Bootleg Guitars/Basses – the Dawg bass

Once again, I wish I had gone to the recently-passed NAMM show.

I just had a look at another Premier Guitar video on YouTube, this time talking about an American guitar company called Bootleg Guitars. All of their guitars are made in the USA, and all look like very well-crafted works of art, ranging in price from $1600 to $8399. I haven’t heard of this company until I watched this video, which is probably why their guitars can cost so much.

The Dawg bass comes in a 4- or 5-string configuration and are made of solid ash. Quartersawn Maple is the wood of choice for the neck and fretboard (in short, it’s a more expensive cut of maple, cut across rather than length-wise) and comes with a red, white, or blue pickguard – watch the video for the reason behind the colour choices. Controls are very minimal, with a master volume and blend – no tone. That’s not a typical appointment for a bass especially, but it’s an interesting one nonetheless. The bass comes with Bartolini pickups, which are higher-end bass pickups manufactured mostly for aftermarket replacements (Ibanez uses them as well, on their higher-end SR basses).

It’s a bass that I’m definitely willing to try, but one that I may have to go Stateside to try out – being a smaller American company (i.e. smaller in size than, say, Ibanez or Lakland), I would probably have to go to an independent music store in the States to even see one to try out. Regardless of that fact, though, these basses look pretty cool. Sometimes the small companies can surprise you – despite being less popular, they almost always churn out better instruments that are worth the large sum of cash one might pay for them.

Ansir Music – cutting edge

Just wanted to share a quick video with my fellow bassists and music enthusiasts out there from the recent Summer NAMM show in Nashville, Tennessee. For those of you who don’t know what the NAMM show is, think of it as the San Diego Comic Con of music; the biggest names in music gear converge for a few days in one spot, twice a year (there’s one in winter as well), and they all showcase the newest guitars, basses, amps, pedals, and other musically-related gear before they’re made available to the public. It’s not a show that you can just go to; you have to be a music professional to even be considered, since nothing’s really for sale there.

Anyway, I’ve heard whispers about a company named Ansir Music, who has taken a very interesting look at the way we play guitar and bass. In a nutshell, Ansir has designed a line of basses and guitars that are ergonomically crafted, with emphasis on the playing angle of your instrument. Most basses today are designed such that, when standing or sitting, you have to manually angle your instrument for your best comfort. Ansir has changed that. They have specifically designed their instruments so that the perfect angle is built in. The result is some really wacky-looking basses/guitars, but they play very well (or so they claim).

I found this video, shot by Premier Guitar, of some of the instruments Ansir makes. Jody Michael (Ansir’s founder) explains the concept of the instruments’ odd shape and the methodology behind the design. Peep it here.

It’s pretty cool to see some companies try new things, and Ansir Music definitely has done that. They are starting to gain some popularity, as they recently had a giveaway on “All Bass. No Treble.”, where the winner got to work with the company to design their very own, one-of-a-kind bass. Here’s hoping that I get to try one sooner than later… I’m a big fan of odd-shaped bass guitars, and this definitely fits the bill.

Links:

info on NAMM: http://www.namm.org

Ansir Music: http://www.ansirmusic.com

Premier Guitar: http://www.premierguitar.com

Pitch effects with bass

I recently got an octave pedal – the Boss OC-3 Super Octave – and after sitting down with it, I’ve deemed it as a must-have pedal for any bassist out there. It’s not one that you leave on all the time, mind you (especially if you have a five-string), but it can add some fatness to your notes, most notably during solos.

It got me thinking about pitch effects and how they can be used with bass. Simply put, pitch effects work on the principle of octaves and partials (harmonies); an octave pedal copies the incoming note an octave or two higher (or lower, in the case of the OC-3), and other pitch pedals add harmonies to your notes, such as thirds, fourths, and sevenths. Because the bass is a lower-pitched instrument, duplicating notes an octave lower can lead to some tracking issues – the circuit in the effect not being able to faithfully recreate the signal – as well as messy notes that don’t sound very good. Tracking is actually an issue with a lot of other pedals as well, most notably the Digitech Whammy. Some artists like the glitchy effect it has, however, and it has become a legend as such.

