(guitar strums)
- Hey everybody, this is Aneesa Strings.
Checking in here
with Fender's Technique of The Week.
I'm sitting here with a Mexican made,
Fender Precision Bass,
4-string, okay.
And...
Behind me
is the origin
of popular music,
the bass of popular music,
the upright bass.
That's where I get my foundation from.
And so, Fender is actually the first,
I don't know if everybody knows this,
but Fender was actually the first company
to mass produce the electric bass in the 1950's,
okay.
So, they didn't even call it electric bass,
that's how popular it was,
we called it the Fender Bass,
okay?
Because Fender is the one's doing so,
When I started playing bass,
'cause I started on upright,
when I started playing electric,
there was no other choice for me,
but Fender.
And because I love the sound,
the Motown Sound, James Jamerson,
that was the sound that made me wanna play bass,
because it's so similar to this.
So, today I'm gonna show you a couple of things
about how to get that original bass sound
of the original function of the bass,
that moves the music forward
and makes you shake your booty,
like this.
(guitar strumming)
That kind of thing.
Okay, so, let me break this down for you.
So, what I'm doing right now,
is I'm using the palm mute technique.
Palm.
Mute.
Palm.
Mute.
You got it, right?
Now, this is easy,
this is for beginners,
this is for early bass players.
If you're advanced,
don't even worry about it, okay?
'Cause you know this already.
Okay.
So, you take your palm, right?
And you go ahead
and you just karate chop it for fun,
just, pow!
(imitates karate chop)
Okay. (chuckling)
And you're gonna hold it there.
Gently, not too hard,
right?
And then you bring your thumb,
right up in this area,
right around the pickup
or between the pickups,
depending on what kind of bass you playing,
okay?
(guitar strumming)
And you just get yourself, (guitar strumming)
find yourself a good tone. (guitar strumming)
Now, I'ma show you the difference,
right?
(guitar strumming)
You see, you get more tone? (guitar strumming)
You get more of the high register
when you play with your fingers.
(guitar strumming)
The tone rings out longer, (guitar string hums)
it's a little louder.
As opposed to when you play the thumb,
(guitar strums)
the palm mute.
(guitar strumming)
It's that precision sound.
You know, if you're gonna play a precision bass,
you got to play it with your thumb.
Okay.
So...
(guitar strumming)
I'ma slow it down.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, I'm doing all that with my thumb.
Now, you kind alternate
with your first finger if you want to.
(guitar strumming)
I don't really do that much,
'cause it's such a different sound.
I just try to use this thumb
and move it as fast as I possibly can.
See, what you gotta do,
is you got to shake it like that
to get your speed up.
I'm joking, that's a joke.
Okay, so I'ma do it slow.
(guitar strumming)
See, right?
For a little accent.
(guitar strumming)
I use my top finger for that
and my index finger for the-
(guitar strumming)
Right?
That kinda thing, right?
And so, something that's very important
to get that authentic precision sound,
is the length of your notes, right?
If I'm walking a bassline-
(guitar strumming)
Right?
That's kind of more sounding like the upright,
right?
You want that big,
long tone,
long notes that support the foundation, right?
'Cause that's what they are.
The bass player is the foundation,
that's what we're doing.
But when you're playing in different styles,
if you're playing like...
a slow 12/8 blues like,
(guitar strumming)
See, right?
Long, short.
♪ Long, long ♪
♪ Long, short ♪
Right, these are the kind of subtle details
that help move something forward.
So, I'ma play a song I wrote for you.
This is called Found My Happiness.
Okay.
(guitar strumming)
Right?
(guitar strumming)
See, right?
Short, long.
(guitar strumming)
(guitar music intensifies)
♪ I wrote a letter ♪
♪ And pushed it in the water ♪
♪ It was addressed ♪
♪ To a man I knew before ♪
Right, just a little taste of that.
Just to show you the importance
of the length of your notes,
your tone,
we all know bass player tone
is so important, right?
Because you are the foundation of the song.
The bassline is the first melody, okay?
The bass is what makes you dance,
it's not the drums, baby.
You don't dance to the drums,
you dance to the bass.
Okay, so, if the bass ain't dancing,
then the music is not moving,
okay?
(guitar strumming)
Alright, so that's just a little bit today
of the Technique of The Week.
Remember, palm mute,
karate chop.
If you want an accent,
you know,
I'ma go back to the original bassline here.
(guitar strumming)
Right,
using that top finger for accent notes.
And...
(guitar strumming)
Walking up,
you know, walking basslines,
chromaticism,
all of these things?
We can go deeper and deeper.
Make sure you check back next week.
I'm going to have another
continuation of this,
of the function of the bass.
As well as,
(guitar strums)
a couple more tips on tone
and how to get that original P-bass sound
and help you stay in the pocket.
So, make sure you check back in next week.
This is Aneesa Strings,
reporting live from Technique of The Week.
(guitar strumming)