wtf? 8-string bass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jouni
  • Start date Start date
You know what? I need to concede something. I probably haven't listened to enough bass tapping. Of course, I've heard plenty of guitar tapping, and 95% of it is completely dreadful, but there is that 5% that is interesting. Holdsworth comes to mind.

So yes, maybe I have missed the 5% of interesting bass tapping. Thus, I will attempt to rectify this in the usual HomeRec manner:

A BASS TAPPING RUMBLE!

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=2254025
 
Sounds like you take your scale length cues from the Carl Thompson school of impossible to play basses :D I've had five and six strings with 34", 35", and 36" scale. Construction is the biggest factor- you can have a bass with a 36" scale whose B won't hold a candle to a 34" with a stiffer neck. The low B on a 34" will be more taut than any 35" Ibanez B.

I've never wished for anything longer than a 36" scale, and in fact I sold my 36" as the B on my 35" was nearly as tight feeling, went on record with the same clarity, and the instrument was easier to play. Using a thicker string is a much better way of increasing your tension than going to a longer scale length because
A. it may not increase your tension to a noticable degree
B. it may not increase it at all if the construction isn't extremely well done.
C. it will make the entire instrument a bit more difficult to play as the reach between every fret will be lengthened
D. the higher strings sound thinner and thinner as you increase scale length.

Also, a 34" low E has been used on 95% of every recording of electric bass ever made, and no one's complained so far. The best compromise I've seen is the Novax fanned fret system that guys like Dingwall use, although fanned frets aren't for everybody.

As for more strings vs. alternate tuning, I'm sure the guys who order these basses have had those thoughts well before we did. If retuning their current bass fulfilled their needs enough to not need to order multi-thousand dollar instruments, then I'm sure they would have done it. And again, tuning in fifths does not help when it comes to chording, tapping, or even playing the way these guys do. Look out for some videos by Yves Carbonne, Jean Baudin, Garry Goodman, etc. and you'll see what I mean.
 
Bryan R. Tyler said:
Look out for some videos by Yves Carbonne, Jean Baudin, Garry Goodman, etc. and you'll see what I mean.
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Nope, all I need is the RUMBLE! If it doesn't make a difference to Joe Bassist, I am not interested! I have never bass tapped before, so tonight will be an experience! I refuse to live vicariously through others! :)
 
That's going to problematic with your Rumble- the guys who do all the tapping and chording are playing non-Joe Bassist music, but you MIDI'd up the most Joe Bassist blues you could make for them to play over :) I'd be interested to hear if anyone can play over that track without it sounding like hand-me-down blues licks :D You should always be looking out for things that don't make a difference to Joe Bassplayer- that's how you expand.
 
Bryan R. Tyler said:
That's going to problematic with your Rumble- the guys who do all the tapping and chording are playing non-Joe Bassist music, but you MIDI'd up the most Joe Bassist blues you could make for them to play over :) I'd be interested to hear if anyone can play over that track without it sounding like hand-me-down blues licks :D You should always be looking out for things that don't make a difference to Joe Bassplayer- that's how you expand.
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You should really check out the Rumble series, I believe you have misjudged the Rumbles . . . anyway they are a lot of fun, so I hope you participate. :)

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=945330
 
Bryan R. Tyler said:
That's going to problematic with your Rumble- the guys who do all the tapping and chording are playing non-Joe Bassist music, but you MIDI'd up the most Joe Bassist blues you could make for them to play over :) I'd be interested to hear if anyone can play over that track without it sounding like hand-me-down blues licks :D You should always be looking out for things that don't make a difference to Joe Bassplayer- that's how you expand.
Click to expand...
I don't do blues (nobody throw anything at me, please!), so anything I come up with won't be hand-me-down blues.
I've also never bass tapped, so that will be a learning curve for me too. I think it will be fun, if I can get it tracked...
 
Being that I don't tap more than a tiny, tiny bit, I don't think I'll be in it myself :D I'll check out the series though.

For a kickass, completely non-cheesy view of how tapping can be used in a song that normally doesn't involve tapping, check out this version of Spain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkN5Ih9nPV0
 
Rokket said:
I don't do blues (nobody throw anything at me, please!), so anything I come up with won't be hand-me-down blues.
I've also never bass tapped, so that will be a learning curve for me too. I think it will be fun, if I can get it tracked...
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I think I might pitch-shift the chords into something else, just for variety . . . not that I pay much attention to tonality anyway :o
 
Let's not forget Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick. He had a bunch Hamer 8- and 12-string basses. Then there's the Chandler...
 

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MadAudio said:
Let's not forget Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick. He had a bunch Hamer 8- and 12-string basses. Then there's the Chandler...
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I want to see them live so bad, just to watch them change out instruments for each and every song...
 
Rokket said:
I want to see them live so bad, just to watch them change out instruments for each and every song...
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I saw that two years ago (they opened for Alice Cooper), and it's no exaggeration. Rick literally played a different guitar for every song. It was kinda sick, really. The amber lucite Mockingbird was the weirdest of them, IMO.
 
MadAudio said:
I saw that two years ago (they opened for Alice Cooper), and it's no exaggeration. Rick literally played a different guitar for every song. It was kinda sick, really. The amber lucite Mockingbird was the weirdest of them, IMO.
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I've seen pictures of Rick with those 4,5,6 and 8 NECKED guitars too... :eek:
 
mshilarious said:
F# below the normal low E string is 23Hz, C# below that is 17Hz. Getting kinda silly there, it would sound poor unless the scale length was considerably longer.
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YOu also have to consider that the first and second harmonics on a bass are much louder than the fundamental. That puts the note up into where you can hear it.
 
Farview said:
BTW, the 5 string bass that he plays towards the beginning of the second video is the one on top of the speakers in my studio.
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I'm actually selling one of the seven-strings he's playing, except mine has a natural finish over the curly maple top (a Conklin GT-BD7).
 
Bryan R. Tyler said:
I'm actually selling one of the seven-strings he's playing, except mine has a natural finish over the curly maple top (a Conklin GT-BD7).
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You know him too? He gave me that one a few months after he did the video. It's the prototype for the Groove Tools line.
 
Farview said:
You know him too? He gave me that one a few months after he did the video. It's the prototype for the Groove Tools line.
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Oh no, I don't know him personally- I thought you meant one of "his" signature basses. Pretty cool that you have one of his actual basses though- maybe his album will finally come out this....decade :confused: :p
 
Bryan R. Tyler said:
Oh no, I don't know him personally- I thought you meant one of "his" signature basses. Pretty cool that you have one of his actual basses though- maybe his album will finally come out this....decade :confused: :p
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Don't hold your breath.
 
Oh my God! A friend of mine had that exact 8 string Haagstrom like 25 years ago...same red sunburst & everything. It made a hell of a chunky bottom end, and like most Haagstroms, switches galore on the pickguard!

Thanx for a blast from the past! :D
 

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