Bass

Arranging Multiple Parts for a Guitar - Musical Creativity 37

Alan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:49:34 +0100

As well as composing and recording, I play guitar in a band, playing a mixture of covers and our own originals. We don't stick too closely to the originals when we cover them, realising that we only have four members (guitar, bass, drums and vocals) so many songs have to be stripped down to work.

Going from a song that has many parts to a cover version with only four instruments can leave you feeling a bit naked when playing live. It doesn't help that as guitarist, I often have to play several parts at the same time.

It's just arranging

You've got 6 strings. So if you're adding in a piano part and a guitar part, then it's time to pick the most important notes. After all, you can only play a maximum of 6 at a time.

Listen

Listen to the music and pick out what makes the tune. A lot of notes are filler. The music sounds different without it, but that's ok.

Listen to other listeners

Not only listen to the track yourself, but ask the other band members what elements of the song stick out to them. Singers pick out different notes to bass players and so on. So there's me as a guitarist saying that some notes are missing from our arrangement, but no-one else has noticed. And it happens the other way around, where one of the other members will ask where a certain part is.

Who's the arranger?

If you are, then don't be afraid to ask the other musicians to try playing parts that they wouldn't have considered. I'm fortunate to be in a band with an accomplished and adventurous bassist. That's good because it allows us to swap when it comes to supporting the melody or the rhythm. The drummer's also open to new ideas. They, in turn, ask me to play other parts I hadn't considered.

The tone of the guitar

For notes played at the same time (e.g. chords), we've a limited tonal range. Each note in the chord has to be nearly the same tone and volume. There's some flexibility if you pluck with your fingers, but it's still pretty restricted.

If you look across the length of the song, then guitarists have access to a massive range of tone since we can vary it as we go along. The trick there is to tie the tone to a musical part, e.g. the piano lead.

Two at once

The guitarist can support the rhythm by striking staccato chords, but then there's an empty space for pads to ring. My way around this is to play the ringing chord and then play the rhythm on the low 6th string, sometimes with the 5th depending on what the chords are and how much I need to reinforce the rhythm. This works well clean or crunch sounds, not quite as well with hi-gain tone, but it can still work. Just depends on the chords being played and the rhythm that it needs to fit into.

Swapping between instruments on the same tone

To differentiate between two instrument parts, I've used upstrokes on one and downstrokes on another. Swapping between primarily plucked and primarily legato/glissando can help differentiate.

Try alternate strokes.

Similar to the ringing chords plus staccato rhythm above, the root notes can be played on the downstroke, then the ringing chords on the upstroke. Even more useful is the downstroke on the root, then several staccato chords using upstrokes. Not exactly special, but can be very useful for syncopated rhythms.

Let the bass play

If the bassist is playing the root notes, then the guitarist doesn't need to. Frees the guitarist up to play other parts.

Too much to do

Guitarists only use one pick at a time, but can use several fingers. So think about whether some finger picking would help. In addition, I use a combination, playing some notes with pick, then treble notes with fingers, often alternating, but sometimes together. Works well at emulating piano parts.

It's also the only way I've found to keeping the strength of the normal guitar notes while playing a melody on the higher strings. It takes practice but is well worth it since it opens up a whole new area of complexity.

Stretch

Bassists usually only play one note at a time. That's an overstatement, but stretch your bass player. For instance, if they play chords or at least octaves, they can free up the guitarist from chordal duties. Also the bass is a great instrument for filling in string parts. It doesn't sound like a string section, but fits in a live mix well enough, especially when played around the 5-9th frets on the A and D strings.

Composing

Why is this in the composition section? The more techniques a player has, then less restricted the music will be. By thinking how to deconstruct a song to a minimum of instruments, then you get to realise how much of a a song is superfluous. Look on youtube and you can watch any number of acoustic covers of songs, not all good mind you. The better versions have been arranged by musicians who have thought about which notes matter most and have fitted them into the composition.

Any other ideas

I'm interested to hear of other ideas or your experiences with this.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Changing some tracks - Musical Creativity 36

Alan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:39:32 +0100

I wrote the bulk of this text a couple of months ago after a day of not producing as much as I'd liked to. There are no real suggestions of how to improve or learn, but I thought I'd describe my thought processes so others may learn from my experiences.

Yesterday

I had one of those days yesterday where inspiration was lacking. Partly it may have been the brief I'd been given since it didn't have the depth of information I'd have liked. Mainly, though I think it was just me, I couldn't really find much to do, not that sounded right anyway. But I still managed to deliver something of sufficient standard.

How?

I tried creating music for the part from scratch. I wrote some interesting ideas. But they didn't really fit the brief as far as I was concerned. They're now exported to mp3 and the relevant project files archived for future reference. You never know what may be useful later on - I revisit unfinished files on a regular basis and often manage to complete them another time.

I then reviewed my collection of part-finished works hoping there was something nearly finished in there. Unfortunately there wasn't anything near finished. So I took two that really needed a lot of work and moved them forwards. One was almost finished from a composition point of view, but required a lot of mixing and processing, the other required more composition and almost no mixing.

Both featured a repeating rhythmic phrase and some background drums; one had a few bits of melody as well. The originals were rough versions of ideas that I thought worth keeping but didn't have the inspiration to finish when I first recorded them. They were a mixture of midi-triggered samples and audio recordings.

