The Right Tools?

One of the questions I most often get is regarding gear. What kind of basses do I play? What brand of strings do I use? Do I use effects and with what kind of amp? etc. And most importantly - does it matter? To answer your questions with one word YES, it does matter. Lets focus on the most important piece of gear you’ll ever own: your bass. Some of my students' basses, in my opinion, are unusable when it comes to those tricks we all want to do. No matter how much I tried to teach them the techniques, they couldn’t seem to pull it off, until I handed them one of my basses, and then - BAM - they could play what they had been striving to achieve. Why? 'cause I play high end instruments and I maintain them. My instruments are custom made and are always set up with good sounding strings. That gives me a huge advantage when it comes to the playability and feel I need for the style or technique I’m after. For example, my main axe is a fretted 5 string, I can get through most gigs with that bass, but if I want to go wild with my thumb, I have more freedom on my 4 string. If I want to chord and jump on lead lines, I'd rather use a 6 string. I also have a 5 string fretless that I keep handy for special occasions. The basses I use in the studio are set up with higher action than my performance basses to minimize fret noise. The pick-ups are all configured differently in each bass for different sounds and most of my performance basses are EQ’d with allot of high end for TV. My main 5 string doesn’t have any controls on the front so I don’t accidentally turn off the volume or tone controls and send our show's sound guys and myself into a panic (which has happened before, in the middle of my bass solo in the bands only full length showcase ). We can go into the different woods and how that contributes to sound but that might get complicated. Why do I use so many basses? Cause I need them! These are the tools of the trade that I need as a versatile electric bass player.

Most of us can get away with one bass, so it should be the best bass you can afford. The feel and sound are the two most important factors, then you get into whether you want to go 4,5 or 6 strings. In this day and age, the number of strings you need is really determined by the style your playing. The great thumpers of the world like Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, and Flea prefer four strings because of the freedom. The great chordal players like John Pattituci and Oteil Burbridge use 6 strings to give them the extended range they need. And of course the 5 string is a happy medium.

I remember, years ago, playing in a fusion band, where we covered a tune that had a pretty challenging run that ran the full range of the bass. I spent days trying to get the run out on my trusty 5 string but I just couldn’t get it together. We played this song for years and every time this run came up I never felt comfortable and I kind of faked the ending of it. Then at a rehearsal I finally came across the CD it came from. I looked at the credits and found that Anthony Jackson was the bass player on the song, right then I said to myself "that explains it I can’t play like Anthony Jackson" so I didn’t feel so bad. Than my ego kicked in and said stop trying to look for excuses; sure you can play the line, you're just not trying hard enough. So, I went away for another couple of days trying to get the line together. Finally I gave up, "this line has way to many notes and it covers to much of the bass to get it tight" I said to myself. Then a couple of years later I read the credits again and it said Anthony plays a 6 string bass. BAM!! That was the answer, I was using the wrong tools. Back then I didn’t even have a 6 string bass so it didn’t even dawn on me that that’s what it was played on. I picked up my 6 string and with a little rethinking the line finally came out and instead of jumping all over the bass I was able to stay in one position and play the line. That’s when it really sunk in: having the right tools is essential.

Till the next time, mad love to all my Bottom Dwellers.