Les Claypool's NIB intro solo

[owens hound]

Hey there,

Can anyone tell me how Les Claypool gets the 'stutter' sound that he plays during the intro solo for the version of NIB he recorded with Ozzy Osobourne?

It is a distorted bass sound and it might be from muting with his left hand while plucking with his fingers but I haven't been able to get that sound yet.

Thanks,

Jason

[The Bear Jew]

He uses a Bassballs pedal, so some of his tone comes from that...

 

But he's also Les Claypool... ya know? Most of the tone comes from him being Les.

[owens hound]

Thanks Erik,

I'll do some reading about the Bassballs pedal. Do you have any idea about the 'stutter' for lack of a better term. It almost sounds like muted harmonic and he is plucking with 2 of his fingers but I haven't been able to achieve that sound.

You're probably right about it being Les Claypool. He pulls sounds out of I don't know where! Well, I know it's from the bass, fingers, amp etc but I still don't know how he does it.

 

Jason

[Tom Capasso]

Originally posted by CMDN:

But he's also Les Claypool... ya know? Most of the tone comes from him being Les.

So you are saying that Les is more?

 

I haven't heard this version yet (and I can barely remember the original).

 

Tom

[Gruuve]

Les Claypool playing with Ozzy Osbourne? I'm going to have to try to find a snippet of this somewhere!

 

Dave

[WCunha]

Originally posted by Dave Sisk:

Les Claypool playing with Ozzy Osbourne? I'm going to have to try to find a snippet of this somewhere!

 

Dave

Check it out you won't be disappointed.

[Gruuve]

What CD would I find this on?

 

Dave

[Bottomgottem]

Here you go, Dave. Nativity In Black II - A Tribute To Black Sabbath

[Funktopotamus]

I know when he plays he uses three fingers and I think that has a lot to do with it, just "tremolo pick" the right harmonic (probably over the last note you play) to get the same effect he does he does.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Didn't Ozzy do NIB with Disturbed as his backing band about a year ago? I follow things Sabbath pretty closely and this is the first I've heard of Les playing with Ozzy.

 

OK, just went to the website. Just continues to edify my beliefs. It's damned hard to improve on the original.

[Gruuve]

OK, I've listened to this, and I think to get the "stutter" effect, he is doing extremely good muting with his picking fingers. As I understand it, Les picks with 3 fingers, and (from my experiences) the more fingers you pick with, the easier it is to mute using the picking fingers that aren't currently picking (hope that made sense). Add some distortion and a little wah, and the stutter becomes really pronounced. The key though is muting with your picking fingers. Even though he uses 3 fingers, you can still do it with 2 fingers...it's just a little harder to do it as fast.

 

What I mean by muting with the picking fingers is this: immediately after picking with the index finger, place the middle finger lightly on the string in preparation for the next pick (thus muting the currently ringing note). Likewise, after picking with the middle finger, immediately place the index finger on the string. Practice this slowly until you get the idea, then try to work up some speed.

 

It's easier to do this type of muting when using more than 2 fingers to pick...it's just easier to get at least one finger back on the string quicker. I'm assuming Les does it with 3 fingers. I've tried it with 4 fingers, plus a little overdrive and wah, and I can get a sound very similar (although not exactly like) this "stutter". Anyway, that's my vote on what he's doing. It all comes down to muting well!

 

Dave

[owens hound]

Dave,

Thanks for the insight on how Les gets that sound. Looks like it's time for me to start practicing using 3 fingers.

I've been making good progress using my index and middle finger and will now try to add the ring finger into my practice routine.

 

Jason

[Gruuve]

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so I figure the same is true of an audio file. I dumped this off my looper pedal (just some random riff)...the first two passes are done clean so you can hear what it sounds like clean, the next 4 passes are done with Fuzz Face distortion and wah mixed with the clean signal (probably should've put the mix level higher). This is similar in the stutter effect, not exactly the same, but this should help get the idea across. The sixtuplet part on the & of 1 is very muted (done with 4-finger picking).

 

Dave\'s means of doing bass "stutter"

 

Dave

[owens hound]

Nice job Dave, that gives me a good idea of what you're talking about. Sweet! Now to add 2 more fingers to my playing!!

[rotosound45]

Imagine waking up one morning and discovering you have a third leg... (not what some of you are thinking!) The first order of business on this day is to run to the bathroom.

 

This was how I felt learning to use three fingers for awhile, but now I can't play with only two anymore. Picking up this technique has been the single most improvement to my playing style in years. Fast passages come off much cleaner, and much faster as well.

 

I recommend it to anybody who has the patience to try it.

