Acoustic Bass keyboard instruments

[EricBarker]

I play in 3 bands where I am the primary bass with my LH. 2 without any bass, and another where the bass singer-songwriter has been gravitating toward guitar.

 

I Love it.

 

I honestly think my LH can run circles around most of the 4string players I know. I also play bass guitar and upright, but I can’t do that and hold down the keys at the same time. I have very good I independence and am pretty good at playing 2 instruments at once as long as it’s physically possible (trumpet/piano, etc)

 

but what happens with an “unplugged” gig? I have a crappy accordion and a small portable pump organ, great for rhythm work, also a glockenspiel which fits wonderfully into an acoustic setup. But one-handed acoustic bass instruments? I’m at a loss.

[mate stubb]

Tuba on a stand? Valve bone? That's a tough one.

[EricBarker]

2 hours ago, mate stubb said:

Tuba on a stand? Valve bone? That's a tough one.

Ooooh, I could bone a valve! A bit out there, but not wrong.

 

big problem is, I very early got tied to trumpet fingerings in Bb. I’ve recently switched to C-trumpet to unravel my transpositional problems. But the don’t make valve trombones with C-trumpet fingerings (because bones are inherently Bb instruments that read C)

[SamuelBLupowitz]

How unplugged are we talking here? Fully acoustic, no PA or amps at all?

 

You could try learning the bass buttons on that accordion. I haven’t progressed much past “occasional drone note” on that, but with experienced players, it’s a marvelous, almost incomprehensible thing. Quite flashy.
 

With mallets you start getting into things like marimbas that have some low register, but I can’t imagine you wheeling one of those around. A lot bigger and heavier than a glockenspiel.

 

if you’re doing a “hybrid” gig (primarily acoustic but with PA and amplification), you could see if you could find one of those old Rhodes piano basses like Ray Manzarek used in the Doors. They’re passive, like a guitar or bass, so it needs amplification, but no AC power (I’ve had one for years, a refugee from the back closet of my middle school’s music room). They have a warm, thunky tone that would be tough to cut through a loud rock band but would provide a nice, warm bottom end for an acoustic act. Might even sit on top of your pump organ without a stand.
 

But if you’d like to avoid the schlep, I don’t imagine you’re ever playing a real acoustic piano at these gigs, yeah? Your Nord with a split program with piano and upright bass (and maybe a tapestry hung over it to make it look “earthy”) would probably keep the vibe just fine without making the “acoustic” gigs a tougher load-in/load-out for you.

 

If you *are* playing a real piano, well, shoot… could you just play the bass parts in your left hand on piano and be done with it?

 

Let me know what direction you try to go with this! Love some creative problem-solving.

 

[stoken6]

8 minutes ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

How unplugged are we talking here? Fully acoustic, no PA or amps at all?

I had the same question. My thought was a Chapman Stick, if you're allowed amps.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[stoken6]

4 hours ago, EricBarker said:

big problem is, I very early got tied to trumpet fingerings in Bb. I’ve recently switched to C-trumpet to unravel my transpositional problems. But the don’t make valve trombones with C-trumpet fingerings (because bones are inherently Bb instruments that read C)

Alternative: https://www.thomann.de/gb/kuehnl_hoyer_c_bass_trumpet.htm only £6k.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[JamPro]

I don't have your multi-instrument skills, so my opinion may not match yours. 

 

In my opinion, for an "unplugged" gig where an unplugged acoustic piano is available, play piano and use the low register to play bass.  If the gig is "unplugged", but you are allowed a digital keyboard (how all of my "unplugged" gigs go), skip the keyboard entirely and play acoustic bass.  In this case, yes, it will sound different and you won't have all your keyboard sounds, but it is an "unplugged" gig wherein it is supposed to sound different and you are supposed to be limited in terms of sonic fire-power.  Embrace those limitations in the true spirit of an "unplugged" gig.

 

OT: I often think my LH can outplay a bassist.  And then I think about "slapped and popped" bass sounds and how bassists can slide up and down nicely, and play harmonics, and I can't do any of that.  But I can easily and quickly play a wide variety of chords that stump bassists.  And then I think well bass players know all those classic bass lines that I never bothered to learn, but I know how to make melodies and solo.  So I land on bassist keyboardists" LH are like apples and oranges and comparisons are sort of meaningless.

[The Real MC]

10 hours ago, EricBarker said:

But one-handed acoustic bass instruments? I’m at a loss.

 

Most DPs have an acoustic bass preset.

 

Since the late 1980s I've been relying on my Kurzweil 1000PX (or K1x00 keyboard) which has a stellar acoustic bass sample.  The K1x00 has some rudimentary split functions I use for LH bass work, and they can be found for peanuts.

[drawback]

I’d probably go for a battery powered portable keyboard with the loudest speakers available, like a Korg EK50-L 

[EricBarker]

A lot of this is with old time bands, folk stuff. The point is to completely remove all electronics from the equation. Often out in the Alaskan wilderness away from power too. I have no problem with AP bass, keyboards, or synth bass. My PolyD slaps for that. I also have a Bass Rhodes waiting for me in LA next time I'm in the area that I'll pick up from my cousin, that should be great fun.

 

For the moment, I'm gonna try to remember to steal my bandmate's upright more when he plays guitar.