# No bass live?



## gregmarx7 (Mar 4, 2011)

Do you guys think it's necessary to have a bass player live if both guitars are seven strings tuned to drop G or perhaps 8 strings? Just wondering because I have a new project, and we need to find a second guitar player, but our bassist is a ridiculously good at both instruments. So, just wondering what your guys' stance is on this.


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## synrgy (Mar 4, 2011)

Basses simply sound different than guitars tuned to same pitch. I'd say get a bass player.

That said, you certainly wouldn't be the first band without a bass, so it could go either way.


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## ivancic1al (Mar 4, 2011)

In my experience, Yes. Even if the guitars and bass are playing the same notes, the different timbres of the instruments allow for the bass to fill out the bottom end of the frequency range. Meshuggah do this, the bass is tuned in the same octave as the guitars, but when they pull the bass out of the mix, you can tell, the sound really thins out. I saw the Whitechapel/Veil of Maya/Acacia Strain tour a week or so ago, and when they were doing soundchecks, you could really tell the necessity for a bass. the guitars just sounded a bit too thin without a bass, especially with all the gain added. the bass really added balls to the sound and made the whole club shake. I know the bassist for Veil of Maya plays a 7 string bass, so he's able to play both low end parts, and clean "guitar-sounding" parts as well, while the guitar plays with a dirty tone. It's a really neat mix of tones.

EDIT:

Pig Destoyer don't have a bass, but they use a mixture of 12 and 15 inch speakers to try and compensate for this. You can still tell that there's no bass, but it sounds cool nonetheless, different, but still cool.


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## SirMyghin (Mar 4, 2011)

I feel bass to be highly necessary, and even when bands try to sub a bassist with a sync'd track of bass I feel it missing. Without bass as others have said you thin out, but it also does a fair bit for the energy and flow.


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## gregmarx7 (Mar 4, 2011)

Alright, that's what I was suspecting, but I thought I would ask anyways!

Thanks guys.


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## rotebass (Mar 4, 2011)

Even if the guitars and the bass are tuned to the same pitch, the balance between the fundamental tone and harmonic tones changes with the increase string guage and scale length. In laymens terms, the bass just does bass better.


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## highlordmugfug (Mar 4, 2011)

It really depends on just what you're going for.

And by that I mean, Pig Destroyer don't have a bass player, it just depends on exactly what you want it to sound like.


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## lookralphsbak (Mar 14, 2011)

The band Salome (Doom Metal) doesn't use bass


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## AcousticMinja (Mar 14, 2011)

Played a show without a bass player a few times. It sucks. Regardless of how low tuned you are, you won't get the awesomeness that a bass players gives your mix.


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## Soubi7string (Mar 14, 2011)

Bass just adds a little something guitars can't


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## RevDrucifer (Mar 25, 2011)

I'd say it'd be debatable if the bassist were to be copying every guitar part, but if the dude can do his thing, then yeah, there'd obviously be a lack along the way.


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## Inazone (Mar 30, 2011)

We started out with no bassist, had one for a couple of years, and haven't replaced him since he quit. I've always played the bass parts on our recordings, so we at least have that covered. I'd prefer to have a bassist, and we'll find one eventually, but it's typical for a lot of bands around here to go without.


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## exclamation-mark (Apr 1, 2011)

You don't really get that 'fullness' without a bass player even if they're playing in the same octave as the guitars. Part of the reason I think is that in high-gain amplifiers a LOT of the bass is actually cut out so it doesn't produce blocking distortion (which basically sounds like your guitar has flatulence). The nature of distortion also introduces harmonics above the fundamental, so typically your Low-E chugging actually contains less 82hz fundamental and more hash from the higher ups. 

Bass amplifiers on the other hand are not designed to distort (much...), don't introduce mass high order harmonics and don't mask the fundamental note(s) fed in from the bass. Their amplifiers also typically span anywhere from 300 to 1000 watts for more pant-flapping action. 

Fuck guitar hero, I want bass hero so it will spur an influx of bass players and we will never have to go without our 4 (or more) string friends ever again.


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## troyguitar (Apr 1, 2011)

We thought about playing without a bassist but it would require completely rearranging most of the music to basically be a 1-guitar band, eliminating all of the harmonies and a lot of other leads - I'd be better off playing bass myself than going without it


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## TachibanaTekki (Apr 14, 2011)

Listen to Animals As Leaders.
Decide for yourself.


