Pretty much everyone knows Vulfpeck Deantown by now.
Juliaplaysgroove and Nathan Navarro released covers within a day or so of each other last week and seeing as they used the Vulfpeck backing tracks to cut the same bass cover to, I figured that I’d overlay them to see the difference in their general techniques.
I do the video overlay analysis for various different similar things, but I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do it with bass players.
Julia is a little more showy, but think Nathan has a more efficient technique.
Cool how they both interpret it different ways. At one point she was playing up the neck and he was playing down. She slides into a lot of notes too. And yes she has the dart correct bass
I saw that bit when they went for different note locations and was part way wondering what the f… and then the smart Andy voice inside my head reminded me that that there are multiple places for quite a few notes on the neck…
Yes. I don’t have the biggest hands in the world. Victor Wooten is my other guy to look at when I see someone’s spidermonkey fingers making bass look so much easier.
I love Joe Dart, but I have never understood that signature bass. If the point is that it is a no frills nothing fancy sort of bass to prove that is all you need… then why is it so expensive?
Basically, that’s how signature models work. They’re never cheaper and essentially, it isn’t the electronics that makes something expensive in terms of wood and materials. It’s because it’s a quality made instrument (and you can’t use inferior wood hidden under a paint finish) AND if you utilise the standard marketing methods of association and halo effect, as well as scarcity and implied performance, you can easily charge more for Joe Dart’s signature bass.
Now a very popular youtube bassist ALSO has one, it’s free advertising.
Always give artists with an established popularity free stuff to demonstrate. The implied effect is that you too, can play like Julia IF you have Joe Dart’s bass.
The vast majority of things are sold on dreams, rather than practicality, in a market that isn’t selling essentials.
Joe Dart’s signature is worth a lot of dreams.
Nobody would buy a bass with my signature on it because pretty much nobody has dreams so small that they want to play like me.
There’s a guy on youtube with only one complete arm that gives me a capability and talent flogging at present.
i’m pretty sure that the joe dart bass is a few (and i mean A FEW) dollars cheaper than the standard stingray 4. it is, after all, passive electronics and has no tone controls on it, so i would guess cheaper slightly to make.
I can see cases where signature models make sense to charge a premium for, aside from the artist name. One example would be the Yamaha Attitude. Setting aside the Sheehan endorsement (which I basically DGAS about; he’s great, but his style isn’t going to inform my bass spending choices), it’s got some seriously different and unique features from the other high end BBs like the BBP34.
That said, I also wouldn’t shell out $5k for one, either.
After having a look at what is available in US dollars amongst the competition from Music Man alone and then other brand basses made in the USA, I have decided that the Joe Dart bass would not be my choice for the money. I would flat out pay the extra 100 bucks and get a Stingray.