[Gruuve]

Definitely agreed with Rotosound...learning to 4-finger pick has made a big difference in my playing style as well. There's a worthwhile economy of motion...you can play passages either faster or for longer durations without nearly as much fatigue. I'm a rhythmic player (more than a melodic player) and 4-finger picking has really opened up the doors in terms of what rhythms I can do...I can now do passages that I just couldn't get to sound right before.

 

It boils down to developing the dexterity and finger coordination. It takes some time for the finger muscles to develop. After that, the only challenge is figuring out exactly what finger combination to use to do a certain riff, but that's a good challenge!

 

I spent about a month doing essentially nothing but practicing 4-finger picked straight sixteenth notes at various tempos. It's still not as solid as I'd like, but now I can use 3 and 4 finger picking in music I'm playing, and that just helps reinforce the development but in a completely utilitarian way. Also, once you've got 4-finger picking down, using 3-fingers on demand requires very little additional practice.

 

I've spent a little practice time working on thumb picking (up and down strokes)...now I'm working on getting the thumb and 4 fingers going all at the same time. You might see a thread soon on 5-finger picking.

 

Dave

[Tenstrum]

A little OT or in this case Off Thread...

 

I really didn't much care for the second Sabbath tribute album. The Primus version of NIB is pretty cool and IMO the best track on the album. Busta Rhymes (sp?) doing his version of Iron Man was absolutely horrid!!

 

/ends rant

[owens hound]

Thanks for the 4 finger tips! (No pun intented!)

I'll get started on 16th notes with all 4 fingers.

I'm a long way off from 4 right now, but feel comfortable with 2 fingers so I've got a good starting point.

I started as a guitar player and can fingerpick fairly decently so using the thumb in conjunction with my index finger works fairly well although it is much easier to mute using the floating thumb technique, also something fairly new to me.

 

I also agree with Tenstrum that NIB is the best song on the album. I really liked some of the tunes on the first Nativity disc but the second is a real dissapointment.

[Gruuve]

Jason...do what's best for you and what suits where you want to grow the most. For me, that was definitely developing some more advanced picking and muting techniques. 4-finger picking feels really awkward at first, it takes a lot of initial practice to even get it to where it's halfway useable, and I almost gave up on it a few times. But, being the ridiculously persistent person that I am, I've at least mastered the basics of what I set out to do.

 

For me, I'm very strong with rhythm (having been a drummer for longer than I've been a bassist), so it makes sense for me to build advanced skills on the rhythm side. Years ago, if I wanted to do a more complicated, fast, or in-your-face rhythm, I'd resort to slap for that. Now, I don't have to do that...in fact, I can do some things with finger-picking now that I can't do with slap. That was my personal goal, and I'm at least part of the way there.

 

If you really want to pursue learning 4-finger picking, then I'd suggest these exercises:

 

1) 2 counts of 16th's, 2 counts of 8th's, repeat. Use all four fingers for both the 16th's and 8th's. You can just do it on one note initially, move the note around as your right hand gets more comfortable with it.

 

2) Once that gels a bit, do scales with four 16th's per note, up and down. This helps you get used to moving the left hand while still playing even notes with the right hand.

 

Do these with a metronome or drum machine...that's very important for two reasons. 1) it forces you to concentrate on evenness and tempo. 2) for the first month or so, the only positive feedback you'll have is watching your dexterity and speed improve as measured against the metronome. Without the metronome, you don't have a frame of reference to notice the improvement (and thus motivation suffers).

 

HTH,

Dave

[owens hound]

Thanks Dave,

I started off on drums a long time ago and then went to guitar after I heard Van Halen! I doubt I could keep a beat on a kit anymore, the last time I tried, all I could do was a bad polka beat!

One of my biggest joys of playing bass now is listening to songs I really liked the drum or guitar parts in and hearing them again for the first time from the perspective of bass. I've been totally blown away by John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Geezer Butler, and the Ox.

 

I started adding the ring finger today with 16th notes and will take your advise and suggestions and add the pinky in the near future.

Thanks for all the detailed info, I really appreciate it.

 

Jason

[EddiePlaysBass]

I've tried playing with three fingers when I was in a Metallica-tribute band for a while, cos it seemed easier to play fast runs and all that.

 

But all I really got out of it were cramps

 

Occasionally I'll still pick with the ring finger but for fast runs I stick to two fingers.

[Gruuve]

Originally posted by EddiePlaysBass:

I've tried playing with three fingers...all I really got out of it were cramps

Hey Dave,

 

Actually, I did too at first. It takes some time to get the muscle's in the extra fingers into shape, so to speak. After that, it's pretty smooth sailing. I'm pretty convinced that the economy of motion you gain when using 3-4 fingers is beneficial in the long run.

 

Dave