9 string bass

[4 Strings]

I thought you hated this discussion?

[BigRedX]

I wouldn't deny that at all. I use a more classical guitar picking style for several pieces and I only play 5-string basses. What I am saying is that to get the best out of an instrument with more than 7 courses you need to be looking at techniques (both left and right hand) that are different to those most commonly used on 4 and 5 string basses.

[Russ]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339014429' post='1682550']
I wouldn't deny that at all. I use a more classical guitar picking style for several pieces and I only play 5-string basses. What I am saying is that to get the best out of an instrument with more than 7 courses you need to be looking at techniques (both left and right hand) that are different to those most commonly used on 4 and 5 string basses.
[/quote]

There's some basic differences, mostly to do with muting and adapting to closer string spacing, but other than that, I can't think of any ERB-specific techniques that I've ever seen. It's all the same old fingerstyle, slap, tap, pick, etc as most people use on a bass with fewer strings. Some people might use a more classical guitar-influenced style, some might use more tapping, but it's all the same techniques.

[Russ]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1339014371' post='1682548']
I thought you hated this discussion?
[/quote]

I've done a lot of things I hate. Several ex-girlfriends spring to mind.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Russ' timestamp='1339016013' post='1682596']
There's some basic differences, mostly to do with muting and adapting to closer string spacing, but other than that, I can't think of any ERB-specific techniques that I've ever seen. It's all the same old fingerstyle, slap, tap, pick, etc as most people use on a bass with fewer strings. Some people might use a more classical guitar-influenced style, some might use more tapping, but it's all the same techniques.
[/quote]
... but it's all the same techniques as playing guitar not specifically bass guitar.

[Russ]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1339025516' post='1682739']
... but it's all the same techniques as playing guitar not specifically bass guitar.
[/quote]

I'd say that slap (the thumb method, not the double bass method) is ostensibly a bass technique (although I've seen some guitarists appropriate it since, mostly acoustic players), and fingerstyle on bass is technically rather different to how it's done on guitar. It's also being done on a bigger instrument with thick strings, wider string spacing and a long scale length, which necessitates quite a different approach than someone might take on guitar. Although, obviously, both instruments are from the same family so some crossover is expected.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1339025516' post='1682739']
... but it's all the same techniques as playing guitar not specifically bass guitar.
[/quote]
Exactly! Just call it a wide range guitar!

[Doctor J]

To me, they look like something not properly thought out clumsily shoehorned into the bass guitar design template. I wouldn't classify them as bass guitars, they are guitars but bass notes are a very small part of what they do. The fretboard being so wide it's impossible to fret the bass strings higher up the fretboard rules them out as being playable with a standard bass technique. They're a different instrument to me and I've yet to hear something I like being played on one. Bass tapping sounds sh*te to my ears, not pleasing in a musical way.

[Dread Bass]

I think its a shame as the discussion has become about what a 9 string is rather than a discussion about 9 strings. which is what i think the OP was after. It is the same in pretty much all threads about ERBs and i think it puts people off posting who do play one. For example try and find a thread about an ERB where someone dosnt say the f/board is like an ironing board.

Here is an interesting clip of a guy playing a basslab bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUc2lGRXm7Q&feature=fvwrel

[Dread Bass]

i would love to here from 9 string players about techniques, possible songs and see more examples rather than "thats not a bass" "yes it is" I mean who cares what it is classified as.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Dread Bass' timestamp='1339093448' post='1683602']
i would love to here from 9 string players about techniques, possible songs and see more examples rather than "thats not a bass" "yes it is" I mean who cares what it is classified as.
[/quote]
The people who play one seem to care enough to want to classify it as a bass instrument.

[D.I. Joe]

[quote name='Dread Bass' timestamp='1339093448' post='1683602']
i would love to here from 9 string players about techniques, possible songs and see more examples rather than "thats not a bass" "yes it is" I mean who cares what it is classified as.
[/quote]

Tbh, you're probably more likely to get that response in the performance/technique forum. As this was in General Discussion, I assumed it was a general discussion.

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Dread Bass' timestamp='1339093448' post='1683602']
i would love to here from 9 string players about techniques, possible songs and see more examples rather than "thats not a bass" "yes it is" I mean who cares what it is classified as.
[/quote]

ChaotH from Unexpect is a fantastic example (IMHO) of a bass player who does the bass thing fantastically, has great chops and a great sense of melody.

Jean Baudin in his Nuclear Rabbit and Element of Surprise days too!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1339093836' post='1683610']
The people who play one seem to care enough to want to classify it as a bass instrument.
[/quote]

Only because so many people are so quick to say "that's not a bass" or "what is the point?" when these instruments appear,

In my experience that is,

[BigRedX]

So can anyone post a clip of a 9+ string "bass" being used in a band context?

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339105263' post='1683928']
So can anyone post a clip of a 9+ string "bass" being used in a band context?
[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLeXaxlSbc8&feature=g-all

He's doing a play along to the track but he is the bass player of the band,

Genre is down to taste, (personally I love the band)

An 11 string in band context,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAXoWQqexw

Again very weird music (I love it though!) very much down to taste.