First Track

The first track was a sad and slow bluesy-jazz and had the following tracks:

drum loops
electric rhythm guitar
electric bass
electric lead guitar

For this one, it was mainly a case of arranging and mixing rather than composing. The original idea was over 3 minutes, the brief was for 1 min 50 seconds. So I worked at taking the best bits and arranging them into something musically attractive.

Before Arranging

Before I could arrange the work, I had to sort out the audio. It just didn't sound right. The original was recorded in one take per track, i.e. place some drums out, record the rhythm guitar in one go, then record the bass, then the lead guitar. Any of the audio processing was done very roughly just to convey the idea.

Rather than tweak and tweak and tweak some more, I removed all the processing and started again. After having listened to the track a few times, I knew where I wanted to go with it.

Clear some space
Guitar tone and amp selection
Set up a delay for the lead guitar
Compression for the drums
Correct reverb for drums
Mixbuss reverb, eq and compression

Clear some space

First of all I had to clear some space, the instruments were overlapping way too much. This involved some careful eq mainly focussed around making room for the bass guitar to be heard. Rolling off the low-end on the guitars and nudging the drums down in the same area helped bring the bass through considerably.

Guitar Tone and Amp Placement

I actually liked the tone I'd originally recorded with but it didn't fit in my vision of the mix. I changed the speaker emulation for a more familiar British 2x12 and turned the gain down to reduce the distortion. I also removed the reverb from the plug-in so I could add a different one later to fit in with the rest of the instruments. I'd considered re-recording with guitar amp and microphones but decided against this since the tone was sufficient for the background rhythm guitar.

Delay for lead

The lead guitar sings and needs to be heard above and beyond its accompaniment. I used a stereo delay on a aux bus for this and set the send so that it was audible. I did think about backing it off as I would do for a reverb, but I liked the extra character the delay gave the guitar.

Compression for drums

The drum loops were from BetaMonkey. They're good quality loops and are usually very dry or, in the case of the early ones, in a good-sounding room. In this particular song, the drums didn't cut through as I'd like. I could hear the snare too loud in the mix compared to the other drums. So I used a multiband compression on the drums with the gain mainly in the lower two bands and stepped down in the higher two respectively. Although setting the compressor up in this way is probably the opposite of what I'm more used to (i.e. heavier treble, lighter bass), this changed the character nicely.

Reverb for drums

To make the snare and cymbals live more in the mix, I used a reverb on an aux channel with a high-end pass. This added a nice, but barely audible quality to the drum track. The compression used in the previous step had brought the other drums up to a good level so this action balanced that out.

Mixbuss

Although nicely balanced, the instruments almost sounded like they were recorded in different rooms and the overall recording was slightly flat. A small eq alteration helped. I added the slightest amount of reverb to bond it together. I'm usually happy with a convolution reverb of a nice-sounding studio to get the feel for a track and then choose from there when I've got an idea of where I want it to be. For this particular track, I used a jazz club reverb for a more live sound. It fitted the bluesy-jazz feel of the whole track.

The final element in the chain was a limiter. I usually have two exports, one with the compressor in the chain and one with out. Then I've got the flexibility to hear what it would sound like compressed like many other tracks but still give clients the more dynamically accurate version without the compression.

The second track

This was a lot simpler in scope, but I spent a lot more time on it due to having to compose more parts and phrases to glue it together. The original idea was 50 seconds long and consisted of a midi-triggered samples of a piano, acoustic double-bass and an acoustic drum-kit. That's not that long.

Timing

I'd originally played all the parts on a midi keyboard. So the first step was to ensure all the notes were on time. This was a combination of quantising and manually adjusting the placement of notes. Some of the notes were also wrong, just not fitting in with the key. I manually adjusted these as well, rather than relying on any logical processing.

Drums

Oddly for me, the drums were samples rather than loops. I tend to find that loops fit in a lot better than any samples ever can. For this song I'd only used 4 drum sounds. I'd envisaged a drummer with an older style kick, snare and hihat, rather than the mammoth rock kits of the 80s. This simplicity, specifically the lack of cymbals, helped make the sound more realistic.

To add further realism, I patched in a light drum room reverb, just light enough to hear.

Piano

The piano sample sounded too artificial when solo'ed. I auditioned a few other piano samples, including some that were sampled from much better pianos and with much better recording. Yet I decided on the original but with two major changes:

Decreased the low-end of the piano by about 6dB below 300 Hz. Although the piano is mainly providing a bass rhythm for this track, it still comes through with the low-end reduced.
Reduced the velocity of the piano notes. Most were in the upper quartile which had a harsh sample layer. By reducing the velocity, I got to use a combination of different layers.

Structure

The original was 50 seconds long. I needed an extra minute. By thinking through the structure I wanted to introduce, I was able to create the 1 minute 50 required. It was just on the edge of having to introduce a different chord progression, theme or motif. Any longer and I would have had to. As it is, the different instruments coming in and out make it interesting enough for the short time. I looped the piano, bass and drum parts. Cutting out a few loops to bring attention to other instruments. I then added the guitar over the top and then the jazz organ.

Guitar

The guitar was troublesome. I knew it needed another instrument or two to keep it going to 1 minutes 50 seconds, but every time I played along to the song, I was left short of ideas and just had a tangled mess. I also sat down with the chords and tried working out a melody. Again nothing worked. It was accurate harmonically, just not interesting. I tried changing guitar sounds a few times - I find the inspiration from that can help a lot, even from a totally inappropriate guitar tone. In the end, I switched on the cycle function and hit record. About 45 minutes, later I had enough pieces I could use. These were pasted into the arrangement and unused pieces deleted.

