Bass Guitar & Blues

**aliceinwonderland** · 12-02-2017, 12:17 AM

Hi, I'm new here, just looking to see what I can learn. I'm no professional but are there any other bassists that can give their advice about being a great blues bassist. Thanks!

**Kerry Brown** · 12-03-2017, 12:24 PM

Following with great interest. Trading a Les Paul for a bass later today so this is very timely.

**klothos** · 01-05-2018, 10:12 AM

Every player is different just like every blues band is different....Heres my take:

Unlike guitarists, which incorporate amp color and speaker breakup into their tone, bass usually tries to stay as transparent as possible so the amp is irrelevent except to myself as a personal stage monitor ( btw, I use both Genz Benz and Galien Kruger rigs). What goes to the mains is a Passive DI (or the PRE mode on the amp's built-in Direct Line).....With that said, I'm a chameleon on bass depending on the situation.......For Live Application, Im pretty much a Johnny B Gayden, playing Jazz basses with Roundwounds (because its easier to dial out high-end stringiness when not wanted then to dial it in when you do want it) so I can go from traditional warmth on traditional blues by dialing out highs but when I need Marcus Miller punchiness for slap bass on Modern blues, I can dial it in - only roundwounds or brite-flats have this flexibility
...Im also playing 5-String more in live situations these days than 4 ( a lot of guitarists will do many songs out of the Key of "A" so hitting the Low D for the IV-change is very nice

Studio these days is different: I use several basses, mostly Jazz basses but not all, strung with Rounds or Flatwounds or Tapewounds for different tone (not to mention: pickup selection). All are recorded direct with no amp (very similar to my live application)...Tapewounds are wonderful for just the fundamental and work exceptionally well for traditional blues, Flatwounds are great for a more 70s style sound, and - of course - Roundwounds for Modern Blues, especially for slap bass

EDIT: If you are wondering why the separate approaches to Live and Studio, theres two main reasons

1) "Live" is much more forgiving tone-wise

2) "Live" going from song-to-song is much faster than studio -- I only bring two basses live, and play one throughout a set. Its better to have a "Swiss Army" Bass that I can dial in my needs of the songs ina set or an open-jam Im hosting as close as possible then to waste time changing basses for each song.....Three dead seconds onstage can be a lifetime for folks in the audience (and I usually want to strangle guitar players that change guitars every song

)