Glenn, amateur bassist that he is, clearly doesn't understand the required commitment to develop finger calluses, nor the forearm strength and conditioning required to spend all day on Pornhub.
It's a classic trope. The bassist is supposed to be the guy who isn't very good at guitar so he picked the "easier" instrument. Another one my buddy (a drummer) told me. What do you call the guy that hangs out with the band? A drummer...
@@cjbrewer3843 I play the drums, guitar, bass, some vocals, and i swear to good bass is so fucking cool man, shame its looked down upon. I love making disgusting tones, has to be my fav instrument i play. yeah it may be easy but it sounds dope as hell, and it gives the song a backbone.
Try living in a small town where the only music store doesn't stock anything for 5 string. Cries in $60 + customs fees special order Kalliums that take 3 months to get here. switched to DR because they're easier to get, but still take weeks and weeks and still cost around $60 by the time they get here.
I also play bass and I agree. His harsh criticism of bass players is a good thing for that reason. Now let's usher in a new era where guys who play bass aren't just 'The Shitty Guitar Player'. An era where bassists know how to dial in a tone and take care of their instruments!!! Where we practice every day beyond just a couple of covers for fucks sake! As a community, us bass players should be working hard to refine our craft and taking pride in doing so, not bitching at the engineer in an effort to justify getting it wrong so you can avoid working harder at it.
@@45scienceproject I´m a guitar player and I also play the bass guitar on my on records. I like my sound and I play how I want a bass guitar sound and I´m happy with it. When I go to the rehearsal with my metal band and listen to the bass player, who is a real one, I know that I can´t play bass guitar. But I secretly watch him playing and learn and one day, one day, maybe haha. What I want to say is, as a guitarist and home producer I have a lot of respect for bassists!
I read this and looked over at the Squier Classic Vibes Jazz Bass two feet from me. It plays really well, period. It was like $300. I've played American Fender basses that were marginally better but not marginally priced. These CV Squier basses are real bargains.
As a bassist, I have never felt attacked by Glenn. Why? Because I knew my shit. One of the best compliments I have ever received was from an audio engineer where after recording a few tracks he said the following to me, "I feel like the Maytag repair guy. I don't have to fix anything."
People take themselves too seriously. Gotta be willing to laugh at yourself. Anybody who has recorded with a good engineer should understand where Glenn is coming from. Be prepared, know your shit, play in time and tune, and trust the guy you're paying to make you sound good. If you don't trust your producer/engineer enough to take their advice, you hired the wrong person.
@@A_WaLLinger ...not a bassist... lol, no, he's a professional listener and a damned good one. He has the advantage of subjective AND objective listening that he's honed pretty expertly. Shit, he even shared examples that are proof enough. I've played with plenty of folks, including bassists, who have very little insight into the actual sound they're putting out. Enter Glenn (or anyone who critically listens) and bye-bye ego. And the dude's entertaining as fuck :) By the way, I'm not a bassist or guitarist, but guess who my band mates would come to for setups... Hmmm, seems like doing what works gets results ;)
Glenn, regarding the noise from the bass that goes away when you touch something metal, there is a solution to this that doesn't require software, or touching the bridge on a long sustaining note to get rid of the noise. And the solution is that the instrument isn't shielded or grounded properly. And to fix that, you need to take the instrument to a professional and have that issue addressed. Basically checking the bridge ground, and a rewiring or two will resolve the issue. Sure, it cuts into the budget of a bass player's extra-curricular activities, like eating paint chips, but it'll make the bass sound even better.
In electromagnetically noisy environments even this will not be enough, while you have the bass apart for rewiring consider spending the $10 and and the hour or two on aluminum tape and shield the cavities and pick guard. Don’t buy into the myth that you absolutely need expensive copper tape if you’re on a budget, however, it’ll be easier to solder the tape to ground if you do pony up for copper. Don’t forget to test for continuity between each piece of tape as you go and when complete.
another idea that would work well for studio engineers who have people who come in with noisy basses keep an esd wristband handy that way you can make them wear it and clip it to the bass and it should keep them connected no matter what they do while playing
Easily fixed , that's for sure! I am however amazed at "younger" guitarists (all, not just bass!) not being able to do basic stuff like this? I see other RU-vidrs using solderless upgrades and such because they can't solder, seriously? Get a decent iron and a multimeter and learn how to use them, it's not that hard (or expensive) honestly. Being able to easily fix dry,broken joints, reterminate cables etc is a very handy skill and can save you a lot of time. Maybe im just jaded because ive been using these items since single digit age.
