Steve Harris clankety clank...

[bjcl...@my-deja.com]

I play with pretty low action because I've got smaller hands (barely a
5 fret reach at 1st fret but strong). It really makes playing easier
for me, yet when I practise, the wife tells me that the strings
clanking off the frets sounds like shit. I play with fingers and
refuse to use a pick (just seems wrong on bass). Personnaly, I like
the clanking sound - kind of like bass and drums together., I need some
ideas on how to minimize the clank for the listeners without raising
the actions or eq'ing my tone to hell...

Thanks,
BJC

Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/

[Ari]

In general, you hear the clank sounds when you practice alone, but it
becomes really hard to hear it when you're playing with other musicians...
so I'd suggest not bothering too much about it

Ari
http://tuning.online.fr/bass

<bjcl...@my-deja.com> a écrit dans le message news:
94kvbn$lav$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

[Nathanaël]

I love the Steve Harris clankety clank and I tend to play like that (too
much praticting without amp).

<bjcl...@my-deja.com> a écrit dans le message news:
94kvbn$lav$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

[Scott]

Steve Harris uses flat wound strings.

Scott

[Bill Huang]

One thing you can do is try to pluck the string at an angle that is
more paralell to the body of the bass. Instead of driving your
fingers down onto the string, rotate your hand a bit so that your
fingers are close to perpendicular to the body. Try to play with a
lighter touch.

I used to be really worried about this, and I still am to some degree.
However, I agree with the other post that you can barely hear it when
playing with other musicians. I actually think it helps in some
passages. I'm still not willing to ignore it and am striving to keep
my technique as clean as possible and play with the lightest touch I
can. That's what a volume knob is for!!

Bill

On Tue, 23 Jan 2001 22:07:59 GMT, bjcl...@my-deja.com wrote:

[Ironfist]

I agree with the below advice- I'm not a fan of the 'clicky' bass sound
outside of the maiden context, so I tried to remedy this in a couple of
ways. When you play through an amp, rolling the tone pot back on your bass
with take care of the majority of the problem, but it will also turn your
sound to mud rather quickly. The best approach for less clanking against
the frets (and sometimes pickup polepieces if applicable) is a lighter
touch. It takes some getting used to especially if you like to dig in, but
it's worth it.

Joe.

> One thing you can do is try to pluck the string at an angle that is
> more paralell to the body of the bass. Instead of driving your
> fingers down onto the string, rotate your hand a bit so that your
> fingers are close to perpendicular to the body. Try to play with a
> lighter touch.
>
> I used to be really worried about this, and I still am to some degree.
> However, I agree with the other post that you can barely hear it when
> playing with other musicians. I actually think it helps in some
> passages. I'm still not willing to ignore it and am striving to keep
> my technique as clean as possible and play with the lightest touch I
> can. That's what a volume knob is for!!
>
> Bill

[Bill Huang]

The thing I like about a light touch for most of my playing is that
you can have an overall louder amp setting. Then when, you dig in -
it rocks! I especially like to shift back to play over the bridge
pickup when it's time to dig in. I normally play over the neck p/u.

Also, if you tend to play hard anyway, try moving back over the bridge
p/u. You can play harder without the clicks there.

Bill

[bjcl...@my-deja.com]

Thanks for the suggestions. Playing with a lighter touch seems to be
the answer for me. I tried sliding back and anchoring on the bridge
pickup but I don't like the action/feel of stricking the strings.

Practise.

Practise.

Practise.