Some notable pitch effects in songs:

- Jimi Hendrix, “Purple Haze” around the 1:18 mark. The effect used there is an “octafuzz” type, meaning it copies the note an octave higher, and adds fuzz.

- Rage Against the Machine, “Killing in the name”. In the solo, Tom Morello makes extensive use of the Digitech Whammy. He does the same in “Know your enemy”, setting the pedal to a 5th above what he’s playing.

- almost any White Stripes song, but honorable mention goes to “Ball and Biscuit”, and “Blue Orchid”

I came across this link yesterday

http://www.ehx.com/blog/ehx-hog-demo-with-bass

…on the Electro-Harmonix site. In this clip is their most famous and sophisticated pitch pedal, the HOG (Harmonic Octave Generator) being used with a bass. I was particularly fascinated at the tracking ability of this pedal – it did really well even with the lower bass notes. I especially liked the sounds you could get out of the HOG/bass combo; namely, the organ sound.

So if you’ve been on the fence about using an octave/pitch effect with bass, let me say that you have a whole world opened up to you if you decide to experiment. Again, it’s one of those effects that you can’t really leave on all the time, but if you need some edge for a particular part of a song, then one of these is the way to go. A caveat, however: it’s best to find one setting on these kinds of pedals and leave it. This isn’t a pedal you tweak during a gig.

Link: Chops versus groove

I subscribe to the web site “All Bass. No Treble” (and so should you…) and they are great for resources on practice, video of great bass skill, and everything in between, including gear reviews. I just had a look at this article talking about “Chops versus groove”:

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/07/18/chops-vs-groove/

…and I’d like to offer some of my thoughts to add to this article.

Firstly, chops (instrument skill) are something you must keep developing, even if you’ve mastered them on your chosen instrument. For example, if you can ‘slappa di bass mon’ like nobody’s business, you should be able to fingerpick and play with a pick equally as well. This also applies to scales and fretboard knowledge. The idea in the article goes on to say that chops and groove – the ‘feel’ of the music – aren’t mutually exclusive; you do need both to some extent.

As the bass player of the band, you must be the one to really get into the groove. You’re bringing the low end to the song and working with the drummer to accent the rhythm. Groove is something that you can’t really ‘teach’; you just have to make one aware of it, and then they should know what to look for (and what not to look for). Of course, it depends on the music. Jazz is very groovy, as is Caribbean music such as reggae and calypso. Rock can be groovy, but since a lot of it is in 4/4 time, the focus isn’t so much on groove. The same applies to classical music. Classical players have TONS of chops (6 hours of practice a day, man!) but they can’t really groove the way us bassists can. It’s not because they can’t; I’m sure they could if given the opportunity. But it’s because they don’t have to.

Anyway, that’s my two cents on it… keep the groove alive!

Bass Review: Les Paul Junior DC Short Scale, Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Special

This is a product review. If you have a product (bass-related) that you’d like me to review, please contact me at back2bassicsblog@gmail.com!

Today I’ll be talking about two relatively new bass guitar offerings from two different companies, and from two different ends of the price spectrum: Gibson’s new take on the Les Paul Jr. Double-Cut in bass form, and the economical version of Fender’s Jaguar bass, from their Squier division. Of course, since they’re both made for different targets in the guitar market, I won’t be comparing the two directly. Let’s break them down, shall we?

Gibson Les Paul Jr. DC bass
MSRP: $1899 (Gibson.com)
Street Price: $1175 (Long & Mcquade)

