luck.
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Ed Dixon said:
Yeah, but how many of today's artists do you see using one? To me, it's like a Ric 12 string. There's nothing like it when that's what you want, but you really don't generally have that much of a need for that sound. I'm sure some young buck will come along and put it to a new use, but especially for the type of music he wants to play, I don't see it being very useful.
Sounds to me like he needs a long scale 5-string. Glad I don't need one. I'm lucky to know what to do with 4.
N
notCardio
I walk the line
David M said:
And I do think it takes some people longer to get used to it than others (like me).
D
David M
New member
If you go with a short scale I think a Mustang would work better for than a Hofner for the type of stuff you want to do. But seriously try a Jazz Bass and give is a few days. You will get used to it.
C
chazba
terminally hip
FrankenBass , Spam and Velveeta....
I'll see what I can do about posting a jpg of Frankenbass.
Sorry to hear that you are not a fan of Spam. He is a real person, at least for now. His real age is not known to me, but I think he's at least 85. Velveeta is a year or two younger, that's not clear either, and she has always refused to discuss it. If you have been following the unfolding saga, you already know that Spam has not, and most likely will not recover from his stroke. The world
at large will not notice his passing but his fans and friends in the world of Blues will be made poorer. Many of their friends and fans have encouraged me to write something, a short story or even a book, about them and their travels. I'm not altogether certain that it would be a good idea. It would be difficult to tell their story with honesty to a world that probably wouldn't understand or approve of their lifestyle . To some, there is nothing more ridiculous and pathetic than an artist who struggles their whole life and gains neither riches or fame. I didn't itend to ramble on about this, but once I get going.........
chazba
I'll see what I can do about posting a jpg of Frankenbass.
Sorry to hear that you are not a fan of Spam. He is a real person, at least for now. His real age is not known to me, but I think he's at least 85. Velveeta is a year or two younger, that's not clear either, and she has always refused to discuss it. If you have been following the unfolding saga, you already know that Spam has not, and most likely will not recover from his stroke. The world
at large will not notice his passing but his fans and friends in the world of Blues will be made poorer. Many of their friends and fans have encouraged me to write something, a short story or even a book, about them and their travels. I'm not altogether certain that it would be a good idea. It would be difficult to tell their story with honesty to a world that probably wouldn't understand or approve of their lifestyle . To some, there is nothing more ridiculous and pathetic than an artist who struggles their whole life and gains neither riches or fame. I didn't itend to ramble on about this, but once I get going.........
chazba
Flamin Lip
New member
Heres one!!!!! OOOOOOOOHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...50032376071&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MESE:IT&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...50032376071&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MESE:IT&rd=1
3
32-20-Blues
New member
Find a Japanese reissue of a fender VI.
E
Ed Dixon
New member
notCardio said:Yeah, but how many of today's artists do you see using one? To me, it's like a Ric 12 string. There's nothing like it when that's what you want, but you really don't generally have that much of a need for that sound. I'm sure some young buck will come along and put it to a new use, but especially for the type of music he wants to play, I don't see it being very useful.
Sounds to me like he needs a long scale 5-string. Glad I don't need one. I'm lucky to know what to do with 4.
I play in three groups. Two of them have a bass player with a Hofner. Great sounding bass., However for folks that want a slap bass sound, it's not the one to choose.
Ed
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Ed Dixon said:
What kind of music are those 2 groups, and is the Hofner their main bass, or something used to add flavor? I guess I'd have to see it/hear it for it to sink in, but I'm having a hard time imagining it, especially in anything approaching a prog-rock application. What do they do about feedback? The few times I played a Hofner knockoff live, the feedback was a bitch. I finally gave up on the idea. Now I have heard a fretless Hofner played in a realtively quiet, more traditional jazz setting, and it was pretty cool, but that's not what he was talking about. I really would like to hear those bands because maybe I'm totally off base here, in which case maybe I could justify looking at one after all. Like most guys my age, I always wanted one, but couldn't justify the expense for something that was just going to hang there so I could look at it and say I had one.
E
Ed Dixon
New member
Both of these groups are contemporary Christain groups, which play a range of music from acoustic to heavy rock sounds.
Feedback has never been an issue, ever. One real plus is that the Hofner weights practically nothing. A real plus for long gigs.
My other group is a classic rock group. The bass player there also wanted a Hofner, but never got around to parting with the $. He borrowed mine a few times and loved it.
The one I have I bought in 1980 for about $350. Very easy to play and suits me well for the ocasions I have to play bass.
The only real challenge is getting strings for a short scale bass. They are somewhat rare and usually have to be ordered. Just about no one has them in stock in stores.
Ed
Feedback has never been an issue, ever. One real plus is that the Hofner weights practically nothing. A real plus for long gigs.
My other group is a classic rock group. The bass player there also wanted a Hofner, but never got around to parting with the $. He borrowed mine a few times and loved it.
The one I have I bought in 1980 for about $350. Very easy to play and suits me well for the ocasions I have to play bass.
The only real challenge is getting strings for a short scale bass. They are somewhat rare and usually have to be ordered. Just about no one has them in stock in stores.
Ed
mshilarious
Banned
Superhuman said:
The Epi Viola is a Hofner Beatle bass ripoff, and you can get a pretty good Chris Squire-type sound out of it in the higher registers. Definitely a buzz-sounding bass with a good acoustic tone. I recorded my entry in the Bass Tapping RUMBLE! on it last night, check it out here:
http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=216026
direct link:
(mine is now slightly modded to take a .135 low string, tuned CGDA)
Similar threads