Saw Unexpect live and instanty loved it. Nuclear Rabbit was played at a gig I was at before the show though the PA and I asked the sound guy what it was!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339105263' post='1683928']
So can anyone post a clip of a 9+ string "bass" being used in a band context?
[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGVyk_TObCo

Very, erm, different music there (different in a different way haha!)

Though I like it, but each to their own, totally get why people would hate it!

Scottish band now, but the bassist has since left Maelstrom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wZopGCasvk&feature=related

Those are four from the top of my head,

Though I've seen a 9/10 string in a couple jazzy style groups too, and once with a vox/bass/drums set up

And an 8 with Piano/Bass/Drums set up both were in New Orleans

[Chris2112]

Also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUNmgZZS-0E

Only a 7 string but Bill has always been fantastic at using them. The DVD that video is from is excellent too, Bill is a fantastic player. He just sticks to that slap and fingerstlye mix, no silly two handed tapping arrangement. Despite all the ERB's in the world and all the OTT tapping stuff, no-one seems to be able to better what Stuart Hamm was doing 25 years ago!

[BigRedX]

Thanks...

However playing along to a backing track or drum machine in your bedroom/studio where the "bass" has been brought out of the mix by boosting in volume doesn't really give any idea of how these instruments work in a band setting and how they sit in the arrangement/mix.

The Nuclear Rabbit track sounded like it might be interesting, but again it was difficult to hear how all the instruments fitted together in the arrangement from the crap sound of the camera phone in the audience.

So are there any clips of these instruments in a properly mixed and recorded band setting? Video would be nice so I can see who is playing what - to me without any visual context a lot of the tapping stuff sound like it's being done on a sequencer.

BTW is it just me or does the bassist in the last clip have the top three strings removed from his instrument?

[BigRedX]

Thanks Chris2112. That was more of the sort of thing I was after seeing/hearing.

But from what I could see and hear he only used the extra upper range of the instrument when he was soloing without the other instruments in the band. In the ensemble sections he's sticking pretty much to the conventional bass guitar range. Without the video I'd have assumed that the solo was being done by a conventional 6-string guitar on a clean sound. In fact the two parts were so disconnected that they could have probably been done with a bass/guitar double neck or even two separate instruments and well rehearsed roadies!

[charic]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1339106356' post='1683948']
Saw Unexpect live and instanty loved it. Nuclear Rabbit was played at a gig I was at before the show though the PA and I asked the sound guy what it was!
[/quote]

I saw Unexpect at a Dream Theater gig and thought it was appalling although a lot of that could have easily been put down to sound...

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339165347' post='1684717']
Thanks...

However playing along to a backing track or drum machine in your bedroom/studio where the "bass" has been brought out of the mix by boosting in volume doesn't really give any idea of how these instruments work in a band setting and how they sit in the arrangement/mix.

The Nuclear Rabbit track sounded like it might be interesting, but again it was difficult to hear how all the instruments fitted together in the arrangement from the crap sound of the camera phone in the audience.

So are there any clips of these instruments in a properly mixed and recorded band setting? Video would be nice so I can see who is playing what - to me without any visual context a lot of the tapping stuff sound like it's being done on a sequencer.

BTW is it just me or does the bassist in the last clip have the top three strings removed from his instrument?
[/quote]

Surely it shows more clearly how it sits from an arrangement point of view if it's more louder?

I used that one for that reason but no matter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBDvDBuLKEY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2--4ucg1Ic

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1339166697' post='1684760']
I saw Unexpect at a Dream Theater gig and thought it was appalling although a lot of that could have easily been put down to sound...
[/quote]

I REALLY love the band, and their bass player is a complete monster! Each to their own though!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339166346' post='1684751']
Thanks Chris2112. That was more of the sort of thing I was after seeing/hearing.

But from what I could see and hear he only used the extra upper range of the instrument when he was soloing without the other instruments in the band. In the ensemble sections he's sticking pretty much to the conventional bass guitar range. Without the video I'd have assumed that the solo was being done by a conventional 6-string guitar on a clean sound. In fact the two parts were so disconnected that they could have probably been done with a bass/guitar double neck or even two separate instruments and well rehearsed roadies!
[/quote]

Annnddd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjzk_91HkO0

Was recorded with a 9 string the orginal though. You only really uses the 7 string range.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cjZ47iwv_Q

That's more 7 string, another band I really like and their bassist Mark is a really nice guy and a great player. That track uses the full range of the 7 string on that track,

[Dood]

I'll risk it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MH_Ys91zQ&sns=em

Ok, so this song was usually played on a 6er back when I played with this band in 2000. Bass is 'in' the mix so you will need decent speakers or decent earphones. I try to be tasteful and not walk all over everything else. The main motif of the song is a hypnotic root-5th-Octave tap, but playing the part in octaves with both hands on the board. Used to sound amazing through FOH with subs the rest is just chords in the bass line and the mid section is an octave tap. Though for some reason, you can't hear the fourth note per round lol! Bizarre!