I think part of the "play with your fingers" mindset is used to force usual guitarists to treat the instrument differently. On a side note, I think muted bass has its uses, they're just not the same as muted guitar.
Glenn, I'm a bass player and I still love your channel! I have to say I agree with every single point you made in this video. After playing for more than 30 years I feel like I have learned a lot and it all agrees with what you said. I remember the first time I was in a studio and the engineer hooked me up to a direct box. I swallowed my pride and just went with it. Turned out he was right just like you are saying. It worked so well I never questioned it again and as a matter of fact I do the same in my home studio now. The other point you made about noise hit home too. The same day I learned about the direct box I plugged in my favorite bass and the jack was noisy but I really wanted to use that bass. The engineer looked at me and was like "No way man." Again I took his advise and pulled out my MIM Fender P-bass and played my ass off. At the end of the day he said since I was so easy to get along with he would have me back to be a studio bassist. I was thrilled. My point to writing this is that I'm happy you gave us pain in the ass bass players a really useful video with great advise. Thanks brother and as always F you Glenn!
@@alexcrouse nope I don't have premium as I'm busy spending my money on useful things like recording equipment etc. Feel free to make a donation towards my premium RU-vid account lol also I'm unable to work due to physical issues from drumming and working and also mental health issues due to people being dicks on the internet and in real life. P.s Those things I'm holding are called drum sticks. Hope you continue to improve your bass skills haha (just joking man)
Getting two different bass with flatwounds and NEW roundwounds have helped me so much in the range of music I can tackle. Appropriate bass tones are just as important as your technique.
Glenn Fricker is the metal scene equivalent of Sgt. Gunny from Full Metal Jacket: *"Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn."*
I like the advice to record at 48 kHz, unless the engineer requests something else. 48 transcodes to 96 perfectly because the sample points align. But transcoding between 44.1 and 48 causes a misalignment, smearing and artefacts. Small but they're there. Any track that might one day require a remix to Dolby Atmos should be recorded and mixed at 48kHz, as Atmos does not work at 44.1.
The irony of bass playing. When it comes to playing music, “It's all about the rhythm”. A band is only as good as its bass player and drummer. No fantastic guitar solo or vocal can bail out out a bad rhythm section. I'd almost go as far to say, the most talented person in the band should be on bass, not the other way around.
I love how most of this video could also be called "how to not suck at playing bass". on another note: I kinda wanna record a track at Glenn's studio. Must feel like the final boss for bass players. If he doesn't pull his hair out, screams at you or throws you out of the studio you can finally call yourself a decent bass player. I want to be able to call myself a decent bass player.
Actually, I want to work with Glenn because I would love to watch some of my people be yelled at. Lol. It would soooo be worth the expenses (including transportation/feeding them/hotel/etc).
Granted, I'm a bassist, but it's pretty amazing to me how often I've played with guitarists to whom these points apply. It's often a part of sessions to sit in a control room with a drummer listening to guitarists flub overdubs and waste money. Yes, I change my strings regularly, practice, write songs, tune, keep unplayed strings muted, etc. and so on.