The tone was deliberately kept mellow.

Jazz Organ

Again another instrument to fill in the gap from the guitar and bring the listener out of the emptier phrase in which it starts. I played this, then quantised/shifted notes manually. I was careful to use the correct quantisation for each phrase (mainly 16ths and 24ths, i.e, triplet 16ths).

Finally

There was almost no eq of the individual tracks, they sat well enough together without much alteration. I added a simple jazz reverb on the mix buss and compression similar to the first track. That worked well.

Results

I'm happy that I finished two pieces both of the required length meeting the brief.

Was it a good day though?

Probably not.

I wouldn't call either piece usual for me. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It wasn't so much that it was a different type of music to what I'm used to (they're not, I'm quite happy with that style). Instead it was more than I felt uncomfortable with the end results. They're good enough for background music which is what they're intended to be, but don't have the same melodic focus I'd usually want.

I was nowhere near as creative in the whole day as I was in the first hour of the following day. On that day, I wrote three good ideas in less than an hour. I spent an hour tidying up one of the tracks, bear in mind it was 7 minutes long. Like the above tracks, they'll take longer to finish, but that can wait for another day when I need to progress them further.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Budget compressor that works way beyond expectations

Alan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:39:30 +0000

Budget or not

I subscribe to the view that you almost always get what you pay for at the lower end of the market. So it's nice to come across something cheap that works well.

The compressor

I bought a compressor the other day, but not for use as a studio compressor. I bought it as an effect for my guitar rig.

I'm using it to push the preamp a little bit for a fat round sound. There are some of the standard compression knobs such as Attack and Release. There's also a Ratio switch for high or low. The Emphasis knob controls how much of the high frequency signal is passed through without compression, allowing for the rattle of strings to come through. This is a great feature if you're thinking of using it on bass.

The pedal is easy to use if you don't think of the knobs on the top row as having much to do with traditional compressors. I'm still trying to figure out the compressor knob. I know what I think it should do, but it doesn't seem to. It seems to be a mixture of ratio (relating to the hi or low levels from the switch) and threshold. One way to find out is to do record an A-B comparison and look at the audio file properties. I'm curious what it actually does do so I'll do this at some point.

The Output

The sound out of the compressor isn't crystal clear. It's not that noisy either, to the point that you can't hear any added noise when the amplifier is on a clean setting. I haven't measured it more accurately than listening by ear.

The resulting sound has a nice warm quality with the guitar's tone being slightly subdued. Feels like a more rounded tone. I guess some of the higher frequencies have been removed. For an all-purpose compressor, that's a problem. For putting in front of a guitar or bass amp, I see that as a positive. I wouldn't use it on every song either, but I can see it getting a lot of use.

With the amplifier on a high gain setting, there is more hiss and hum with the compressor switched on. That's not necessarily being introduced by the compressor other than the fact that the make-up gain is increasing the floor level.

Snake Charmer

It's the Vox Cooltron Snake Charmer Compressor pedal and I bought mine for £39, a big reduction from the RRP of £149. That's a great price for a compressor pedal and fits into the budget pedal price, undercutting a lot of more "pro" models. The Cooltron pedals are marketed as having tube technology. They do indeed have a tube inside. I have no idea if the tube is adding to the tone, to me it was just a gimmick, but I'm glad I tried the pedal despite that.

Bass

After trying this in the shop using a guitar, I couldn't wait to get it back and try on a bass. It has a nice tone on that as well, although there are some issues. Two things to bear in mind:

It's a compressor that isn't configured as a limiter, so a sudden loud signal will still get through to your amp.
I think it's designed for use with guitar frequencies, but rolling the emphasis knob to the extreme will let more of the bass' higher frequencies through.

I've found that I had to keep the attack on the left-side of 12 o'clock otherwise it outputs a click if you hit strings hard. The click isn't anything in the source and is still in the output despite the amplifier's limiter being on full. My guess is that the pedal introduces it into the signal chain. I want to check that before I confirm it. I'll see if I can get the same sound using a different bass amp, a DI and also using a guitar into the same amp. Either way, I'm a bit wary about introducing that click to any sensitive equipment until I can find out where it's coming from. The compressor pedal is still useable and a joy to play with on bass, but keep the attack knob down.

Edit - I've tried the compressor on the same settings with a (passive) electric guitar into a guitar amp. I didn't hear the click.

Vocals

I wouldn't put this in the signal chain for recording clean vocals. It's not designed for that and I really doubt whether it's clean enough although, again, I haven't measured it. From what it's done to the guitar, I can imagine it working well as a nice effect on vocals, perhaps on a send mixed in parallel with the original or on an insert for much rougher sound.

Conclusion

In all fairness, I didn't expect that much from the pedal before I tried it. I was dubious about the valve gimmick. But for using the pedal as something that cleanly adds tone, wow, it's got to be heard. It also has the bonus of having the usual compressor feature of adding sustain to notes. Great. Unlike most effects that I just use in one or two places, I'm looking forward to trying this in a variety of applications. It can never be my go-to compressor, in the end it is just a guitar effect pedal, but it definitely has a place for changing the sound of a signal in a positive way.

At this price, it's a steal. Almost a no-brainer.

If it were more expensive, I may still buy it but only if I wanted the exact sounds it produces and I couldn't get them from a more versatile compressor.

Lock the Bass in - Musical Creativity 28

Alan — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:53:46 +0000

Following on from the article about using gates on drums. I want to describe the main reason I use gates and that's to lock the bass into another pattern such as the kick drum.

