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I may be kicking a hornets' nest here, but...


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Not a synth, per se, but I'm absolutely LOVING using a Roli Seaboard for fretless bass: either electric or upright. It's just so juicy to slide into notes a little. I'll be borrowing a Sub37 here in a few weeks, I'll try routing the Seaboard into it, that should be fun!

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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Not a synth, per se, but I'm absolutely LOVING using a Roli Seaboard for fretless bass: either electric or upright. It's just so juicy to slide into notes a little. I'll be borrowing a Sub37 here in a few weeks, I'll try routing the Seaboard into it, that should be fun!

Please report back on how that goes. I"ve been itching to try using the Seaboard to control a real analog synth.

 

I"ll agree it"s the perfect keyboard instrument for playing bass sounds, especially fretless. It presents the same challenge as a fretless, too: you have to watch your tuning or you"re liable to make a mess! Not that I learned this the hard way or anything...

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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You can't do this on a Minimoog. ;)

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

I can't do that on the bass either. :allhail:

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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MOI, yup. Sorry for not being clear.

 

Randelph, I do agree that the sound and/feel of an instrument can have an impact on one's performance and either inspire or constrict the flow of creative ideas. Sometimes, a particular instrument might make it easier to accomplish the job, but if you have reasonable technique, a solid concept and at least a reasonable instrument (and some programming skills), there is a good chance that you can get the job done in such a way that everyone else would be happy with your performance, even if you did not have much fun. This is not a revelation, as I'm pretty sure that everyone who has had to deal with backline gear knows this. Of course, I'm not talking about players who rely on lots of complex synth systems and sequencer programming, etc.

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Yea, AWB. I did use my little Roland 61-key guy by itself for the first of the three gigs with me doing key bass. It was a challenge â but I only had three hours notice (and no sound check) to pull it off. At our next gig we rented a Motif for the bass and put it on the lower tier of an Apex stand. That worked a lot better as I had the "full range" of my 5 octave board on top, lol. In a few hours we have our final gig of this tour where I'll have a Motif again.

But your role changes, right? Because the bass has to be there. That becomes Job One. Now you"re the bass player who plays some keyboard parts. Do you see it that way? I hope the situation gets back to normal.

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Yea, AWB. I did use my little Roland 61-key guy by itself for the first of the three gigs with me doing key bass. It was a challenge â but I only had three hours notice (and no sound check) to pull it off. At our next gig we rented a Motif for the bass and put it on the lower tier of an Apex stand. That worked a lot better as I had the "full range" of my 5 octave board on top, lol. In a few hours we have our final gig of this tour where I'll have a Motif again.

But your role changes, right? Because the bass has to be there. That becomes Job One. Now you"re the bass player who plays some keyboard parts. Do you see it that way? I hope the situation gets back to normal.

You are 100% correct, I had to make sure the low end was happening and locked in with the drums - it's the Average White Band, so the funk has to be there! Not to mention that our drummer, Rocky Bryant, plays with the best bass players in the business, guys like Will Lee and James Genus. So I did feel the pressure! In that case the keyboard parts do have to take a back seat but luckily for me, many of the songs use fairly simple chording and are not specific as to lines and/or voicings needing to be played a certain way. However, there are a few tunes where I play a second guitar part and those are very specific. I had a few "oops" moments as I adjusted to playing two syncopated and different rhythmic figures with each hand! What didn't help was the abysmal sound on our last gig (for us on stage, not out in the audience). It made things a lot harder.

 

To kinda get closer to the topic, I noticed how I had to adjust the bass lines from what might typically be played on a bass guitar. Though the patch I used responded to velocity, it was nothing like the expressiveness a good bass guitar player gets using their fingers on a fretboard and their fingers & thumb (or a pick) on strings (this is why I said what I did regarding the original statement by the op. Also, I'm old, so I've listened to a lot of music featuring real basses, and I also play a real bass!). I went for more of what I consider an "Anthony Jackson" approach. He doesn't do any slapping & popping, and his dynamics tend to be very even â so this was easier to emulate on a keyboard. IMO, his "funkyness" comes from how he gets on and off a note, and the "holes" he leaves. I hope I'm explaining it correctly. I've aways been a big fan of his and that's the kind of sound I go for anytime I do left-hand bass.

 

At this point the situation looks like it will get back to normal â at some point in the future. Unfortunately we've had to cancel a 3-week tour that would have taken us to England, Scotland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Hopefully it will be rescheduled for sometime next year. Anyone need a keyboard player next month? :)

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I know exactly what you mean. The placement of note-ons/note-offs can greatly influence the funk. I was under the impression that a night of AWB would include a lot of clav, and therefore that would suffer or go missing if you had to concentrate on key bass. I"ve done key bass in bands past and don"t enjoy it, specifically because I cease to be a functioning keyboardist, relegated to 'textures'. ;)

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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There's only one song we do where I have a clav part, and we nixed it for the key bass shows. Our sax player plays aux keys and he does some clav stuff on other songs.

 

I actually do enjoy playing key bass although I wouldn't want to do it full-time. In my misspent youth I booked a gig in the US Virgin Islands where the money was so bad I decided to play LH bass to save the cost of another player. I played five sets a night, six nights a week for a month straight â twice. That's where I got any LH bass chops I have. We played James Brown, Edgar Winter, Earth Wind & Fire, Bobby Caldwell, etc... way more funk/r&b than rock. It was a blast.

 

AWB has two shows next week where I'll get another shot at key bass: Las Vegas on Saturday the 24th at Sunset Station Casino, and Sunday in Saratoga CA (near San Jose & Cupertino) at the Mountain Winery with Tower Of Power. As much as I say I enjoy it, I sincerely hope it's my last time playing LH bass with this band â we want Alan Gorrie back!

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You can't do this on a Minimoog. ;)

 

[video:youtube]

You can't do this on a Minimoog. ;)

 

 

:)

Jaco is my man....

 

Funny story....many years ago I had a 5+ hour 'wet' hang with Zawinul...

We talked about everything....so I ask him 'who is/was your favorite bass player'? (totally

expecting him to answer Jaco)....he looks a bit surprised and 'dissapointed'

and then with both hands points at himself....hahahahaha....

I almost fell out of the chair....

He was probably the only guy who could get away with a comment like that....

He WAS a monster on LH bass

 

Back to the Mini....yeah...it"s the 'king' for bass....

You can can do surprisingly good electric bass guitar sounds on it...

I even managed to dial a really great sounding acoustic bass sound

on mine years ago....pray to god that I didn"t lose the pic of that one....'

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

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