As a bassist and taken on the rhythm guitar- or even the organ-role, I've experienced exactly when Glenn has been referring to. Bassist who can't even tie their own shoes, missed band rehearsal because of drug abuse, and then blaming the lead singer for not being able to show up, because the lead singer didn't pick up the bassist at his home, which they hadn't planned beforehand. Then there has been others who insisted on playing a certain way, playing the specific part as "something similar", but way out of sync with the rest of the band, because it sounded cooler to them, but leaves the rest of the band experiencing sea sickness on land and a completely unrecognizable part, groove, and coherency. Ending up rehearsing the same part each and every session for hours because they didn't bother to learn it the way the writer intended, and a completely unlistenable song, and the bassist blaming the drums for not keeping time... I've played with guitarists that have done the same, but only now realized that there were a lot more bassists who acted exactly like what Glenn describes.. And those people are worse to work with than an "expendable" guitarist. Good bassists are hard to come by, and I think Glenn really appreciate these heros that take their instruments, especially the bass seriously, because bass plays such an important role in a band setting.
You have to be inspired by great bass players to be able to be a great bassist. Not even rock bassists, I grew up with a classmate that went on to play at Julliard as a bass player, upright AND electric. Guy was truly talented, never even knew he was there because he played so passionately and perfectly at rehearsal he hardly got any ire from the director of the school band. I think of him when I play a lot of the time, bass was my second instrument to brass first.
Yeah that is one song. Imagine Orion played with full palm mutes. That's what he meant, obviously. It has it's uses, but don't do that shit everytime the guitar player does it. Open notes accompany palm mute chugs WAY better than palm muted bass. Listen to any breakdown and replace the bass with palm mute bass. It will sound like shit.
@@maximiliangfrorer1039 OH, come on, he palm mutes through all the songs on rust in pieace.. Not in their entire lenght, but he used palm mutin over there and over there, and guess what? It works. But of course, you have to know where to use it and most importantly, where not.. :)
No other moment in Metalocalypse made me laugh out loud harder than seeing the DAW timeline for the bass track made of a million pieces of processed single notes stitched together by their producer, and his exhausted face after having to do that
The problem with metal music is that the bass player, usually, is the one that didn't make it as a guitarist. In other genres there is much more respect for this instrument.
As a bass player, I agree with this video other than palm muting. It shouldn’t be used for lines like you showed but it has a place to get super lows like a drone. You actually get a deeper resonance from the string if done right. Dave Ellefson is the master of it on tracks like Symphony of Destruction
Palm muting is an actual technique. But definitely doesn't work in metal and less in the example you showed. But in lest heavy things, muted basses are actually common some times and sound amazing. But it's in very different genres. For example, regardless of your opinion on the song, Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People has a very VERY recognizable bassline and it has palm mute in it.
Except for Ellefson. He might be an exception to the rule, but still a reason why it shouldn't be a rule. What Glenn should be saying is that you aren't Ellefson if you need to be getting advice on how to record, so take the safe approach.
@@Goabnb94 *It's NOT an exception to a rule. Palm muting works great for metal bass, Ellefson is just the most famous example. Anyone can make it work, if they play accurately in tempo.* This video is otherwise good, but that part is just plain wrong. Sure, if you're sloppy, then palm muting bass sounds like shit, because it won't be in sync with guitars and ruins the whole chug. Then it's better just to play open strings, so your sloppy timing is more hidden. But if it's in perfect time, it IMPROVES the chug. Also, if the guitarist 100% downpicks, bassist has to 100% downpick too for their palm mutes, again otherwise it sounds like shit. Most bassists simply can't downpick at 200+ bpm thrash metal tempos like thrash metal guitarists can, so they need to stick with open strings. Good finger style bassists do a similar thing, where they kill the note that was just played with the next finger, creating a different kind of "chug". But it's about twice as hard to play, compared to letting the strings ring. Letting them ring is the easiest way, and if you aren't a great bassist, better stick with that. But for a good bassist these are all valid techniques to separate the notes, and make it sound more aggressive
I assume you're all right. I'm a noob overall, but even I know that palm muting is an actual technique that can work on bass. I'll just take your word for the other stuff you said because again, I'm a noob (relatively)
@@shredd5705 it's not about having better palm muting technique. Palm muting on bass inherently cuts almost all the 1.5-2.5kHz high-mid grind out of a good metal bass tone, and those frequencies are critical in getting the overall mix in a metal record to sound huge and to avoid muddiness. That's not to say palm muting is always wrong, but if you're using it all the time then you're probably making your mix engineer's job way harder. Even if your technique is flawless and your muting is super-tight, they've still got to find those upper-mid frequencies in the guitars or whatever else and that can mess with the balance of the whole mix. At the end of the day, technique should always serve the record. If that means having the bass play perfect palm muted 32nds in unison with the guitars for that section then go for it, but if the bigger picture is that overall mix would actually sound better still with the bass just playing unmuted 16ths or 8ths that harmonically complement the guitars then all that muting technique is meaningless.
