Pet Shop Boys were (and are) a very good synthpop/dance band. Their songs are remixed often and some of those remixes were really top tier in clubs. Agree completely, they are way, way above decent, yeah.
But they are very, very little like New Order
Well outside of a couple of New Order’s 12" club mixes anyway.
Nice catch, I didn’t notice that it’s the same note that causes issue. Thanks so much for the suggestions! I don’t have access to a different bass or amp at the moment, but I’ll be sure to try the other things you’ve mentioned.
But I thought about it and discussed with my girlfriend. She said something quite interesting: would Ian Curtis like / listen to New Order if he were still alive? Would he??!
Probably. To some degree. David Bowie was one of his idols, who made a career out of redefining his self. I don’t actually think JD had a lot more in the tank when they were getting ready for that 3rd album. Had he stayed around, I could imagine Ian going on to a solo career that would have looked something like a cross between Bowie and Gary Numan.
I’m an old guy. Call me “Ebeneezer the Board Boomer” if you like.
My original comment to the OP was meant more as a joke. Since very little of what I play; Blues, R&B/Soul, Classic and Country Rock requires playing in higher register above the 12th fret I was just having some fun with him.
I realize there are some genre that do use the upper register for bass lines more so than others. With most of what I’ve ever played being very guitar driven playing above the 12th fret is cutting into the guitars sonic territory so it’s generally avoided.
Another thing you can try is to add some sound absorption to the room you’re practicing in. Might help reduce the resonance. Things like hung clothes, blankets, soft furniture (couch, bed), canvases on the walls (paintings), etc. Even facing the amp a different direction may help. Just brainstorming here. No guarantees any of this will work.
If you didn’t know better and just watched (certain/many) bass players on YouTube, you could very easily come away with the impression bass is primarily a solo instrument.
You’re not wrong but that’s not a recent occurrence. It’s been around awhile and to some of us oldsters grounded in what we were taught the function of the bass is it could become annoying when playing with a “too busy bassist.” There are exceptions like Geddy Lee but his playing fits how Rush writes and arranges their tunes.
I got gigs because I wasn’t busy. I played the groove and kept the groove as it’s what the gig called for. When you’re also a primary vocalist you also learn to get your bass line deeply cemented to the groove so you can kind of ignore it and focus on your vocals.
Complex and/or syncopated bass lines present a huge challenge to most anyone who has to sing over the top of them. That’s what makes Sting an absolute wizard. He does it without breaking a sweat. He’s phenomenal bassist and vocalist. We can put McCartney in that same class too. Geddy Lee as well. It’s not easy that’s why so few attempt it.
100%. They were absolutely already headed that way and working in synths. Early New Order (Movement and the many singles around it) was very close to what you could think of as a JD transition phase as well; listen to everything before Power, Corruption, and Lies (and some stuff on it too).
Power, Corruption, and Lies was also groundbreaking in that it was basically experimental post-punk/electronica fusion. Low Life continued this and was a fantastic album.
I’m betting he’d have dug all that. Some of the stuff like the Quincy Jones produced hits? Probably not.
This function for bass appears in a really narrow slice of time and genre, and has a significant technological component. Popular music from the 50s to the 90s? was mixed to be played on speakers with poor bass clarity and response. Since bass in that time and genre couldn’t convey more than fundamental chord structure to most listeners, that was the role of bass. Speaker and headphone design has advanced a ton since then, subwoofers are extremely common and popular music is bass driven now, those limitations no longer apply (although phone speakers do bring some of that back).
I’m moderately annoyed when “the role of bass” continues to be propagated based on long solved technology problems with the implication that other arranging choices are wrong. If a “traditional role of bass” argument is needed there’s centuries of classical repertoire that has “busy” bass parts to examine.