JObeast wrote:

Seriously, I have been trying to get a bass playing gig but they can tell I'm a guitarist a d assume it's somehow disingenuous to try out on bass. I was never ordained a bassist but thought I could fake it. I try to play on the downbeats, tonic & 5th, lite arpeggios and scalar walking when it's called for but somehow it's not selling so far.
JonPaul, anyone else - got any advice on better bass?

I am
playing a Dano Longhorn with flats, a pick and palm muting.

Really dig into listening to bassists who's style you are inspired by. Focus on where they play in relation to the beat, the lengths of their notes, accents, phrasing, etc. Play with a metronome, with recordings, and record yourself to analyze what you are doing.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Noel,
I'd be happy to send you a video on how to cop the intro bass technique/sound..........

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

CrazyAces wrote:

Noel,
I'd be happy to send you a video on how to cop the intro bass technique/sound..........

Please! Thanks so VERY much!

walksupright wrote:

Keep it simple and comfortable for you. Playing the root, eighth notes or quarters...

Ian, that was my original idea. But I'm supposed to learn the bass part that's actually on the original recording. The bass during the verses has it's own rhythm (cut time?) and is played way up in a guitar's range. Then the bass gets in sync with the song during the choruses with a great walking bass line down on the bottom. Very cool sounding part. But not so simple.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Aug 11, 2014 20:04:31

Johnny_Z wrote:

Noel - this should help get you started! (and who better to learn from than the person who came up with the bass lines for Good Vibrations?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UqNvMOdhGU

Nothing like starting at the top, is there? Johnny, if I can pull this off, maybe I can be a bass player?

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Aug 11, 2014 20:19:52

Sorry, Noel . . . I commented out of context. As a long shot, another, perhaps supplementary resource could be the Carol Kaye website. She played bass on the track. There is a wealth of information on her site. Also, she does (or used to) reply to emails. When she returned mine, she was prompt, (next day - I couldn't believe it!) very courteous and friendly, going so far as to email some exercises. Very cool person as well as musician. Couldn't hurt to try.

Now that I have a vintage-sounding bass outfit, I was looking for something a little more Jaguar-like for my Bass VI that could safely handle the lowest notes. I played the Bass VI though the outfit, and it was too bass-like, compared to playing it through my Fender or Music Man.

So I hooked up my MicroPro-200 to the Kustom 4X10 cab. That was cool. I can drive it as hard as I want and, while it isn't as Jaguar-like as the guitar amps, it's a lot closer than the bass amp head, and I don't have to worry about the vintage speakers in the other amps. The sturdy Quilter speaker gives a nice clear top that I can hear no matter how loud I play, and the bass 4X10s give it a full bottom. And in stereo, too.

FYI. IMHO. YMMV.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Oct 18, 2014 15:58:43

Just ordered a new bass from Ibanez. This is awesome! Has the vintage look desired by surf bands and myself. The Ibanez TMB-100 in ivory. Check it out. I should have it within a week so I'll let you all know how it sounds. Haven't found any YouTube videos on this just yet.

I figured I'd chime in. I'm new to surf but have played rockabilly, blues & jazz quite a bit so it's a simple transformation

Here's what I've been playing. It's a Fender Cabronita through an Ampeg VR mini stack. I also have the big mamma jamma 1100W fEARful stack with a Sansamp so it's Ampeg-ish.

The Cabronita with LaBella flats was deliciously old school thumpy. I wanted the ability to add just a touch of modern for sustain in there and upgraded the pickup to a TV Jones Thunder'Blade.

Of course, my Jack Casady is also begging to be brought out for this project as well.

Last edited: Apr 21, 2015 11:34:17

My band has been auditioning bassists and so far we have not found any that really know what I would call bass playing, i.e., classic techniques of making a bass line. It seems to us, and correct me if I am wrong, that the musical idiom has largely been lost. When I hear that a bassist plays rockabilly my ears perk up because those cats can walk a bass line and have ears attuned to the idiom of traditional bass playing. Is the opinion valid, asking you bassists here, that jazz, rockabilly and other vintage idioms produce more of the needed bass skills than what we know as rock, especially punk rock?
I'd really like to hear from bassists about what background prepares a good surf bassist.

Squink Out!

Thanks, JP for the precisely informative response. I wish I could stow away out of LAX on Alitalia to make the show but my bank accounts remain stubbornly empty despite all the hoodoo I can aim at them. That mojo I bought in Venice must be bunk.

Squink Out!