@@cavanray5327 100% worth it. It cost me a good bit but I absolutely love it. As for multi-scales, they're becoming more common and that's a really good thing for string selection and overall pricing.
I'm a bassist. I always loved Glenn's videos because I know it's just adding humour to the actual tips, *BUT* I'd love a full video without humour only talking about bass recording and more tips for bassist. A lengthier video
You may want to get tips from bass players that actually know what they are doing... According to Glen Geezer Butlers and Steve Harris's tones would be shite in the studio.
Hey Glenn! I've just started to record at home, having said that I'm definitely not a professional by any means, but I've learned lots of things mostly from your videos. I've just wanted to say thank you for the tons of information I've received from your channel! Keep up the great work!
Especially in the live world do you need to run a clean DI and then whatever affects the one on bass. That way you can get all that low end from your B string, and still get all that distortion and all your other effects coming through the PA at the same time and yes, there are tools to manipulate the time alignment of the multiple channels, so yes, even in the live world always give multiple channels of bass. Even go as far as doing direct out of the amp head and put a mic on one of the drivers. It will sound so much better.
Glen. The only man on RU-vid who has such intensity that it gave him a six-pack on his FOREHEAD. ✌️✌️🤘🤘🙏🙏👏👏🤣😂 but I honestly believe his wisdom is extremely valuable. Rock on
Even the low end Fender products are good. I have a Squier VMJ made in Indonesia similar to that Mexican Fender. I have one I picked up when they came out. Very good for the price. Put some Rotosound Swings on it and it's better than my Schecter.
You might need this! Time stamps: 1. You underestimated the instrument - 1:16 2. You don't need expensive bass - 1:46 3. Get a GOOD cable - 2:59 4. New strings you cheap f%ck! - 4:05 5. Don't play on 4 seconds increments . Play INSPIRED! - 5:40 6. Direct or miked, or both - 7:42 7. File format - 8:53 8. Don't palm mute a bass, Idiot! - 9:06 9. Watch for open strings - 10:10 10. Retune after every take - 11:03 11. Give us a flat sound - 11:34 12. Watch for noise. - 12:45 13. Low chords don't work - 13:16 14. Export a dry track along with your effects track - 14:14 15. Give the bass to your guitar player - 14:58
Out of those three, Lemmy was the only one I would say approached the bass like a guitar. Busy bass is not a guitar style. In fact, the crappiest bass players out there will approach the bass like a guitar in that ALL they do is play the root note of what the guitar is playing. Transition notes, counter melodies, and fills ARE bass playing.
@@TheMemo659 Agreed. Chris Squire and Entwistle didn't play or phrase anything like a guitar player. A punchy sound, forward in the mix, is not 'playing like a guitarist', either. Lemmy, on the other hand, explicitly stated that he was in effect playing rhythm guitar on the bass. His bass sound is supposed to have been an engineer's nightmare for exactly that reason.
@@MykEviiL Cliff still approached it as a bass player. The only thing guitar-like about Cliff, imo, was his tone, and his ability to solo like none other. His knowledge of music, and certainly his ability on piano, helped him to understand what role his chosen instrument played in his music.
@@MykEviiL It's a very definite sound, and there's nothing wrong with it per se. It works in the context of Metallica, just as Lemmy's sound worked in the context of Motorhead.
Went to play bass with old friends at the high school reunion last weekend. So I took Glens's advice and bought some Dunlop (Marcus Miller) roundwound super-brights. Watched Marcus and some technique videos to improve and practiced like crazy, kept the finger exerciser in my car for the commute. I literally had not played with these guys in 30 years, and hadn't picked up the bass in many months prior. Survived with flying colors and had a blast! Many thanks for the advice!