It's quite a common use for a gate and when set well, it's subtle and almost unnoticeable, but definitely noticeable when you turn the effect off. It's simple to set up although it does involve a few steps.

The Set-up

Let's say we start with two tracks:

Channel 1 is the drums. Most likely a stereo set from a loop/drum plug-in or a submix from acoustic drums
Channel 2 is the bass guitar. Most likely mono (although a blended mix of mics/DI etc could also be used

The channel order's completely up to you. The only reason I've mentioned track numbers here is so that it's easier to refer to them as I type.

The 1st Gate

We'll put a send on Channel 1 (drums). In Logic, let's say that we send the signal to Bus 1. I usually set it 0dB (that's n oreduction or gain on the send in Logic) most of the time and pre-fader unless I need to process the drums a lot.

Now we go to the send channel (Bus 1). If you've got the drums playing, you should see the meters for the Bus channel moving in sync with the drums. We only want the bass to be in sync with the kick drum, not the whole drum kit.

We now insert the gate on the send channel Bus 1. Set the gate so that it only triggers on the kick drum. If there's a monitor function so you can hear what the gate responds to, then use that. When you've got the setting, stop the send going to the main output or mixbuss. We don't need the sound as an output into the main mix. You should see Bus 1 channel's meters respond to the kick drum only now.

The 2nd Gate

Now go to the bass channel (Channel 1) and insert a noise gate there. You want it to trigger when there's a bass signal so set the threshold accordingly. I usually have the signal reduction set to only -2dB or -3dB. The reason for that such a small dB reduction is that the gate will always let the bass signal through, but will also let the extra 2dB through when the kick drum triggers it. To do that we put Bus 1 as the gate's sidechain.

The Result

Listen to it now and the bass should be accentuated with the kick, giving the impression of being locked-in more that it was previously.

Quick settings in Logic

Setup the gates as above and select the Isolate Kick preset in the gate. Listen to the signal with the monitor function. Actually you can do without this and use the meters instead if you can hear the kick well enough. Change the eq filter and threshold so that only the kickdrum comes through - usually this means reducing the High Cut almost to its lowest level so that it doesn't pick up the snare and bringing down the threshold until the kick triggers the gate. Turn off the monitor in the gate and change the output of the aux channel so that it has no output.

For the gate on the bass, select the Isolate Bass preset. Change the sidechain input to Bus 1. Set the threshold so that the bass always comes through and set the reduction to -2dB.

Why 2 gates?

I find it to be a lot more accurate. It's possible to route the Channel 1 (drums) to the sidechain input of the gate on Channel 2 (bass). You can then change the eq setting so that only the kick drum comes through. But I've always found that there's a little bit of leakage from other instruments doing it this way and rather than just have eq filtering out the drums, I like having the 1st noise gate isolating thekick. At least that way, I can decide whether I'd prefer to miss a few hits of the kick or have it respond to a few hits from the snare as well, depending on how tight the threshold and eq values are.

Other ideas

Vary the reduction amount to get a more dramatic accent until it quickly starts to have a detrimental effect rather than being a positive creative tool. But as always, try it, it may prove useful to you.

You could also switch the gate for a compressor (and again use the Bus 1 as the sidechain input) for the opposite effect. It might sound like it wouldn't work since it would decrease the bond between the kick and bass. I find it useful when the kick has a tone of its own that I'd like to come through. In that case, the bass and the kick together may be too much so using the compressor allows the kick to shine through.

I think you can do something similar by using a positive value in the reduction. This is where the terminology gets confusing: to increase the non-triggered volume, have a positive number for the reduction (i.e. it's not a reduction anymore). To think around this, interpret the reduction value as what the gate does to the non-triggered signal.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

What do you need to start playing the bass? - Musical Creativity 22

Alan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:54:18 +0000

Let's start with a list and I'll break it apart. It will be useful as a checklist if you're thinking of starting out or if you're thinking of buying a gift for a bass player. With the technical advances over the last couple of decades, the price has dropped so that beginners can achieve a nice sound at starter prices.

Starter kit:

Bass guitar
Amplifier
Lead
Strap
Strings
Case
Stand
Optional: Strap Locks
Pick or plectrum

Bass Guitar:

This is the easy no-brainer requirement; to learn bass, you'll need a bass. It gets more difficult straight after that. What type of bass do you want? 4, 5 or 6 string? Active, passive? P or J-Bass? Short-scale or long-scale?

Have a think of bassists who you like. What do they play? Most live hard rock is done on a P-bass so it cuts through the mix. It's not necessarily always the case, there are enough exceptions to that rule. For recording, a jazz bass or a hybrid with a one jazz and one set of p-bass pickups maybe more appropriate. Do some research into the different types and how they sound. Any shop salesperson should at least demo the differences to you especially if it's obvious you can't play for yourself.

If you've no real idea after that, then the safest option would be a 4 string Jazz bass. Wherever you decide to progress to after that, at least you'll have a basic bass.

Play (or at least hold) the bass as you'd like to be able to play it, e.g. sitting or standing. Does it feel comfortable in that position or does it keep slipping? When sitting, would you use a strap? It does help keep it place more.

Amplifier:

If you're just into recording and you've got a good DI route through your DAW/multitrack/mixing desk, then you don't actually need an amplifier. You could just plug into the interface/board/outboard DI and go from there.

