Do you ever have those gigs where you feel like you're firing on all cylinders and everything is right with the universe? I had one of those last night. Okay, maybe not that perfect, but it was good. Very good. My hands never felt fatigued and my tone was as close to what I hear in my head as I've found. I don't know if this alining of the planets was related to playing outside without earplugs or relaxing my pickup hand more - but it was a feeling that made me very happy to be a bass player. I felt connected to my bass. I didn't have to fight to make certain passages flow. I was in a great musical mood.
Looking back on it and trying to determine why everything seemed to work has lead me to a few observations.
1) Hearing my bass - I have a certain stage volume I am used to hearing. Over the guitars. Over the vocals. Over the drums. I strive to find that volume - even if its unconscious. I will make my stage volume match my mental sweet spot. Or try to.
This has consequences. If I have my amp stage volume too low, I find I play harder with my pickup hand - I pluck the strings harder. Over time - song after song after song - this causes my pickup hand to get fatigued. After a night of plucking hard, my hand feels tired.
Earplugs also change the way I hear my bass. I've played with a loud drummer playing live drums for over 20 years. This has caused ear damage - tinnitus. As a result, its actually painful to hear the hard snap of a snare or the crash of a splash cymbal with my naked ears - especially indoors. For the last five years or so, I've used earplugs at most gigs. However, when we play outside, I usually don't. This means I hear my bass without the muffled filter of earplugs. Last night was an outside gig.
2) Posture and hand position - Last weak, I was reading about hand position and the long term effects of bad positions/posture over at NoTreble. During the gig, trying not to get overly anal about it, I tried to pay more attention to my pickup hand position. I tried to keep my wrist both strait and relaxed.
So, what to conclude?
My stage volume wasn't louder than an usual gig but the lack of earplugs enabled me to hear the full tone of my sound.
The band's stage volume, any band's stage volume, is really dependent upon what the drummer is doing and using. Yesyes, in the past, I've played with loud keyboard players and seemingly deaf lead guitar players, but it is the drummer that sets the base line decibel level.
In addition, my relaxed hand position probably contributed to less fatigue.
So, I conclude I need to start an electronic drum-kit fund for my drummer. I'll keep using the techniques describe in the NoTrebel article but I believe it is the volume of my mental sweet spot - and trying to sty in that sweet spot - that is the key to letting the music flow freely.
Topic#2 - In my bass quest, I started to look at NS Designs. I've asked a local music dealer if they can get access to one of the basses so I can play it. I've played a double bass only once but never bowed it. I am intrigued by the idea of a stand up bass without the size issue. But I have to play one to see if it feels possible. More to come as the quest continues....
Looking back on it and trying to determine why everything seemed to work has lead me to a few observations.
1) Hearing my bass - I have a certain stage volume I am used to hearing. Over the guitars. Over the vocals. Over the drums. I strive to find that volume - even if its unconscious. I will make my stage volume match my mental sweet spot. Or try to.
This has consequences. If I have my amp stage volume too low, I find I play harder with my pickup hand - I pluck the strings harder. Over time - song after song after song - this causes my pickup hand to get fatigued. After a night of plucking hard, my hand feels tired.
Earplugs also change the way I hear my bass. I've played with a loud drummer playing live drums for over 20 years. This has caused ear damage - tinnitus. As a result, its actually painful to hear the hard snap of a snare or the crash of a splash cymbal with my naked ears - especially indoors. For the last five years or so, I've used earplugs at most gigs. However, when we play outside, I usually don't. This means I hear my bass without the muffled filter of earplugs. Last night was an outside gig.
2) Posture and hand position - Last weak, I was reading about hand position and the long term effects of bad positions/posture over at NoTreble. During the gig, trying not to get overly anal about it, I tried to pay more attention to my pickup hand position. I tried to keep my wrist both strait and relaxed.
So, what to conclude?
My stage volume wasn't louder than an usual gig but the lack of earplugs enabled me to hear the full tone of my sound.
The band's stage volume, any band's stage volume, is really dependent upon what the drummer is doing and using. Yesyes, in the past, I've played with loud keyboard players and seemingly deaf lead guitar players, but it is the drummer that sets the base line decibel level.
In addition, my relaxed hand position probably contributed to less fatigue.
So, I conclude I need to start an electronic drum-kit fund for my drummer. I'll keep using the techniques describe in the NoTrebel article but I believe it is the volume of my mental sweet spot - and trying to sty in that sweet spot - that is the key to letting the music flow freely.
Topic#2 - In my bass quest, I started to look at NS Designs. I've asked a local music dealer if they can get access to one of the basses so I can play it. I've played a double bass only once but never bowed it. I am intrigued by the idea of a stand up bass without the size issue. But I have to play one to see if it feels possible. More to come as the quest continues....
