/ \ / / - _--__| / | | / \ ________--__- O --- ____ | | \ \ / \ =======/-/=======| |) O --- ___ \ | / / ======/-/=====================| |) O--- ___ | / =====/-/===================================| |) O--- ___ ====/-/================================================| |) -__ ___/_/ _|_ | _ ___ ___ __|__ _ \__ __ \ ___\_\\-_ | |_ / \ | ) __ | | | | / \ | | \ \\ \\\\\\\\\-_ \_/ | \ |-- |--< / \ | \_/ \_/ _ |\ \ | | \__ | \ \__/ | ____ \ o \/\ |_\ /\| \_ |___/ ____---\\\\\\| \ \ \ \ \_ /\| \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\--- \_ \ \ \ _/\/ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\------ \_ \ __-\\\/ ---\\\\\\\- Electric Bass FAQ Version 1.1 February 6, 1993 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To post: Subscriptions, deletions, requests: bass@uwplatt.edu bass-request@uwplatt.edu (Bitnet: bass@uwplatt.bitnet) (Bitnet: bass-request@uwplatt.bitnet) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK folks, here is the latest TBL FAQ for electric basses. If you have any additions or comments, please mail them to doug@arizona.edu. I take full responsibility for any and all typos and if you can prove to me that I have incorrect information, I will change it. If I have left out any particular topic, please remind me of what it is and I will add it. The FAQs can only get bigger! -Doug ========================================================================== Topics How are basses tuned and how is music notated for them? How about five and six string basses? What are eight and twelve string basses? What is the difference between a J pickup and a P pickup? What are the different kind of strings? How do I do my own setups? What is biamping? What are some good books to start learning from? What is the name of the JAMES JAMERSON book and where can I get the CDs? Are any videos worth watching? What can I use for background accompaniment while I practice? What is TAB and where can I find it? Where are Bass oriented FTP sites? What to do if you don't have FTP - use mail! What other Bass oriented lists are on the Internet? ================================================================ Since there are as many tastes as there are bass players, I have purposefully left out any specifics as to what the best bass and amp is. The best method for choosing equipment is to play it. It doesn't matter what the brand name is or where it is made, as long as it has the sound that you like, hopefully in the price range you can afford! (Remember, Jaco Pastorius played on a Fender Jazz bass that he bought used for something like $90!) If there is enough demand and/or some specific questions, I'll put more stuff in... On with the motley! ================================================================ How are basses tuned and how is music notated for them? Four string electric basses, like their upright counterparts, are tuned in Perfect Fourths, E A D G from low to high. Music for basses is notated on the Bass, or F clef. The written music is transposed up one octave from what the bass actually plays, to reduce the necessity for ledger lines. How about five and six (and seven) string basses? Five string basses usually come in one of two flavors. The most common configuration is to add a low B string to the standard E A D and G strings. The second configuration is to add a high C string instead of the low B. Six string basses usually have both the low B and the high C. One reason for these configurations is to extend the range of the bass lower, higher, or both. Another advantage of these configurations is the ability to play a two octave range without having to shift position. Some manufacturers even produce seven string basses, with the usual configuration being to add a low F# to the normal six string layout. What are eight and twelve string basses? Eight string basses are similar to twelve string guitars. A second string is added to each of the four standard strings. This second string is tuned one octave higher than the standard string, so two notes one octave apart are sounded. The twelve string bass takes this further by adding a second "octave" string to the pair. The result is four sets of three strings. The twelve string bass is credited to Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick and Jol Dantzig of Hamer Guitars. Doug Pinnick of King's X also uses 12 strings extensively. An eighteen string bass was actually built by Modulus Graphite for Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick. It is now in the posession of Allen Woody of the Allman Brothers Band. It has a 6" wide neck! What is the difference between a J pickup and a P pickup? There are actually three major varieties of pickups for electric bass. The P, or Precision Bass, pickup is made of two distinct parts. The two parts are mounted in an offset manner so that each one picks up the vibrations of two strings. The signal is combined before being sent to the volume/tone circuit. These two distinct halves of the pickup are each a single coil and are wired in opposite directions to reduce hum. P basses usually have one pickup. The J, or Jazz Bass, pickup is made in one piece and is slightly narrower than the P style and is long enough to pick up signal from all of the strings. The J style pickup is a single coil. J basses usually have two pickups, one nearer the neck, and one nearer the bridge. The bridge pickup tends to produce a thinner tone than either the other J pickup near the neck, or the Precision style pickup. The third type of pickup is called a "soapbar" due to its shape. It is also a one piece pickup, like the J style, but is usually about twice as wide as the J style. The soapbar can be wired in several configurations, including single coil and humbucking. What are the different types of strings? There are two main types of strings, roundwound and flatwound. The roundwound type is most commonly used now, whereas the flatwound was more popular in the Motown era. All wound strings are made by holding one strand of wire straight and then wrapping one or more layers of additional wire around that "core" wire. Roundwound strings use a round wire as the wrap, while flatwound strings are wound with a flat ribbon wire. Roundwound strings provide a much brighter sound but also emphasize squeaks. Flatwound strings have a duller sound, but don't have as much extraneous noise. Roundwound strings tend to lose their brightness after some period of time, but may be rejuvenated by boiling in vinegar or detergent solutions or soaking in alcohol. Flatwound strings tend to maintain a more constant tone. James Jamerson used flatwound strings on his Precision Bass and is said to have only changed strings if he broke one. There are also some variations on these two types, such as the pressurewound strings which have the round wrap wire slightly flattened as it is wrapped