Assuming you want to hear yourself sound a bit more like a bass at the time of recording, or if you're like a lot of people, just want to learn a bass without recording it, then you'll need an amplifier. There is a lot of information around about the differences between amplifier types. We'll keep it brief here. Suffice to say that there's usually an amplifier section comprising a preamp and a power amp, usually with some eq and then there's a speaker section comprising the speaker and cabinet. When the two are together in the same housing, it's a combo. If you're starting out, it'll probably be a combo unless you've got the money for a separate head and cab.

For a transistor amp, 30W is about the minimum. 10W and 15W exist, but there's more potential of you getting fed up with the sound and the instrument. If you can stretch to more, then better. 300W seems to be about standard for playing with a drummer. Some, more efficient amps will work even at 150W or 200W but you'd need to check. Bear in mind that, assuming energy efficiency, 100W is only twice as loud as 10W. If you're thinking about valve amps for bass, then you're not in the beginner league anymore. Although I was looking at the new breed of 7W all-valve guitar amps and wondering if I could plug a bass in and use a 15inch speaker cab. 7W valve can be very loud.

Some features may see on your amp:

eq or at least bass, middle, treble so you can shape the tone of the bass. Generally though, how does it sound with all the eq flat?
input gain - basses have a lot of dynamic range, so if you're plucking hard, then the ability to turn the input gain down would be useful
output volume - the main volume for the amplifier
headphone socket - usually disengage the speaker (not always, so check), useful for quiet rehearsals, also for a cheap quality direct out
direct out - for passing the signal from the preamp out for recording or for input to a slave amplifier.
tuner - some amplifiers have tuner built in. More common on guitar amplifiers than bass
tuner out - to connect a tuner to
effects in/out or send/return - to connect effect processors/pedals in the loop between preamp and power amp stages
speaker out - to power an external speaker from the amplifier. Not sure why a beginner amplifier would benefit from this. I can't imagine a 30W bass amp being able to drive a 15 inch speaker that well
handles - often an afterthought when buying, but how are you going to carry the amp? Can you lift it safely? Can you get it up and down stairs or ilft it in and out of your car safely?
DSP Effects - effects built-in to the amp that colour the tone of your bass guitar sound. Often not worth the hassle of having them. The quality of the effects used to be awful. But I've been surprised by the quality of amps and basses recently, so maybe these are now adequate.
Limiter/Compressor - used to be only available for the more expensive amps, but I've noticed that even some of the budget Laneys have limiters built-in. These are very useful, depending on your playing style.

Also have a think about where you're going to put the amp. Will it fit? I've measured them up before to check sizes.

The combo pictured on this page is an Ashdown Perfect 10. It's a 30W transistor bass amp and has a nice set of features, great for a beginner and sounds nice too.

Lead:

You'll need a lead to connect the bass guitar to the amplifier. It's a mono signal usually with a jack at both ends, although I have seen XLRs used as well, but not on beginner-level kit.

Get a decent lead, you don't need a branded, moulded, super-duper lead with extra-special directional, silver cable. Get a decent, nice thick lead that doesn't look like it will snag. If it's got some heavy-duty screwed-on plugs on the ends, it's usually a good sign. I've had my main guitar lead for 15 years. Still going, although I think I may need to replace the plugs now. I'll get some proper (non-fake) Neutriks. No point using anything else.

Strap:

I think this one's down to personal preference. I look for a bit of padding at the shoulder and end holes that don't look they'll stage to warp with the stress of a moving bass guitar.

Strings:

Actually, I don't have much to say about these. There's a lot of debate about which is the best type, let alone best brand. Check the bass forums around and see for yourself. I find that bass strings will last a lot longer than guitar strings, not only before they break (rare), but also before they begin to sound too muddy. Strings are nearly always a lot cheaper online than in shops. However, if you can get some thrown in to sweeten the deal, then do so. Check the condition of the strings on the bass before you buy, it maybe that you'll have a fair few months left in them.

Case:

Any guitar deserves a hard-case. I'm adamant about that. But I also see the advantages of a good quality gig-bag. I'd never use the nylon bags that usually come in starter kits. Sometime hard-cases for bass won't fit width-wise in most cars. That caught me by surprise when I tried to take my bass guitar to a rehearsal. So I used the relatively sturdy gig bag instead. The gig bag is also more useful for carrying, coming complete with shoulder straps, a variety of handles and accessory pockets. I like Warwick's Rockbags.

Stand:

Ok, you're busy playing bass and the doorbell rings. What do you do? Go downstairs with the bass on, clunking the neck into the staircase and doorframe, knocking everything in sight and a few things you didn't see? Or place it against a bookcase and answer the door, only to hear it slip and crash to the floor. If you're engrossed, chances are you'd leave the door anyway and carry on playing. But that's another story. For the sake of £10-20 get a stand or at least a wall hanger (although I don't know what they do the neck). Check that the stand fits the bass before you leave the shop. Sounds odd. I've seen my bass fall through the amps at the bottom of a stand before (luckily onto carpet) and I've seen stands that grip at the next but don't extend far enough for a long-scale bass.

Strap Locks:

I believe that every guitar and strap should come already equipped with these. Even better if we could have one standard so that if you forgot your strap, you could use another lying around. Unfortunately, there are several standards including some augmented plastic washers that I wouldn't even call straplocks.

