Marcus Miller's thoughts on bass guitars

[ivansc]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1330660' date='Aug 7 2011, 10:01 AM']ive got to agree.. i really dont get this..its all in the fingers..? if Victor played a stingray hes not going to sound like Victor on a Foderaw.. yeah he may play the same licks, but the tone will be different..[/quote]

You have far to go on the road to enlightenment, grasshopper....




Back in 1962 I bought a rosewood neck fender precision.

Later I bought a Ricky 4001
Later I swapped it for a Travis Bean
Later I bought a maple neck Fender Precision
Later I was given an Epiphone prototype bass with active PJs

I recently played a gig using a borrowed hohner jack bass.

A lady who is NOT a musician but who has known me for a long time turned up having heard me from the street & claimed she knew it was me because of the tone I got.

And that`s before we even think about amplifiers, speakers, string types and gauges, etc.

The point is, I have recordings of me playing most if not all of these instruments that span from 1962 to a few weeks ago and I sound exactly the same on all of them.

The single most important factor in what tone any good player I have ever heard gets is how the fingers produce the notes.

[4000]

[quote name='ivansc' post='1338155' date='Aug 12 2011, 08:43 PM']You have far to go on the road to enlightenment, grasshopper....




Back in 1962 I bought a rosewood neck fender precision.

Later I bought a Ricky 4001
Later I swapped it for a Travis Bean
Later I bought a maple neck Fender Precision
Later I was given an Epiphone prototype bass with active PJs

I recently played a gig using a borrowed hohner jack bass.

A lady who is NOT a musician but who has known me for a long time turned up having heard me from the street & claimed she knew it was me because of the tone I got.

And that`s before we even think about amplifiers, speakers, string types and gauges, etc.

The point is, I have recordings of me playing most if not all of these instruments that span from 1962 to a few weeks ago and I sound exactly the same on all of them.[/quote]

This is what annoys me. Some people do sound pretty much the same regardless of what they play (I have a guitarist friend who does) but NOT EVERYONE DOES. Our guitarist doesn't, I don't, many of the people I know don't. A few years back my girlfriend came to see me at a gig. The first half I played with my Ric 4000. The second half I played with my 4001CS; no tweaks at the board or amp. My girlfriend (a non-musician but with good ears) said she didn't like the sound of "the first bass" and then went on to describe it pretty much to a tee. I once lent a friend my CS for a number at a gig where he was playing a 4003; it sounded totally different in the band (we both thought it didn't work as well). He sounds completely different playing his Ric, his Status, his Musicman. Ad infinitum.