paul h

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1017600' date='Nov 9 2010, 02:36 PM']Thinking about it I would do a few dive bombs on Mystery Train with the RG and maybe some flat picking on Enter Sandman with the jazz box. So maybe you're partially right?[/quote] Partially right! GOOOOAAAAALLLLL! I'll take that thank you very much! </thread>

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='1017584' date='Nov 9 2010, 02:26 PM']I would wager i could make it sound 'funk' using just the tone controls on the bass and whatever amp you are using. [/quote] I don't doubt it. But that's why this isn't a "wotnwhy sounds too rock..." thread. And I would also most likely say "Funky, but sounds a bit harsh, I don't like ceramic pickups". [quote]To fix clanky i would lower the action and maby try some heavier guage strings (depending on how clanky it is), and a much softer attack. In fact, think of it as rock playing = attack strings, funk playing = stroke/caress/tickle[/quote] I don't think I could really get my action any lower. Also I am thinking more along the lines of 70's funk in a Larry Graham, Louis Johnson style as well as Bernard Edwards...Basically the strings are going to be attacked at some point!

My argument is moving too slowly. Can I jump in here as well?

I give up. It is obviously just me then. My bass sounds a bit too rock and because of that I think I instinctively lean towards that style of playing. I am hoping that with a slightly warmer sound and a less clanky set up that I might find it easier to play with the "feel" I am looking for. I am the only person this happens to. On the upside I am also the most versatile bass player on the planet and can now charge a fortune for session work. No one else can can compete with me because despite a producer's best efforts everyone else plays exactly the same at all times regardless of external stimulus. Back of the net!

[quote name='chris_b' post='1017541' date='Nov 9 2010, 02:00 PM'][b]You're playing could be affected by the feel and set up of the bass but the sound can easily be changed.[/b] Bootsy Collins had a fat round sound and the guy in the Commodores used a very clanky tone. The rest of us are in the middle somewhere. Don't get hung up about sound, just get into the riffs and bass lines. Your tone will come later. Anyway, after 2 weeks you might think sod it and go back to rock.[/quote] Thank you. In my OP changing the pickup was only a small part of the deal. The main issue was getting a different feel from the instrument. I have only got "hung up" on the sound aspect since because I find it hard to believe that so many people have zero interplay between the sound of their bass and their "feel".

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='1017535' date='Nov 9 2010, 01:58 PM']Yes it does, but not to the point where your feel is completely lost. Think of a beautiful woman, the clothes she wears effects her overall image, but put her a pair of briefs and your old shirt or a glamerous evening dress and she's still a beautiful woman. To an extent, yes. But then the difference between the 2 is far, far greater to changing the pickup in a bass from ceramic to alnico [/quote] Maybe I'm just a more sensitive musician than you are?

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1017526' date='Nov 9 2010, 01:53 PM']Should work[/quote] But raises a good point. Let's talk in terms of guitars. A big bodied jazzer through a nice warm vintage valve amp. And a RG through a Marshall Valvestate and loads of pedals. You would play both with the same feel?

All good salient points but I still need an answer! Does your bass/sound affect your feel? Apparently not. Apparently it's nothing to do with gear. So if I give you a P bass through an SVT you will play that with exactly the same feel as an MTD through an EBS?

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='1017505' date='Nov 9 2010, 01:38 PM']Ok, yes i play an expensive bass. But ironically the best recorded sound i've achieved has been with a £50 P bass copy...[/quote] I'm not knocking £50 P copies for one second! What I am trying to ascertain (since everybody say's it's nothing to do with gear) is how can a bass player be so totally detached from their instrument and sound that it doesn't affect their feel?

I think it's simpler than that. If I have a bass that sounds a bit "rock" I end up playing a a bit "rock".

[quote name='Clarky' post='1017495' date='Nov 9 2010, 01:35 PM']What a disappointing thread. I thought I was going to read how you played a gig with 5kg weights hanging from your testicles and wearing an inside-out studded leather outfit[/quote] Well that's a given.

It might be confidence. It might be the ceramic pickups sounding too harsh. Or it might be the Peavey 4x10.

Well that's where we are headed so it's all good then!

Also, I assume you all play £50 P bass copies. Because it's all in the feel and nothing to do with your gear?

Thanks for all the comments guys. I too firmly fall into the "It's in your fingers" camp, but with some caveats. I do listen to a fair old bit of funk but I am trying to erase 20 plus years of rock playing here so it's not that easy! Onto the caveats with regards to feel... If for example, somebody hands me a Steve Harris sig P bass there is a good chance that I am going to bang away going clackity clackity clack and have a whale of a time. Nothing wrong with that. If someone hands me a hollowbody shortscale I will probably end up doing the worlds worst Macca impression. If I have 70's style Jazz then hey presto I am Larry Graham's illegitimate offspring. So am I the only one then? Am I the only one whose "feel" is greatly affected by the instrument? In fact am I the only one who changes feel from song to song? Do you all genuinely always sound the same? What happens when you have to play a different genre? Do you play with the same feel during a rock song and a funk song?

Last night, while playing Good Times I realised I sound like a rock player trying to be funky. Not good. Obviously this is mostly because I am really a rock player but I want to change, I really do. So technique is something I will have to work on but in the meantime I am going to swap my ceramic P pickup for an Alnico one (I have already swapped the J) and raise the action a touch. I am also considering heavier gauge strings or flatwounds but I am little bit loathe to do that because my current strings have plenty of life in them still and I'm a tight wad. I also realise I need to use a lighter touch and turn the amp up instead. Message ends.

Looks great. I think it should go in the White Bass thread as well!

I just dive in and jam along until I get something I am happy with.

I always plug into the aux on my stereo to listen to bass stuff...sounded excellent.

That is a very cool and inducing clip/bass.

Awesome...I am going to blog this immediately. Yes. I am that sad.

They look sooo

Still not working for me.

Nice bass but I'm afraid it's an EPIC FAIL in terms of it's whiteness. Take it away, get it painted and try again!

[quote name='razze06' post='1013217' date='Nov 5 2010, 12:51 PM']I have tried lowering the p and raising the j, to underwhelming results. You can clearly hear the difference in volume as you cut off the j pup. I seem to recall reading that this is so "by design". Maybe i was just badly informed...[/quote] I had one and the pickups were balanced perfectly well. Maybe it is a fault?