Post your covers! (2019-2022)

[terb]

@Lanny

I chose to go close to bridge since the tone was different than the original song and resulted in a little more of a ‘cutting edge’ feel to the groove.

yeah, this gives you a more focused tone and an agressive punchy midrangy attack. it StingRay-ize your tone

I usually hit the strings near the neck pickup, a little bit clother to the neck, this is where the string tension is what I like and it gives what I think is a good balance between a fat tone and an agressive attack. but in this area, the string amplitude is pretty wide and you can’t do small pick mooves like with a guitar, you have to moove the pick for real also those who watch the videos carrefully might have seen that on my last cover I play between the two pickups (closer to the bridge than I usually do) : the reason is that with the Drop-C tuning the string tension was very low, and hitting the strings closer to the bridge gave me a little bit more resistance under the pick, it felt a bit more like usual tunings.

A lot to say with pick techniques !

[Jazzbass19]

That was excellent, @Lanny . . .

Very nicely played AND produced . . .

[Lanny]

@PeteP

There was a photo of a sailor with a HMS cap on, I couldn’t make out the full name but it looked like “HMS WASP…” - put a Brit out of his misery and tell me which ship it was.

@PeteP - HMS Wasperton. A Royal Navy Minesweeper that was converted to a Hong Kong patrol craft back in 1971. When our Submarine pulled liberty R&R liberty in Hong Kong in 1972 after a 30 Day patrol in the South China Sea, the HMS Wasperton was assigned as our “Host” ship while in port. The sailor wearing the cap was one of our “Machinist Mates” who traded one his US Navy “Dixie-Cup” hats with one of the Wasperton crew members.

As it turned out, our week of R&R in Hong Kong resulted in only a 5 day period because our crew apparently partied a bit too hard one night and our boat was “forcefully asked” to leave (we were kicked out of Hong Kong)…

[Lanny]

@terb

a little bit clother to the neck, this is where the string tension is what I like and it gives what I think is a good balance between a fat tone and an agressive attack. but in this area, the string amplitude is pretty wide and you can’t do small pick mooves like with a guitar,

You could most certainly teach a pick style bass class @terb!! Then again, your preferred style/genre of music most definitely requires that a pick be used more often than not.

So, so true on the different areas to use the pick. I found my problem to be somewhat of a double edge sword since with arthritis, trying to hold a pick between my thumb and forefinger without loosing it is a bit of a challenge. I tried using a thumb pick (like I had to use during the B2B course), but the ones I have are a bit too bulky (too thick/rigid and not pliable enough) and didn’t give me the tone that I was looking for. The other reason is that I just couldn’t find a good comfortable spot to anchor my hand (reference point) to on any if my bass’s like I can on my Tele’s.

I guess it’s just gonna take me some more “practice with a pick” time in order to be much more comfortable in the technique.

Keep on Thumpin’!

[terb]

@Lanny

with arthritis, trying to hold a pick between my thumb and forefinger without loosing it is a bit of a challenge

yes I understand that … I hold my pick with 3 fingers, which is not at all the official technique but I always did that way and it allows me to manage the angle of the pick regarding to the strings, and also it allows me to hold the pick very firmly. maybe worth a try ?

@Lanny

I just couldn’t find a good comfortable spot to anchor my hand (reference point) to on any if my bass’s like I can on my Tele’s

another interresting point here ! I have the same “problem”, especially considering the fact that my attack zone is very far from the bridge. so in fact I don’t really have any anchor point ! but as I always mute every string I’m not using, I always have one or two fingers touching the strings. very often I have the pinky on the D and G strings, it serves somewhat the purpose of an anchor point. I realize that it’s the same thing with a guitar, my attack zone is near the neck pickup and I never really anchor my wrist.

[terb]

So, dear BassBuzzy friends, with the new year starting it’s time to make the counts !

since the beginning of this thread in August 2019, and if I counted right, we have an amazing total of 28 covers already ! all that in less than 5 month, it’s pretty awesome ! it’s more than one new cover posted each week ! incredible !

I’d like to thank every player who posted some covers this year : @Lanny , @JoshFossgreen , @joergkutter , @vik , @PeteP , you all rock !!!

With new BassBuzzians every week, and considering that the ol’Buzzers are being more and more experienced, I’m pretty sure we will have a lot more bass players who will post covers in a close future, I can’t wait to ear/see all this !

For the newcomers, it may be useful to remember the Sacred Rules of Covering : there is no rule really. You just have to record your bassline over an existing song and that’s it, that’s a cover. You can do it more or less “professionnally” (regarding the recording and producing methods and techniques), you can play the exact same bass line than the one on the album, but you also can play your own bass line, you can simplify the existing line if you want, you can use a different plucking technique than on the original song, a whole different tone if you want, you can change the pitch, the tempo, use strange tunings … to sum up you can do pretty much what you want, as long as you play a cover

If you hesitate : don’t ! Your only risk by posting a cover is to learn a few things (or a lot), to have fun, to practice your bass playing, and to have constructive advices.

Again thanks a lot to everybody posting and reading this thread, and let’s make great covers for 2020 !

[PeteP]

Thanks to @terb for the 2020 season kick-off message, and all the other contributors: be it posting a cover, offering feedback, or explaining the technicalities of recording.