The proper metal straplocks provide a sturdy, almost failsafe (like most in things in life, it's not completely failsafe) way of connecting the strap to the guitar. I've caught too many guitars as the strap has pinged off and the guitar's started to fall to the ground. I've seen a few that weren't caught and ended up being dented. Not good. They cost about £10-£15 for four pieces. Two to attach to either end of the strap and two to attach to the guitar. You have to unscrew the existing strap lugs and screw the new ones in. If you're lucky, they'll fit nicely. If you're not, then you'll need to fill the gap. Even on a Les Paul, I had to resort to this. My method was to take sawdust and PVA woodglue and put a tiny amount in the hole with a toothpick. Then screw the new lug in. It's worked for the last few years without any problem.

Sounds a lot of bother, but for a maximum of 30 minutes and a small outlay, I'm not watching the strap and worrying if it's going to hold. For every guitar I buy, I use the Schaller straplocks. The only decision I have to make is which colour.

Picks:

This divides bass players. Do they play finger-style, thumb-style or with a pick. I use all three. Even if you play finger-style, you may come across the need for a pick at one point or another. There are some rhythms I think can only be played with a pick. I'd dread to try them finger-style. I could hit the same pattern and rhythm, but the accents would be different. For bass you need a thicker pick than on electric or acoustic guitar. I like the Stubby from Jim Dunlop. I like the dent which is great for getting a good grip with. As for electric guitars, the pick material and attack makes a difference to the sound.

In total:

The above should be the minimum you'd be looking to come away with from a shop if you're into the usual learning and rehearsing onto aiming to play with others. If you're tight on budget, decide which activity you want to forego. For example, if you need time to learn before you play with others, then you may not need a bag/case for a while.

Future kit:

Better amp and speakers
Compressor
Preamp
More and better basses
other fx processors/pedals
new pickups

I'll leave this section for another day and another article.

Motivation:

Whatever kit you buy, it's down to you to learn how to play the bass. Regular lessons and a practice regime work well. If you're still not improving as you'd like to (and you think you're realistic), have a look at the social blogs on the right-hand side for quick hints.

Other References:

You should have a look at How to buy a bass. This goes into more detail about the bass itself. There's a lot of useful information, fortunately I don't see anything contradicting what I've written here either, so that's good. I've got one main addition to this, check that all the strings play open without clanking against the frets. A couple of the basses I played the other day couldn't do this. I was appalled.

A nice simple guide explaining the major differences can be found at Thomann

Want to understand whether you'll benefit from compression or not, then look at the Bass Players Guide to Compressors

Want to check reviews, then the first place is Harmony Central. Actually, I usually recommend this as the first place to look for anything related to musical instruments.

There are a lot of bass-related sites out there, there are a few here:

http://www.activebass.com/

http://www.bassplayer.com/

http://www.studybass.com/

In my experience, the best nuggets of information are on the sites and interviews of professional bass players.

Then there's the usual magazines you can find in most stores

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Learn a new instrument - Musical Creativity 21

Alan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:35:38 +0000

I hadn't planned to write this article now, but after helping a friend go shopping at the weekend, I felt I had to write it soon. In short, learn to play a new instrument. I've still got some more emulation ideas to write about, but they will wait for a later article.

Why?

In as much the same as learning to emulate an instrument can aid inspiration, so can learning to play an instrument in its own right. In my opinion, it can provide more inspiration. I've mentioned before I'm a guitarist, but even learning the bass helps me focus on what will work when mixing the instruments together. Understanding the bass lines and how they fit to the drumbeat, e.g. ahead, in the pocket or behind, helps me figure out the style of guitar I'd want to add over the top. Learning keyboards and piano gives yet a different view again.

There are other points to learning another instrument.

Benefits:

Can provide relief or a change of scene
Sense of achievement
New skill
New people to meet
New opportunities for collaboration
Different mindset
Additional influences
Additional creative outlet
In the longer term, won't have to hire session musicians for that part that needs recording
Able to communicate better when directing other players of that instrument
Better understand the limitations of the instrument
Quicker to try out ideas, rather than borrowing kit and/or player
There are secondary benefits, e.g. shared experience of learning an instrument with another family member

Concerns:

The hardware costs
Takes time to learn
Take time and money to learn properly (paying for tuition)
More clutter in the studio or at home where you'd be learning
Perhaps more distraction from your writing workflow
It will hurt a bit at first as your body adjusts to playing the instrument. Depending on the instrument, could be your finger tips, your arms, your cheeks, thigh muscles. Don't let the pain continue though, see below about being taught.
Depending on your mindset, it may provide yet another strand of Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
There are secondary concerns, e.g. impact on family life if you're spending a lot of time practising, annoying the family/neighbours with the harsh sound that new learners create.

When should I start?

Now's a good as time as any. And I mean that. I bought my first electric guitar and amp almost 20 years ago. It cost about £250. That money 20 years ago was worth a lot more than now.

All I received for that outlay was a:

new Yamaha RGX211
2nd hand Laney Linebacker 30W amp
cheap cable
red fabric strap

Think I even paid extra for a rectangular wooden case.

The guitar was cheap, essentially a super-strat copy. Nice for the price, but I quickly grew out of it. Listening to it now, the sound is very thin and raspy. But this was in the days before Yamaha released their first Pacifica range. That range revolutionised the budget end of the guitar market, providing a level of quality and playability that was unheard of unless you were extremely lucky with your Squire. If only I could have waited 5 years.

The amp, well, it amplifies the sound. It's scratchy. Sounds like a horrible transistor amp. The distortion distorts the guitar sound in the way that only cheap 80s amp did. Oh well, better than nothing, but only just. Built to last and it was just about portable on a bus when necessary. Good to sit on, if a bit uncomfortable after a while.