At first glance, this bass is visually pleasing. It’s got a nice Pelham Blue nitrocellulose finish, which means that some of the pores on the mahogany body are visible. No huge deal; it gives the bass the already worn-in look, which adds character without having the guitar professionally ‘relic’ed by a luthier. That aside, though, once I realized the store had one of these basses, I decided to give it a shot. On picking it up, it felt light, despite the fact that it’s solid mahogany; thankfully, Gibson’s chambering process was left out of this equation.
Let me mention at this point that I’m not a fan of short-scale (30.3”) basses; because my hands are larger and because I actually started playing bass on a 5-string (very unconventional and not recommended), short-scales don’t feel right to me. What’s more, I always felt that they didn’t have the low end thump that a regular (34”) scale bass had. I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged this bass in; it sounded like it had a regular-scale neck.
Speaking of the neck, it’s also mahogany, and it has a 20-fret rosewood fingerboard, which is set (glued) into the body. A 12” fingerboard radius makes this bass pretty comfortable. Controls on this bass are simple: volume-volume-tone. This bass comes equipped with a TB-plus humbucking pickup at the neck, and a mini-humbucker at the bridge. It’s interesting to note that this exact same configuration is used with Epiphone’s EB-3 bass – the SG-shaped bass with a regular scale length – so I was expecting similar sounds, but without the extra tone knob and Varitone switch.
This bass was comfortable to play. It has definitely changed my mind about short-scale basses, because it still retained the boom that I like to have with basses. the pickups sounded nice and fairly even, although the neck pickup did sound a bit muddy at times, especially with the tone knob rolled to 0. With both pickups on this bass had a decent sound to it; however, there isn’t too much of a difference between pickups, which makes for little tonal variety. Simply put, you can’t really get much ‘growl’ – the distinct sound of the bridge pickup – out of this bass. A good amplifier can remedy this, luckily.
As is the case with most Gibsons, I find that my main issue here is price. At $1175 street, you really aren’t getting that much, unfortunately. That said, there isn’t an Epiphone version of this bass (yet) so if you want a Les Paul Junior bass, this is the way to go. Without a doubt, though, you are getting quality craftsmanship; however, I feel like there are other basses that sell for less that are on par with this Les Paul.

build quality: 4/5
playability: 4/5
tone quality: 3/5
bang for buck: 2/5
overall: 3/5

pros: looks nice, sounds good, plays well.
cons: price. too much for (seemingly) not enough.

Squier “Vintage Modified” Jaguar Special Bass
Street Price: $199 (Long & McQuade)

For a while now, the Jaguar body shape was only available in a Fender format, which meant at least $900 out of your pocket. Now, Fender’s Squier division has released several iterations of this famed bass: the Vintage Modified Jaguar (with Seymour Duncan pickups), the short scale VM Jaguar special, the VM Jaguar with dual humbuckers, and the model I tested, the VM Jaguar Special. Street prices range from $199 to $339.
The craftsmanship is evident from the moment you pick it up; it’s obviously a lower end guitar, but that doesn’t mean that it’s badly built. The 34” scale, 20-fret neck with a 9.5” radius is slim and unfinished, but that’s the only ‘cheap’ part of this bass. This axe has lots of tone thanks to the active circuitry contained within; the controls consist of two volume knobs, a bass boost control, and a master tone knob. Plugging it in, the combination of the split P-Bass (neck) and Jazz Bass (bridge) pickups made for a great sound right off the bat. Navigating the fingerboard, my only gripe was the thin profile at the nut, which is 1.50”; the neck felt very small and even flimsy at that point. The lack of finish on the neck was a negative point for me at first, but it did make for easy navigation after a few minutes of play. The pickups are stock Squier pickups, but they sound great; the addition of the bass boost knob allows you to dial in more low-end thump to taste. Individually each pickup does its job; the split P-bass pickup was clear and the Jazz-bass bridge pickup had a good amount of brightness to it. Once I dug in with some slap-style playing, this bass surprised me pleasantly; it sounded great and it held up very nicely. at $199, you’re getting a good amount of bass for a very fair price, so you’re not regretting spending a large amount of money. This is one to consider if you’re looking for a backup 4-string with a bass boost circuit built in.

build quality: 3/5
playability: 3/5
tone quality: 4/5
bang for buck: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Pros: good weight and balance; lots of tone; easy to play
Cons: slim neck may hinder lower notes.

The Verdict

You really can’t compare these two basses because they are made for different price points and for differing musicians. However, price aside, the overall build of the Jaguar felt better than the LP. The total package was better on the Jag; the LP lacked somewhat. Were the two basses around the same price – let’s say $500 – I would still award top marks to the Jaguar, simply because it felt and sounded better than its counterpart. In each case you get what you pay for, but what you get with the Gibson can be gotten for much less in another brand. Both basses are great instruments, so it comes down to personal preference and what exactly you want to get out of the instrument.