I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’m happy to say I’ve always had some new sets of bass string on hand and has brand new strings for pretty much all the bass takes I’ve tracked. Thanks for the tips, Glenn
To be fair, he's dumping on the third best guitarist of the band. Those oddballs who chose to learn bass, rather than had bass thrust upon them, they're a different breed.
Yes, from my experience, the bass players are usually the ones who have an idea about arranging, recording, music theory etc. (whereas the others are doing drugs)
he means that first bassists you had just because they were friends who were too clumsy to try to learn guitar, so they bought a bass... and then (as the guitarrist) you had to transcribe their parts to them because they could come up to what to play on a 4 chord progression... The ones who CHOSE to play bass after Les, Steve, Flea or any actual bass player... AND the ones who had to turn to (also) playing bass because of the bassist was nowhere to be found... those do not count
@@0000song0000 you are absolutely right. I chose to play bass because of Cliff, Flea, Steve Harris, Justin Chancellor and a lot of others, I love the bass. I can come up with great lines for any progression, no matter the speed, I love being in the background and supporting the band and holding together with the drummer. I will never regret starting on bass.
Got the cheap part covered- bought a $100 bass. But I'm putting on a $47 set of tapewound strings. Strings are only cheap if you buy cheap strings. Have a pedal with a DI output. Run passive pickups. Think I've got all the issues covered.
It sounds like you're getting guys in your studio who don't actually play bass. They're probably just guitarists who say, "I can do this, how hard can it be?" As a guitar player, I have major respect for a good bassist. Almost as much as a good drummer. (And both always bring pizza to the session, because it's their job)
I think it sounded cool by itself! But I think what Glen is saying that when you palm mute you lose some bottom end that fills out the entire mix. If say, it's a stylistic choice where just the drums and bass playing are playing a less densely populated section of a song, you can probably get away with it. But if your guitars are chugging along and you palm mute your bass to match those guitars, you end up with a weak sounding bottom end! It's also about the context of the parts in the song.
He's talking about bass for metal. My sister played bass for my group(I was lead guitarist) for a while. She would always palm mute and use jazz and blues techniques during aggro punk and metal songs which drove me up the wall. I had to sit her down and explain that aggressive music needed an aggressive pick attack,she refused to use a pick or roundwound strings,refused to learn basic metal/heavy rock playing fundamentals. Needless to say she doesn't play for us anymore or even at all.
That's what I was gonna say. I think that segment needs a redo honestly since in the context of what was played it simply worked. Now understandably, if the song doesn't call for palm mutes then by all means leave it out but otherwise if it adds something to the sound do it.
I'm gonna take a wild guess here. It may be a shot in the dark.. It may be a full court hail mary on the buzzer. But I'm wondering if you had some bad experiences with bass players? XD... On a side note, thanks for making this video. It helped a lot! God bless brutha B)
For real on the inexpensive bass tip. The most noticeable improvement when spending more on bass is in sustain, (as the bridge gets more massive or even through-body string mounts the more you spend) the by far *least* important metric especially for any kind of uptempo music. And of course there's also a lower limit to know you're at least avoiding getting microphonic pickups. The buzz when not touching metal on the bass is because the ground wire isn't touching the bridge, very typical QA issue at factories. Simply unscrew the bridge and pull the wire out further from the body or add some copper foil. That's like the laziest problem to leave as-is after buying a bass.
Well, considering that in 9 out of 10 metal productions the bass is practically non-existent, perhaps these poor bassists (often forced despite themselves to dub the rhythm guitar, by now not even an octave below) also have the right to rebel a little .... Especially if a guitarist is producing them 😁🤘🏻 Great video as usual man!
"Don't palm mute your bass!!!!"......Dave Ellefson: "What do you mean I can't palm mute my bass?? I palm mute it every day!"... is coming to get you mate. You are about to get professionally muted :) Dave doesn't kid about :) lol....(I am willing to take Junior as the awesome exception of the rule)...