I stopped using both after a few years. Actually I reckon I'd outgrown them after 6 months or so, but I didn't have the finances to change until a few years.

How does today's starting kit compare?

I mentioned I was taking a friend shopping. He wanted to start playing bass and budgeted for around £250-300. Same as I did 20 years ago, except that the £250 I spent them would be worth £500 or so now (don't know exactly, it feels like double though). And what's he get for the money?

Wow! I wish this kit had been available when I'd started learning. Actually I didn't see anything of this quality even 2 years ago when I was looking at basses.

We came across:

new Spector Performer 4 electric bass guitar
new Ashdown Perfect Ten 30W bass combo

Price for both was about £260 before negotiating or adding about other items such as cables, straps, stand, tuner, strings etc.

And the quality? Wow. Again

The bass is the budget end of the range, but it felt better than most basses twice its price. Smooth playing action and a very nice feel to the back of the neck. The passive pickups fooled me at first, I thought they were low-powered active pickups. Instead, there just a better quality than I'd expected to see at this price range. The result was a nice range of tones from the pickups and eq. Nicely built. Looks nice as well.

The amp was on about 6 out of 10 for the volume, so I wouldn't expect it to be able to get much louder. It still shook your trousers though! More important was the sound quality. It sounded nice, like a studio amp. There was no built-in compressor, the only gimmick was a deep switch, which proved not to be a gimmick since it did add a nice warmth. The amp would struggle alongside a drummer, actually to be honest, I think the amp would be useless and inaudible against a rock drummer. That's why they have louder amps. But to play at home and jam with a guitarist or singer, it's great. It even looks nice and is one of the most acceptable to be left in the lounge.

And those prices are new, if you're just starting out, then second-hand may be more appropriate. If I look at other instruments, I largely see the same effect. The cost to buy a good starting kit has really lowered. Want to buy one that will last a while longer as you grow with it, then you may only have to spend £50-100 more depending on the instrument and the retailers around you/internet availability. That's an incredible difference compared to 20 years ago.

How to start?

There's one thing I'd recommend; there's always someone you can learn from in person. Being self-taught is great, but you'll also teach yourself bad habits. Actually, you probably won't notice them or even learn them, they'll just be the way that you learn the instrument and some will hurt, maybe even permanently. Having a professional teacher set you on your way will at least increase your chances of getting it right and decrease the chances of doing yourself any damage.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Bass Emulation - Musical Creativity 23

Alan — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:19:55 +0000

Try to emulate a bass guitar using another instrument

Which Type?

There are several types of bass. First of all, decide which type you want to emulate: acoustic, semi-acoustic, electric bass or acoustic double-bass.

One at a Time

I used to think of the bass as being a monophonic or one-note-at-a-time instrument. Often it is, but it depends on the genre, and the bassist. Even those that feature one note at any one time will often have another note on another string hanging as the bassist makes the transition between strings.

Use a Keyboard

Pianologist has some very good hints on emulating bass using a keyboard.

One of the things to decide is whether you want it to sound like a bass guitar or not. Synths have a lot of bass patches and depending on the style of music, some are more suitable than others. I'm not saying anything revolutionary here, just as always, decide if it's meant to emulate, replace, hint at a bass guitar.

Use a Guitar

I've used a guitar to roughly emulate an electric bass. I liked the result, but it didn't really sound much like a real bass. I don't suppose I expected it to. Fortunately the softer sound that was produced worked better than expected. I tried replacing it with a bass later on. I'd recorded the guitar direct as I may do for a bass. I'd added a tube emulator (Silverspike's Ruby Tube worked well for this sound), added some subharmonics (can't remember the effect I used) and applied eq for a more bottom-heavy sound. I wasn't going to try and emulate the clack of the strings being plucked. I also added a mild speaker emulator for some extra depth, the speaker sound is not as important for a bass recording as for a guitar. I also processed it through a mild chorus, again for some extra depth. To finish, I passed it through a gate, then compressor so that I could achieve a sound that had a slow attack and release. This gave the result I was looking for of a nice bass sound with a medium attack. It still had some of the characteristics of a guitar, but didn't have the boominess or artifacts that result from pitch manipulation.

Bassists play differently

This is an important point to remember, especially for guitarists. Bassists are not just guitarist who only play 4 strings, one at a time. A bassist will strike notes in different places to a guitarist. It's generally quite easy to spot a guitarist who's just picked up a bass to fill in for a missing bassist. They'll usually play on the beat and choose the root notes. A bassist will adapt their playing around the beat to either relax the music or add more excitement. The choice of notes from an experienced bassist will be well beyond the guitarist who's playing bass. This above any other characteristic will set good bassists apart from guittarists. Watch the ghost notes and passing notes, especially as they skip from supporting one chord to another or as they progress a rhythm change.

I think that there's only two things you can do to cover that gap:

1) listen and analyse some of the great players - understand what they do to make their sound. No matter how much a budding guitarist may concentrate on their tone, with the bassist, it's more about style of playing. There are a lot of sites, either owned by or dedicated to famous players. You can learn a lot from them.

2) practice over and over again

Each bass is different

In a way, if you're aiming to emulate the perfect bass sound, then you're trying to aim for a moving target. For any given song, the perfect sound would be different. And ask several people, get several answers as to what's perfect. Have a think about what's included in a bass, such as the woods, strings, amplifier, style of playing and focus on one particular type.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Try to emulate another instrument - Musical Creativity 19

Alan — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:45:18 +0000

The same but different

I referred to utilising the differences in each instrument for inspiration in a previous article.