For more information, you can check out the manufacturers’ web sites, as well as the store where I tested the models:

- http://www.gibson.com – look under ‘electric guitars,

- http://www.squierguitars.com

- http://www.long-mcquade.com

Remember your Fundamentals: maintaining your bass

So you have a new bass – or, an old one that you found at a pawn shop, from someone you contacted through Craigslist, or one that you inherited from your older sibling. Maybe it’s in good condition, but it’s been sitting under your bed for a while. It’s either the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen, or well-worn and beat up with plenty of belt buckle rash. No matter what state your new (old) bass is in cosmetically, you have to keep it up to playing standard, and surprisingly, you don’t have to spend a ridiculous amount of money. But first:

How often do you play it?

Some aspects of instrument maintenance depend on how often you play it, and where you play it. For example, if you gig regularly, then maintenance is a weekly, maybe even daily thing. If you use it mostly for practice at home, then it’s a little less often. If you use it once in a blue moon… then you obviously won’t maintain it as much, but you have to ask yourself if you really need it at that point. All of that said, regular maintenance simply means that it’s proportional to the amount of use you get out of your guitar; you don’t need to be changing strings every day when you only play it once a month.

The subtle things add up

Most aspects of maintenance are minor, but like a car, they can quickly add up and make playing your instrument unnecessarily difficult. The good thing is that you don’t have to be a luthier to correct these small problems, but you DO have to be familiar with how your guitar is put together, because not every bass is the same. For example: the truss rod (the metal rod inside the neck that keeps it stiff) is accessed from the body on my #1 bass; the same component is accessed from the headstock on #2. Get familiar with the small things such as that, as well as the bridge’s construction – which, again, varies from guitar to guitar. So, then… what are these subtle things?

Piece by piece

The bridge, made up of the saddles, sits opposite to the headstock where the tuning posts are. As mentioned above, you can’t see it, but the truss rod is inside the neck, and that keeps it from warping. On one end of the neck, you’ll see the nut, where the strings sit; this is, on most guitars, the zero fret (the rest of the frets are the steel markings where you press down the strings on the neck, all located on the fretboard).

The Adjustment Bureau

So what adjustments can you do? For starters, if your strings tend to go out of tune quickly, you may need to tighten your tuning posts, re-align them, or get them replaced completely. A typical set of posts goes for about $25-$30. Although a little harder (and requiring more patience), you can lightly file down the nut slots if the strings are sitting too high. (Probably best to leave it to a professional, but you can learn how to do it yourself.)

Another indication of strings going out of tune is improper intonation. The science behind fretting a string is that you’re essentially cutting the length of the string between the nut and the bridge, so when it comes to intonation, the shortened length has to be just right. How do you discover this? First, tune the string to pitch as close as you can using an electronic tuner (chromatic works best), and then play it open. Now, play a harmonic by lightly touching the string at the 12th fret (marked by a double dot on the fretboard in many cases) and plucking the string, letting your finger go as you do. If the two notes – open and harmonic) are significantly different, then the intonation is suspect. This is fixed at the bridge saddles, and using a small screwdriver, you can move the saddles back or forward. The general rule is that if the harmonic is flat, you need to move the saddle forward.

The neck can warp inward or outward, and it can twist as well. No matter which way it’s warped or twisted, the truss rod can get it back to normal. Now, this is a bit tricky, but when adjusting the truss rod – which is done by using an allen wrench (a hexagonal-shaped screw driver for those not familiar with tools), you can’t turn it too quickly. Now, I emphasize the CAN’T. You can seriously screw up your neck’s orientation with this adjustment, so make sure that a) you know which way to turn the truss rod, and b) consult a professional if you can’t seem to get it right. In fact, if you really feel like doing if yourself, it’s probably best to seek thorough advice first.

Action – the height of the strings on the fret board – is also something to keep an eye out for. Action might need to be adjusted if it takes more force to press down the strings, or if you hear fret buzz when holding a note (or even playing it open; the string vibrates and hits the fret). Again, at the bridge, the entire assembly is usually held up by two screws on either end, with one being higher than the other. This is done on purpose, so that the strings match the curvature of the fretboard. You can move the screws up or down, but remember to keep the high/low orientation similar. A good indication of action is sliding a credit/debit card underneath the strings at the 3rd fret. If the raised numbers are hindering the card from coming out, then the action may be too low.

