Fender Bass VI, Lakland Decade 6 etc.

[thepurpleblob]

Possibly stupid question - what are these things and how do you play them? 

As far as I can tell it's got guitar tuning but with something like short-scale bass size. It's not a baritone guitar. That's something else. And it isn't a six string bass. It's some other kind of six string bass. 

I'm confused...

Edited March 7, 2019 by thepurpleblob

[Maude]

You can, as with any guitar/bass, tune it how you want but normally it would be tuned the same as a guitar (eadgbe) but an octave lower. The first four strings are tuned the same as a four string bass but usually don't sound the same due to lighter strings. A six string bass, as opposed to a bass vi, is usually tuned beadgc and has 'standard' bass strings to sound like a normal bass with an extended range. 

A bass vi is great for playing guitar style lines but with more bottom end than a normal guitar. Think of a spaghetti western soundtrack and it'll probably be a bass vi. Likewise, surf music is great with that deep drippy twang of a bass vi. 

The Cure use one a lot to play guitar lines that sit nicely between guitar and bass. 

You can play it like a normal bass but the string spacing is usually a lot tighter to lend itself to holding chord shapes down. 

 

The second guitar here is a bass vi. 

 

[BigRedX]

18 hours ago, thepurpleblob said:

Possibly stupid question - what are these things and how do you play them? 

As far as I can tell it's got guitar tuning but with something like short-scale bass size. It's not a baritone guitar. That's something else. And it isn't a six string bass. It's some other kind of six string bass. 

I'm confused...

However you want.

I use a Burns Barracuda with one of the band I play with which allows me to alternate between conventional bass line and higher pitched melody work (at which point the synth player takes over the bass duties). It varies the sonic texture of the songs.

The tuning is the same as a guitar only an octave down so you get the standard 4-string bass range but with extra high notes from the top two strings. I have mine tuned EADGCE because I ned an open C string drone on a couple of songs we do. 

IME they aren't really suited to playing conventional chords on (I certainly can't get the same richness of tone while retaining decent note definition as I can on a 28" scale Baritone guitar tuned B-B) unless you stick to the higher strings or neck positions, and on the more "vintage" styled instruments the neck tends to be narrow even by guitar standards - think 70s-style narrow Stratocaster neck which combined with the much fatter strings doesn't make them the easiest instruments to play.

Edited March 8, 2019 by BigRedX

[bigsmokebass]

On 07/03/2019 at 22:33, thepurpleblob said:

And it isn't a six string bass. It's some other kind of six string bass. 

Kinda like a baritone, although it depends on who you buy from or what brand. I've had the a Squier Bass VI and a Gretsch Electromatic Baritone, there wasn't any difference between them in scale length or string gauges.

Typically a baritone is 27-28.5" tuned usually in BEADF#B, ADGCEA & CFBbEbGC.

Bass VI is 30" and usually tuned EADGBE but seems this chops and changes all the while. I'd recommend checking out the guitar specs before turning one up or finding the right strings. 

 

No definitive way to play them. Thumbs, fingers, plectrums... Just find your own way that's comfortable for you and enjoy 😁👍🏻

Edited March 12, 2019 by bigsmokebass

[bigsmokebass]

Something from Fender on the topic 

[BigRedX]

7 hours ago, bigsmokebass said:

Kinda like a baritone, although it depends on who you buy from or what brand. I've had the a Squier Bass VI and a Gretsch Electromatic Baritone, there wasn't any difference between them in scale length or string gauges.👍🏻

As someone who plays both baritone guitar and bass VI I would say that the two are very different instruments and it mostly down to the voicing.

For me the difference between a long scale baritone and a bass VI is more to do with the type and placement of the pickups then the scale length. 

A bass VI will have 3 single coil pickups, while a baritone has two P90 types or humbuckers. The middle pickup is important in getting the a decent bass sound, while a baritone guitar being played more like a conventional guitar but lower in pitch tends to benefit from the pickups in the conventional guitar positions.

[EssentialTension]

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

4 hours ago, EssentialTension said:

 

 

Fantastic.

[EssentialTension]

2 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Fantastic.

And only £3000!

[mangotango]

I know a while back I was looking for a P-bass, but as it happens,  I have instead just bought one of the Squier Bass VI's (from @Al Krow, as it happens!) and although I'm still getting used to it, I've tried it on some of the more cinematic stuff that we do. With a bit of tremolo, it totally evokes the Spaghetti Western vibe...and there's the chance to play twangy melodies as well as thumpy bass notes. I can see this becoming something of a permanent fixture, though not necessarily to use on every tune.

As was discussed with Al Krow, it still needs a proper set-up, but I wanted to make sure that I was going to use it before committing myself to the expenditure. Time to get that done, then.

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, mangotango said:

As was discussed with Al Krow...

What a seriously unhelpful thread to be linked into 😂

Now you've got me checking out £3,000 guitars (not to mention Spector basses that I'd managed to ignore for the past few years), Mr Charlie-Tango-Foxtrot! 😈

Edited August 27, 2019 by Al Krow

[mangotango]

16 hours ago, Al Krow said:

What a seriously unhelpful thread to be linked into 😂

Now you've got me checking out £3,000 guitars (not to mention Spector basses that I'd managed to ignore for the past few years), Mr Charlie-Tango-Foxtrot! 😈

Oh yes, I held a gun to your head on that one, didn't I?

 

Duane Eddy, though...…!!

[Al Krow]

42 minutes ago, mangotango said:

Oh yes, I held a gun to your head on that one, didn't I?

 

Duane Eddy, though...…!!

Is it just me, or is that a bl*oody tasty Bass VI? 

[EssentialTension]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Is it just me, or is that a bl*oody tasty Bass VI? 

It's not just you. But you'd have to be rich or a real specialist (like Duane Eddy) to buy one. I suspect Eddy got them reduced.

[mangotango]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Is it just me, or is that a bl*oody tasty Bass VI? 

Remarkably so....

[KiOgon]

2 hours ago, mangotango said:

 

Does it come standard with the 'wheelchair' logo - for disabled bass players? 👍😎😉

[mangotango]

19 minutes ago, KiOgon said:

Does it come standard with the 'wheelchair' logo - for disabled bass players? 👍😎😉

YehbuhWHA?

[EssentialTension]

2 hours ago, KiOgon said:

Does it come standard with the 'wheelchair' logo - for disabled bass players? 👍😎😉

Ha ha, I never noticed the similarity before.

 

 

[mangotango]

Got it.  Had never even thought of that before, I guess because normally you see it with the guitar being held rather than neck upright.....

[Al Krow]

Ok sorted...