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## amarshism (Apr 15, 2011)

They still run sequenced bass.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 15, 2011)

Soubi7string said:


> Bass is the foundation of the sound, both in the studio and on the stage.



Fixed.


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## ZXIIIT (Apr 15, 2011)

TachibanaTekki said:


> Listen to Animals As Leaders.
> Decide for yourself.



True, but if they did get a bass player, it would compliment the sound a lot.

We had our bass parts on a track, and it did the job, but we recently got a bass player and wow, feeling that bass rumble live is really, really awesome.


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## TemjinStrife (Apr 15, 2011)

Do what you will. However, don't come crying to me if it's missing something


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## Lon (Apr 15, 2011)

pull off a beneath the massacre... it took me a long (LONG!) time to realize what the bass is actually playing... its arranged in such a intricate manner so it completes the guitar perfectly while still being bass but also playing a lot of lead... so if your bass player is redonk at playing bass... get him a f'in 6 string and a distortion pedal... with the right sound (reads: blend clean with distortion) it still has all the fullness of a real bass but is possible to harmonize leads


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## heilarkyguitar (Apr 15, 2011)

AAL record has bass on it. They just don't use live. Its not easy to find a bass player. If you have one already wait on a 2nd guitarist,dime a dozen.


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## vampiregenocide (Apr 15, 2011)

My mates band Vidina recently lost their bass player and have been gigging without one. They tune to drop G and imo sound brilliant live despite their relatively simple setups. Here's a video I took I know the video isn't a fair representation but in the flesh it sounded great.


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## Inazone (Apr 22, 2011)

We've now had the second bassist in two months back out before learning our material, and both times for completely non-musical reasons. Unless we get someone on board and trained in a month, we'll have to either go without bass entirely, or go back to splitting a clean guitar signal with an ABY box, one side feeding a guitar rig and the other an octave pedal (fortunately now a DropTune instead of a Boss OC-3) and bass rig of some kind. I guess that it's for the best that I recorded the bass parts myself and kept them fairly close to the rhythm guitar parts, so that it won't sound completely stupid just doubling the guitar.


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## troyguitar (Apr 22, 2011)

Could be worse, we finally got a bassist but have no drummer after just about a year of searching. I have shit written out in MIDI and could in theory use Superior or something to make drum tracks but playing to them live just seems lame.


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## Hallic (Apr 22, 2011)

I love a bass that is present in the mix.(im not a bass player). I really like how the arusha accord and monuments incorporate the bass-part of their musical creations.

If he's a really good bass player and guitar... i probally would would let him play bass because i find it difficult to find bass players with technical skillz(and slapping etc./.)


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## Lon (Apr 25, 2011)

Hallic said:


> I love a bass that is present in the mix.(im not a bass player). I really like how the arusha accord and monuments incorporate the bass-part of their musical creations.
> 
> If he's a really good bass player and guitar... i probally would would let him play bass because i find it difficult to find bass players with technical skillz(and slapping etc./.)


yeah, usually you have to compromise to either get a good multiinstrumentalist to play bass or having 2 decent guitarists and a sucky bass player, at least this was the deal in every situation i experienced until now (metal related of course, when the genere does not scream for 2 guitars its a completely different stadium)


and as i stated above: good bass + 1 good guitar will be a much better live sound than 2 guitars and a drowned out bass, just pull a beneath the massacre


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## signalgrey (Apr 25, 2011)

wont have that "umph" basically doesnt matter what style. Recordings dont count. we are talking Live. Something will feel like its missing unless thats the sound you want.


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## Daken1134 (Apr 25, 2011)

My band has the same setup as animals, two 8 strings and a drummer, and we have a backing track that has some synth stuff on it and bass that i recorded because ive played bass for a long time, not to sound cocky but i cant find a bass player down here that is better than i am that is serious so i just recorded all the bass myself and we blast it through the P.A. when we play live, we just tell them to eq the back track line as if its a bass going DI into the system. 

Also a big problem i found is if the music is technical the bass has to be really simplified which.... i mean alot of guys who are going to play prog arent going to want to sit in the back and play simple lines so the pre recorded bass works cause it doesnt complain. and usually the PA is going to push alot more air than just a 410 bass rig so its more powerful that way regardless. but it DEFINATELY has a big part in the type of music being played. ive found that if there are any parts that i feel a slap part would sound good, i can just play it on my 8 and ive got an eq set so it sounds pretty damn close to a bass.


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