One I can disagree, don't throw away your cables. Get familiar with the solder iron and fix/make them. You'll get far better resoults fith a fraction of a cost. Funny, my basist and best friend teached me how to solder (I'm a guitar player/sound guy) :D
as a Producer and bass guitarist, I'm SO happy to hear you say 'NEW bass strings". Not just in metal, but in ANY genre, round wounds just sound better and have a more solid fundamental when they're NEW. Every session I've done with top shelf studio players began with them putting on a brand new set; every day. You might be amused to hear the real Jamerson story, which is that James was a double bass (upright) player and really just hated being 'forced' to play the electric bass at all (which he called the "pussy bass"). So when forced to 'play the pussy bass' he lodged his protest by refusing to ever change the strings. That's the real origin story for the silliness that amateur players use an excuse.
The constant bass player diss routine is kinda funny. Everything that our man is preaching is common sense. Have your parts down, split your signal, and for fuck's sake, change your goddamn strings! Rounds or flats, it it doesn't matter, keep 'em fresh. Stop making us look like dopes, ya dopes!
I play upright (a set of strings cost more than a cheap bass guitar), but the open strings issue is a huge problem for not only metal electric bass but also for many upright players, too. Bluegrass, jazz, rockabilly, doesn’t matter. It kills me when I have to try to either record (hopefully it doesn’t get to the mix stage) or worse, do live sound for a band where the bass player doesn’t managed to keep the unplayed strings quiet. Mud fest. Even for a non-metal upright player, many of these still apply.
Oh my god, a video made, just to answer my questions! Can't wait to watch it, btw Glenn, thank you for the help with the reflections in my studio, it was great talking to you on the smg discord! edit: Every point rings true! All of this i have been telling my peers and students for years.
In sweden bass strings cost a lot more, not even mentioning that i have a 5 string. My goto pack of strings (elixir) cost around 70 euros. They last a while before losing tone but its still expensive lmao.
Hey Glenn. I know you love that Jazz. A measly seventy bucks for an American Fender bridge will sharpen that thing right up and make it even more metal. Saddles don't move when you dig in. It's the single easiest way to improve the tone of your bass.
Dammit Glenn, You forgot one of the most important things that most bassists are unaware of: Intonation! I know that there are not many bassists that go beyond the 7th fret on any of their strings, but even on the 3rd fret bad intonation is noticeable and no amount of retuning will fix bad intonation. A sincere fuck you from a DDD*! (*Dutch Destroyer of Distinction)
Wow your opinion of bassist is well not good. I showed up to a guitarist audition and was Handed a bass. I was like wtf. But like you seid I knew this was a much more physical Instrument. So I did what I thought was right. Play with your fingers and stick with the drummer's rythem and the guitarist notes. I didnt put the bass down for the next 10 years. O yeah I made damn sure I knew all my parts covers and originals.
Well said Glenn, also I'd like to add that Jamerson was playing 50 years ago and his personal preference of not changing strings in order to "keep the funk in", was NOT meant as advice to other bassists, He was simply explaining HIS sound.
Most bass players are ignorant to the fact that in later years, Jamerson had some trouble getting sessions because of those old strings he refused to change.
. Exactly. As the 70's rolled in and music styles changed, roundwound strings became the popular thing whereas flats had more or less fallen out of favour with bassists. Slapping and popping doesn't quite work on flatwounds.
Lol, I am a long-time bassist, and I actually think his comments about bassists are very funny, I have seen many bass players who think they can only play the root note and they don't need to improve beyond that. You can generally tell when someone is a guitarist that got shoe-horned into playing bass and not someone who picked up the instrument because they felt a calling for the bass over the guitar. A real bassist will know to do most everything he is saying here. I do have to say though, palm muting a bass and plucking with your thumb can sound very cool, but this is a metal channel, and that's not for metal, as he always reminds us :)
These short videos have been extremely helpful getting me back into the "mix" of things. It's been years since I've played or recorded with a band. However, I've been inspired to put out an album next year. So, these tips have been essential. Thank you sir.