around the core. In addition, some manufacturers freeze their strings, which is supposed to add to the string's brightness and/or longevity. One manufacturer is even black-anodizing their strings! How do I do my own setups? There is an article in issue #133, reposted in issue #153, of The Bottom Line discussing the procedure for setting up your own bass (or guitar for that matter). It has also been extracted and is available separately on the TBL FTP site in the /pub/bass/faq directory. (See below) What is biamping? Biamping is a method of amplification where the signal from the bass preamp is split using a crossover. The highs are split from the lows and each is sent to a different amplifier power stage and subsequently to separate speaker cabinets. This is particularly useful when using one cabinet with smaller drivers (e.g. four 10") for the highs, and one cabinet with one or more large drivers (15" or 18") for the lows. The lower frequencies require more power to achieve the same volume as the higher frequencies, and some manufacturers design their amplifiers to produce more power in the lower range. (The Gallien-Krueger 800RB is a good example of this, having 300 watts on the low end and 100 watts on the high.) What are some good books to start learning from? There are many good books on the market. The biggest choice is of what style of music you want to play. Issue #237 of The Bottom Line was devoted to instructional materials. For jazz players, Chuck Sher's _The Improvisor's Bass Method_ is an excellent starting point. If you want to learn rock/pop bass and are an absolute beginner, try _Bass Sessions_ by Karyn Quinn, which includes a cassette. For learning to read music, get _Learn to Read Music_ by Howard Shanet. What is the name of the JAMES JAMERSON book and where can I get the CDs? James Jamerson was the genius behind most of the old Motown stuff. The name of the book is _Standing in the Shadows of Motown_. It was written by Dr. Licks and is published by Hal Leonard. It comes with two cassettes containing the musical examples and recorded blurbs. To purchase the recordings on CD, contact: The James Jamerson Memorial Project 327 Haverford Rd. Wynnewood, PA 19096 The CDs cost $19.95 plus $2.50 shipping. T-shirts and posters are also available. Are any videos worth watching? There are many videos available from several sources. Many videos are a showcase of a particular performer. The Jaco Pastorius video, for example, is a combination interview and instructional video. It is a must have for Jaco fans. For a good video on broadening your thinking about patterns and a discussion of alternate tunings, get Michael Manring's video. For learning slapping and popping, _The Slap Bass Program_ by Alexis Sklarevski is the best video available. There are many other videos available, unfortunately of widely varying quality. What can I use for background accompaniment while I practice? Of course, the simplest accompaniment is a metronome. If you want to explore more rhythms and have a more general purpose tool, drum machines are invaluable. For complete background patterns, there are several approaches. If you have a computer where you practice, the software package _Band In A Box_ is an outstanding product. There are other programs, but this one seems to be advertised most. If you don't have a computer, and you don't want to mess with a sequencer, Kawai makes a product called the GB-2 Session Trainer, which has 48 songs programmed into it. These songs include drums, bass, and chords. The bass and/or chords may be turned off so that you can play along with whatever is left. Additional song cards are available to play along with. If you don't mind sequencing, there are many sequencers available for your computer, or if you don't have a computer, look into the Yamaha QY-10. The QY-10 is a sequencer and tone generator in a box the size of a video tape. It has 30 different voices (guitar, keys, etc) and drums and can hold eight songs with up to 6000 notes total. There are 75 built in patterns which you can play along with or incorporate into songs. A drawback to the QY10 is that to save songs or patterns that you sequence, you must do a MIDI dump to some other MIDI device. (NOTE: As of Feb, 1993 Yamaha now has the newer QY20 available. Retail is $599 - Yuck!) For the people who don't want to mess with computers or boxes, Jamey Aebersold distributes 56 different CDs/records/tapes that you can play along with. These are especially useful for learning jazz. (Contact Jamey Aebersold at (800) 456-1388 - leave your address). Of course, you can always play along with CDs or records as well. What is TAB and where can I find it? TAB, or tabulature, is a way of writing out a bass line that details exactly what string and fret to play. This contrasts with notation, which only defines pitches, and not where to play them. TAB is written out with one line to represent each string on the bass. (Four lines for four string, five for five string, etc) Then, a number is placed on the line, representing which fret is to be played. As an example, here is TAB for a G major scale: --------------------------------------------- <--- represents G string --------------2-4-5-4-2---------------------- <--- represents D string --------2-3-5-----------5-3-2---------------- <--- represents A string ----3-5-----------------------5-3------------ <--- represents E string ^ play 3rd fret, then 5th fret on E string, etc There are several sources for TAB on the Internet. TAB is included in several issues of The Bottom Line, and is available at the TBL FTP site. (See next topic) Where are Bass oriented FTP sites? The TBL FTP site is KAPPA.RICE.EDU. Files are located in the directory /pub/bass. Back issues of The Bottom Line are available as well as some TAB and a program to help you create TAB, called _The Bass Tab Creator_. There is also a lesson directory with lessons on how to slap and tap on the bass. RUSH fans can find tab on SYRINX.NYU.EDU. For more general music files, try FTP.NEVADA.EDU, UCSD.EDU and LOUIE.UDEL.EDU. What to do if you don't have FTP? - use mail! If you don't have FTP, you can use mail to retrieve files from FTP sites. Digital Equipment Corporation provides a mail-to- FTP interface on one of their computers. Send mail to: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with the body of the message containing "help" for more info. What other Bass oriented lists are on the Internet? If you have access to Network News, also known as Usenet or NNTP, sign up for the list REC.MUSIC.MAKERS.BASS. Other possible news lists are: rec.music.bluenote rec.music.makers rec.music.makers.guitar rec.music.makers.percussion rec.music.compose comp.music There are other lists as well, depending upon your interests. **************************** End of TBL Electric Bass FAQ ****************************