Other stuff that isn’t easily fixed

Problems with your guitar’s electronics (wiring, pickups, volume/tone pots, switches) aren’t as easy to repair, so those are best left to a pro. But be aware of things that may hinder your sound such as scratchy pots (crackling whenever you adjust volume or tone), bad wiring, faulty pickups and switches, and loose input jack assemblies. I’ve had problems with bad wiring and bad input jacks – in the middle of a gig – and they aren’t too pleasant to deal with. So before a gig, check your connections. If you can nip an electrical problem in the bud by getting it fixed before a gig, you’ll save yourself a lot of headache. And you’ll sound great, too.

Conclusion: looks can be deceiving

It doesn’t matter what kind of bass you have; if it’s unplayable, it’s as good as a piece of firewood. Whether you have an Ibanez, a Fender, a Peavey, or a high-end piece of artwork that’s one of a kind, you need to learn to keep it in good playing condition. There are plenty of resources on the Internet as well as in music stores about caring for your bass, and they’re much more in-depth than what I’ve talked about here. But as I’ve mentioned above, if you’re unsure about adjustments (even after doing proper research) do yourself a favour and consult a professional, and have them do the work. It’ll cost less than having to buy a new guitar. My hope with this article is to inspire you to at least be aware about the things that may need to be dealt with as you learn bass.

Remember Your Fundamentals #2: Holding down the bottom end

In this post about the fundamentals of bass guitar, I’m going to be talking about holding down the bottom end of the band. Last time around, I talked about being the backbone of the band, along with the drummer; following what the drummer is doing and complementing the fills and the general beat of the song in order to make things a little more functional. Today, we take out the drum kit and just focus on what the bassist is doing underneath the drum kit, regardless of what the drums are doing.

Bottomless Pit

It’s a fact that many songs don’t really feel complete without the presence of a bass guitar. There are bands that have eliminated the use of the conventional bass guitar (Explosions In The Sky, for example), but even at that point, there has to be some kind of fundamental lower note that adds presence to a song. For example, some bands may not use a regular 4-string bass, but instead use a bass VI (a 6-string guitar pitched an octave lower than a regular 6-string). No matter what’s in place, the general rule is the same: your job is to add that bottom end to the song that the guitar, and even the drum kit, can’t.

Holding down the bottom end means exactly that; filling in the lower notes. Even if you’re doing single-note runs across the sonic bottom of the song, your part does a lot. If you’re doing high-register fills throughout the song, it doesn’t quite sound the same; you aren’t the guitarist, and you aren’t playing a solo.

Strong Foundations

Some examples of good bottom end in songs:

Incubus – Have you Ever. Dirk Lance does a good job of laying a foundation in this song. If you were to take away the drum kit, this bass line would groove on its own.

Rage Against the Machine – Tire Me. Tim Commerford is one of my biggest influences on bass (I’m trying to emulate his bass tone), and even though the bass line in this one is a bit repetitive, it’s still very groovy. Another one that does well without a drum kit.

Rush – Driven. One of my favourite Rush bass lines, because it’s one of the few times that Geddy Lee uses Drop D tuning (I think… please correct me if I’m wrong). After the second chorus, there’s a section where the bass really shines. The note/rhythm choice along with Geddy’s bass tone is awesome.

Yes! – Tempus Fugit. I’m in the midst of learning this song, and it’s all eighth notes. That said, it’s not an easy bass line. But it’s very driving, and enhances the drums instead of just playing alongside them. It can keep the beat on its own.

So what am I getting at here? Think outside of the drums, but at the same time, don’t go too far away. You want a bass line that can easily keep the beat, thus fulfilling your role as a rhythm instrument, but you don’t want to be so far away that the bass is completely absent from the song. Remember in the last Remember Your Fundamentals (‘RYF’) that you want to be the backbone of the band with the drums; you don’t want to be all by yourself, and you can’t leave the drummer alone to keep the beat. With some practice and with lots of listening, you’ll be able to make some memorable bass lines that people will be humming for years.

Next time on RYF… taking care of your axe and making sure it works properly.