I don’t do new years resolutions, but if I did it would be to get back to my mid-year practice regime, post at least one cover each week, and lose weight - but that one’s nothing to do with playing bass.

(do we have a rule about posting a new version of a cover we’ve already posted?)

[eric.kiser]

@PeteP

do we have a rule about posting a new version of a cover we’ve already posted?

@terb

there is no rule

NO RULES!!!

[PeteP]

@eric.kiser

NO RULES!!!

Is that a rule?

[eric.kiser]

DAMN IT!!!

Is that a rule? @Bassbot fortune

[Bassbot]

Signs point to yes

[Lanny]

@terb

Your only risk by posting a cover is to learn a few things (or a lot), to have fun, to practice your bass playing, and to have constructive advices.

Thanks for the words of encouragement @terb!!

For those who may be a bit apprehensive about putting together and posting a cover, the hardest part is posting your first one. Once the first one is behind you, it just gets easier AND, after a while you will notice that you have gotten better.

Although practice, practice, practice is the key to becoming skillful, playing in front of others simply uses that level of skill to open the door to experience.

Although creating covers isn’t actually playing “live” in front of an audience, it does open ones self up to the possibility of praise/criticism. The best part of posting covers here on the BassBuzz forum is that both praise and criticism are “constructive” which does help strengthen and refine our bass playing abilities and techniques which in turn does help to make us better Badass Bassists!

Keep on Thumpin’!

[terb]

Yeah, recording and posting a cover is a great way to learn a ton of things, and to go one step further in your musician’s journey ; all this while having a lot of fun. Don’t be shy, bassbuzzers !

@PeteP

do we have a rule about posting a new version of a cover we’ve already posted?

as said by others, there is no rule : as long as you post a cover you are totally free to do what you want

[PeteP]

I’ve been thwarted in my attempt to post a cover this evening: Garageband is playing sill games and Audacity is doing something I can’t figure out (see new thread Audacity software: chat & support ).

[PeteP]

Grrrr. Soundcloud doesn’t seem to like any of the songs I upload - that’s the 4th that has been deleted due to copyright issues. I have half a cover of “Another Brick In The Wall” sitting on my computer, but I suppose I can take this delay as a sign I should finish recording first. What a great song for a beginner: there’s enough in it to sound like you know what you’re doing, but it’s simple enough that it doesn’t take much learning. Maybe tomorrow…

[Lanny]

@PeteP

Soundcloud doesn’t seem to like any of the songs I upload - that’s the 4th that has been deleted due to copyright issues.

I hear ya @PeteP… This is exactly why I gave up posting to SoundCloud a long time ago - they kept refusing to upload my music for the exact same ‘copyright’ reasons. Now I just upload to the servers that host my websites and all is good… I believe that @terb does the same thing with his music. Do you have access to any online servers?

“Another Brick In The Wall” would make for a great cover! Then again, pretty much anything by Pink Floyd (and Roger Waters) gets my blood to pumpin’! Good Luck!! Can’t wait to hear the cover!

Keep on Thumpin’!

[terb]

@Lanny

I believe that @terb does the same thing with his music.

in fact not exactly : I don’t use SoundCloud but, as I do my covers in video format, when I record a cover I upload it to Youtube at first. very often, the video is flagged by Youtube but not blocked ; this means I can’t claim any money for the video (and I guess the label can) but the video is still available on Youtube like any other video. in this case it is OK for me, I don’t care as my channel is not monetized and this is obviously not the purpose of those videos. Then I embed the Youtube player in my website.
Another case is that the video can be totally blocked by Youtube, that’s what happened with my AC/DC cover. in this case I upload the video directly on my website, so it’s not visible on Youtube but it appears on my site like any other cover. that’s in fact this feature that decided me to create this site : the videos can be flagged or not by Youtube, in any case I will be able to add it to my other covers. and in any case the video is hosted somewhere and I can share it here.

[PeteP]

@terb

this means I can’t claim any money for the video (and I guess the label can)

What I believe they can do is claim ownership of the whole content, including your playing, and monetise it however they want.

I don’t understand with Soundcloud because my file was set as private. I don’t get how there can be an issue with copyright as it’s very little difference to me playing a record at home.

[Lanny]

@terb

I upload it to Youtube at first. very often, the video is flagged by Youtube but not blocked

@terb - Mine are always ‘blocked’ on YouTube. I guess YouTube figures that I’m kind of an A-hole anyway since I’ve been somewhat ‘Sarcastic and Colorful’ with my former uploads in the past… Maybe there’s a work around I could use, but I’m not that concerned about it since I don’t really care if any of my stuff is available to the YouTube public anyways - besides, I’m just an old retired dude who only posts this stuff to my personal website so that my kids and teenage/young adult grandkids can get a good chuckle and realize that their gramps is kind of a non-conformist one of a kind shitbird and not afraid of making a bad ‘ass’ outta himself and have fun doing it…

Damn, I’m lovin’ this new pacemaker!!

Keep on Thumpin’, Humpin’, and Kickin’ Ass!!

[eric.kiser]

@Lanny

Damn, I’m lovin’ this new pacemaker!!

You’re a frickin cyborg now!