Are there basslines that only a stand up bass can play

[mentalextra]

Sitting in the car earlier on and had the radio on playing Christmas records. Frank Sinatra's swing version of 'let it snow' got me thinking, could electric bass give that sort of feel. Those '40s swing tunes have a unique bass feel.

Also, electric bass players are worrying about our strings, pickups, electronics and amplification; what does a stand up bassist worry about?

I would like the opportunity to have a play on an upright, I dont know why I am suddenly being drawn to it as I was with fretless. Perhaps I'm on a journey

[YouMa]

Anything by charlie mingus i think.

[dannybuoy]

You'd have trouble playing this without an upright:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI0gbGEyuI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1354990346' post='1892749']
You'd have trouble playing this without an upright:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI0gbGEyuI&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]https://www.youtube....be_gdata_player[/url]
[/quote]

and this http://youtu.be/Zp4_r8_MMho - electric doesn't sound right, ive tried

[andyonbass]

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1354989290' post='1892731']
Sitting in the car ..........
Perhaps I'm on a journey

[/quote]

You probably are

[BenTunnicliffe]

I think there's a particular vein of records and kinds of work that upright players end up doing that gives them a particular tone, time and phrasing that's specific to that instrument that makes them harder to emulate unless you went through the same schooling that they do approaching it all from electric.

On a more basic level though a lot of upright players end up using a lot of open strings and 12th 'fret' harmonics to get around how physical it is to play in many respects or they shy away from certain hand positions for the same reason which makes the crossover of lines fairly blurry to me.
I detune a 5string by a semitone on each string so that makes a lot of that impossible in a complete 'imitation' kind of way for me.
Forgetting about the fact I play a fretted bass that sounds nothing like an upright of course

[Skol303]

^^ [i]Love[/i] that Common track. Never heard it before. Cheers for sharing, Luke

[Dood]

When it comes to the note choices, then an electric bass either fretted or fretless can easily 'do' what an upright can, but when it comes to the timbre of the instrument, well things get a little more difficult. I think there's quite a few electrics and semi-acoustics that try to emulate stand up bass and do a great job.

Finally, feel i think comes from the player, not the instrument and thus, as my old IT colleagues would say, SISO*








*sh!t in, sh!t out.

[anthomp]

Lots of tunes in the rockabilly/rock'n'roll
style of playing
where like the early early Elvis recordings
there was no drummer
so the slapping fretboard slap was the percussion
and no not the same with electric bass
"Stray cat strut" for instance could never be
the same with a fender bass.

[BenTunnicliffe]

Sidenote but I've found on some gigs there's people I've worked with who particularly want upright because of the visual aspect almost as much as the sound!

I really get what they mean but upright not having a big part in what i'm into [bar that common track off the album 'Be' which everyone should invest in! Think it's Derrick Hodge?] and not wanting to shell out for the gear or estate car I decided to tell them to put up with a beautiful electric or stick it somewhere

[lowdown]

[quote name='andyonbass' timestamp='1354991647' post='1892778']
You probably are
[/quote]

Or in a car wash.


Garry

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1354989290' post='1892731']Also, electric bass players are worrying about our strings, pickups, electronics and amplification; what does a stand up bassist worry about?[/quote]

All of those things. Strings make a massive difference to your sound, unlike electric bass where most roundwounds sound pretty much the same, and a good value set of double bass strings is about £80 (most sets cost more than that) so imagine how expensive experimentation is. Pickups are also a real minefield, and there's the option of mics instead (even more expense), specialist amplification for acoustic instruments is, again, way more expensive.

We also get to worry about the instrument developing cracks either from accidental damage or from something as innocent as low humidity in winter, most double basses that have been played professionally for a couple of decades have clearly had the neck re-attached so it's worth worrying about that happening too because it must happen to everybody at some point. There's also the worry that if you accidentally bump the bass the wrong way while changing strings the soundpost might fall down and your bass will be unplayable until you get it re-set. Stuff like that.

There's plenty to worry about, trust me.

[Beer of the Bass]

Playing with a bow really reminds me that double bass is a different instrument from bass guitar. That's a side of the instrument which doesn't overlap with bass guitar in the slightest!
To the list of worries, add feedback, inadequate monitoring, and trying to play in tune at gigs on an unmarked fingerboard given those two factors...

[thisnameistaken]

I don't think the gypsy jazz sound can be done with a bass guitar. I don't think you can make a bass guitar swing like that. Maybe someone can prove me wrong.

[RhysP]

Most orchestral music would sound pretty sh*t played on an electric bass.

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1355012020' post='1893050']
I don't think the gypsy jazz sound can be done with a bass guitar. I don't think you can make a bass guitar swing like that. Maybe someone can prove me wrong.
[/quote]
Yeah, you may be right. I think it's partly that the attack and decay of the note can never be quite the same with bass guitar, but also how the physical resistance and bounce of the strings changes the way you play.

[BassBus]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1355012020' post='1893050']
I don't think the gypsy jazz sound can be done with a bass guitar. I don't think you can make a bass guitar swing like that. Maybe someone can prove me wrong.
[/quote]

Right! I tried it a couple of weeks ago at a gig and the bass guitar just didn't fit that music. To my ears anyway.

[Beer of the Bass]

Although, come to think of it, Terry Gregory played gypsy jazz influenced music quite effectively on acoustic bass guitar when I saw him with Martin Taylor a few years back. MTs music has never been quite to my taste, but the bass definitely worked for the style. I think it was down to feel and musicianship rather than any particular property of the instrument though.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Beer of the Bass

[Doddy]

Try playing anything on electric bass that requires a bow.It's just not happening.
You're also not going to get that slap sound out of an electric bass.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1355007026' post='1892998']
Finally, feel i think comes from the player, not the instrument and thus, as my old IT colleagues would say, SISO*
[/quote]
While I agree for the most part,I also think there is a certain feel on that you can get on the Upright that you can't
get on electric,and vice versa that isn't just down to the player. The whole physical size of the Upright gives the
notes a certain shape in the attack that isn't the same as an electric and gives it a different feel.I believe this is what
people are referencing when they say things like the electric 'doesn't swing'. It's not that the player isn't swinging,it's
just that the timbre is very different and it does feel different.

[Bilbo]

They are distinct instruments with their own individual voices. When a composer is working on an arrangement idea, s/he can conceptuallise a sound based on one instrument or on several. A flugelhorn and soprano sound different from a trumpet and tenor. A violin sounds different to a viola, even playing the same notes etc. Musicians playing bass can often make the mistake of thinking that the double bass and electric bass, because they play the same notes on the same stave, are interchangeable. But they have a different effect due to timbre, attack and decay. If you want a piece to swing like your Frank Sinatra arrangement, then it is unlikely that the electric bass will work (there are thousands of recordings of bands playing Jazz using electric basses that don't swing and plaenty that do but we are talking in generlaisms). It doesn't mean that a performer can't make an aesthetic decision to use a different voice to achieve a different effect etc but, the straight answer is, no, an electric bass cannot do what a double bass does and vice versa. Sometimes close but rarely a cigar They are different instruments which have a lot in common just like a drummer and percussionist.

[thisnameistaken]

I guess you could also take a tune with a good bass guitar part and ask if it would have the same feel on a synth.