Yeah, I know this is all in good spiritā¦ but, somewhere in there is a message for me: keep your crazy ideas a little while longer to yourself until they are a bit more than just half-baked!
Andā¦ just keep them puns and memes comingā¦ I gālove them
I wear musicians glove on my plucking hand because I cant cut my index fingernail too short. The skin underneath the nail protrudes a bit due to an injury. This was causing a twang sound that drove me crazy.
The glove I use was purchased from Amazon. Itās very thin and in no way impedes your playing.
Thanks for the input, @SugarRay319 - I might try to keep a tab on whether people play with a glove for (letās say) medical reasons, or whether it is actually for reaching a certain sound or improving their techniqueā¦
I played a full gig - mainstage at a festival - in thick woolen gloves. It was freezing cold, in Colorado, at a festival called Winter Wondergrass. Luckily I was playing upright bass, and only roots and fifths. Oom-pah basslines, essentially.
While the rest of the band froze their fingers off, mine were warm and cozy. My tone was a bit more dull and muffled than usual, but I wouldnāt say that anyone would have noticed but me.
Maybe the one time I was really happy that my bass duties could - literally - be played by a frozen dude wearing thick, woolen gloves.
I didnāt wanna admit it but for a while I played with studded leather fingerless gloves a la Phil Lynott. I stopped when someone called me a twat.
Never got round to Spandex strides though.
@SugarRay319 Just for the heck of it, and to see if it improved my playing any, I ordered those musician gloves you mentioned from Amazon. They came in yesterday, and I tried them. Lo and Behold, I suck just as bad with them as I do without them.
Youāre funny. Gloves wonāt make you better, but they help me with the one problem finger. Also I used to own Blackstar Fly3, I think thatās it, just to play downstairs and not lug my amp around. My playing sounded like shit. Everything sounded horrible Times ten. With the gloves it was way better. I did finally returned them though.
I did buy some cotton gloves in the pharmacy and, even though it looks ridiculous, I would say I play cleaner and with more ease jumping strings and going up and down that fretboard having a soft, fairly snuck (and no bits cut off) cotton glove on my fretting hand.
Heās a favourite of mine but not for his bass chops! I love the ambient stuff he did with Dave Sylvian, Plight and Premonition + Flux and Mutability.
I find I donāt have to think too much whilst I play any of Sylvians more ambient work. Not that Iām one of the worlds great thinkers, but space, time and place all become a bit more distant to me. Relax mode engaged it were.
I have those albums as well as all from David Sylvian. Recently have purchased new remastered vinyls. Talking about him, there is great bass player, late Mick Carn who played in Japan and have made some interesting solo atmospheric music.
You can see how āstuffā from the strings stained the glove and how two tips are worn thin. You can also see that I donāt use my ring finger nearly as much.
Anyhoo, it is actually quite nice playing with a glove, especially when it is warm and humid, and I canāt hear any influence on the sound, apart from less string scratching and finger scraping