A similar inspiration can happen when you try emulate a different instrument. At first attempt, the emulated instrument often sounds nothing like the intended instrument. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

In one session, I'd used a guitar and processing to emulate an organ sound. I did try re-recording it later with a proper organ patch, but it just didn't have the same feel. I'm still happier with the guitar version and so I kept it. You can tell it's not an organ; that doesn't bother me. I like the sound I ended up with and that counts. Can't remember the exact effects I used on the guitar, when I find my notes, I'll post them as a comment. From memory, I probably used a guitar DI, chorus, rotor cabinet simulator, amp simulator, tube emulator and heavily compressed it so there was little dynamic range. That's a lot of effects, but it got me the basic dirty, organ sound I wanted. I also added a stereo delay to complete the picture.

The End Result

What I learnt was that it's not necessary to have the sound perfectly emulated since often I don't want the perfect sound. Everything we do in the recording process is implementing a choice on how we want the end result to sound. That could be how which microphones we choose or how we place them, which preamps, how much low-end rolloff is applied, eq at recording and or mixing and so on. In the same way, the end result of an emulation doesn't have to sound like the intended instrument. It can do things that the original can't. Try playing 6 concurrent notes on a 4 string bass. Can't be done. Generally you wouldn't want to, but sometimes an effect like that can be useful.

In the story above, I had an organ sound that I couldn't create with an organ synth. And I had attributes of a recorded guitar. I liked that.

The track was "Roll On" and you can find it in Show Reel 4. In the background, there's an atmospheric pad or two that fade in and out. It's only at 2 minutes 50 seconds into the track that I introduced a proper organ sound to heighten the mood. The organ sound I added contained more treble and was a cleaner sound than that provided by the processed guitar.

Other situations

Another common situation would be trying to record an instrument that you wouldn't normally have access to such as a sitar. Actually I find that a lot of the time, I don't want an accurate sitar sound and an emulation is more likely to fit into the sound I'm looking for.

Is it worth it?

Depends on why you're trying to emulate the instrument.

Sometimes you find a different destination along the journey - in trying to emulate in instrument, you find a melody or a sound that wouldn't come from either the source or the intended instrument. That's my preferred ending.

However, if you're trying to achieve a perfect emulation, then expect to spend a lot of time, tweaking velocities, changing patches many times mid-way through a melody, tweaking zones or ranges, mixing in different instruments. All to get the best sound possible, which unfortunately may still be recognisable as an imitation if you've chosen the wrong notes. Some instruments are easier to emulate than others.

But it should still give you a great idea of what it could sound like from recording the real instruments. From a creativity point of view, I love the near-instant access to banks of instruments so I can figure out if a sound will work out as well as I can hear it in my head or whether I should be thinking of a different instrument or melody.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Start on a different instrument - Musical Creativity 18

Alan — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:55:44 +0000

I mentioned in the previous article about using a different instrument to get past a block, well I also use them to start the process as well. If I compose starting with a guitar, the feel of the song will be different to that if I started on bass. Mainly because if I'm writing on guitar, I'm thinking about chords, riffs, patterns and where the song can develop. Whereas on bass, I'd be writing something that grooves and that locks with the drumbeat.

How well does it work?

Although I'm a better guitarist than bassist, I prefer the songs that I've started on bass. Why? Generally because they're easier to tap your feet to. For something to capture your attention, despite being largely one note at a time, it has to be more interesting than a song that has access to other attributes (such as chords, separate melody, etc). I'll still add in other parts as well beyond the bass, but they'll be there to complement the bass and drums. That does make mixing more awkward since the bass would be have to more prominent than usual. And similar works when I start on keyboard first. Getting away from my main instrument boosts my creativity no end.

What else?

Find a complicated drum loop or better still a series of drum loops. Then write to that. Can work well if you drop the drums out of the mix at regular intervals.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

Choose a different instrument - Musical Creativity 17

Alan — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:23:18 +0000

I use the technique of changing instruments when I'm revisiting a track that has lain idle for a while. Depending on the deadlines involved, my usual way of composing is write and stop writing when I've hit a dead-end. When I revisit the track, could be the next day or a few months away, I'll try to add more to it. I find the quickest way to add a different flavour is to change the main instrument at the point of where I'm stuck. For instance, let's say that I've got a guitar-based melody for 2 minutes and I'm stuck as to what to do after that, then often I'll change to a keyboard or bass even if only to record 5 seconds or so.

It's about the inspiration

The point about this isn't necessarily about the sound of other instrument, but the inspiration that I derive from it. I play guitar differently to how I play bass and different again to how I play keyboards/piano.

The Clincher

And here's the weird part for me: after writing the new part on whatever instrument I've chosen, I often re-record it on the original instrument. To my ears, that usually works out better. Especially as it's more likely to blend in better with the first 2 minutes. That's how I see swapping as an aid to creativity; it helps me bypass some of my habits

But why bother?

A lot of it is to do with breaking habits. I mentioned that I play guitar differently to how I pay bass. Actually, I play acoustic guitar in a different fashion to how I play electric guitar (and that can be divided as well; pick/no pick, clean/distorted, amplified/DI and so on). Add to this the fact the instruments play notes with different tones and frequencies and I begin to pick out different melodies than I would on the original instrument. More than that, my timing is different because of how I've learnt to play the instruments. I'm better at some than others and so I think differently when I play them. In some cases, it forces me to think about what I want to play and how to achieve it. In recording the part again, I often find the habits that were present in my original playing.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.