I know glenn might come off harsh but he just wants better bassist. He's tired of shitty guitarists that were relegated to bass coming in and fucking stuff up. I'm a bassist and we need more people like glenn. People that will give you actual feedback and tell you to fix your shit. We have to many people that rather fix there music in post instead of actually playing it correctly. He's here to make music better. He's tired of shitty music with no passion coming in and wasting his time. Hopefully most bassist He's worked with have seen this video and improved in some way. I did with alot of the recording and tracking stuff. I mute the open strings, I put force into my fingers when I play, I tune around 4 times in an one hour practice session, I learn my parts, and I change my strings every 4 months( I know I should do it more often but I will boil and reuse some strings. I don't do it alot but I do it sometimes). Glenn is here bring the talent back into music and for that I commemorate him.
I must say #11 caught me off-guard. I want to buy a nice active jazz bass for the versatility in tone (especially when playing gigs with other people's gear) and never ocurred to me they might just make the mixing job harder instead of easier.
You can still get something out of that active jazz bass, @drakonyanazkar. After all, it produces why less noise for the same signal! This is especially nice for all single coils - like the jazz bass. I have a PJ bass - and whenever I dial in the Jazz bridge pickup, I get a nice sound... and noise. So you might still make that jump for this reason alone. (And it isn't cheap pickups. It's Quarter Pound passive set by Seymour Duncan.)
I have a little addendum to your "retune after every take" tip: if you're gonna record over multiple days, ALWAYS make sure the instrument is properly set up at the beginning of the day, after you arrive at the studio. I learned this the hard way when recording my band's first LP. We tracked drums, guitar and bass at the same time (the rest of the tracks would be recorded later). The second day of tracking, the engineer kept stopping us mid-song because my bass tracks were out of tune, even though I had tuned the bass to perfection before each take. It turns out, the temperature and humidity changes had messed up the neck bow and the intonation, and that's what needed to be fixed. Cheers from Spain, and ROCK ON, GLENN!
As a bass player, your bass player jokes make me laugh. Although, take the bass out of a mix, and see how empty and fast it sounds ;) ask Justin Chancellor or Les Claypool if bass is a pointless instrument
7:10 The job of the bass guitarist is not to play the same exact notes the rhythm guitarist is playing. If you're in this mentality your music is boring. It's like every instrument is playing the same notes in an orchestra. If you listen to isolated tracks from Metallica, you will hear that they don't play the exact same notes on the bass, it's not 100 percent locked in to the rhythm guitar.
"No, an augmented chord. Two major thirds. Look, just raise the top of that G chord by a fret. Yeah it's dissonant. Trust me, I'll hit the E and then you can improvise in E minor while the resto of us...."
There's bands where the bassists is the most talented musician. Like Iron Maiden. Saying this as a guitarist, bass is underrated and actually very hard to play accurately (long distances between frets, takes more finger strength, good bass arrangements can really make or break a song)
I also do it on Type O Negative songs, Primus stuff, tons of Jazz, King's X, Motley Crue, Jason Newstead has done it many times to achieve what he called "low end crunch". Bass players have many tricks up their sleeves but I don't really think that most guitar players know what they actually do, the ones who practice and are good at playing the instrument that is. Most people who are primarily guitar players use it as a sound enhancer or "filler" for their own guitar sound.
Basically, do what you do well. Your performance determines how dedicated you are to your individual craft. A rule that applies to any and all career choices. I think it’s a great idea to learn how to play as many basic Rock instruments as possible. This way you gain an appreciation for what the other person is doing and you’ll also have a better understanding of how to translate an idea to them when necessary.
Don't palm mute the bass? He does know that the bass player from Megadeth does this and didn't he say one of his favorite albums was Peace Sells from Megadeth? I say if you do it well and don't over do it palming the bass is ok if done right.
Just another huge thank you for those free tutorials, Glenn. A lot of stuff I've heard before but you got it to click for me. Thanks man, you're a true legend
Hey Glenn! As always, great advice served with a super-sized side of laughs. Regarding #12 (watch for noise): A neat trick I learned years ago uses a spare length of light gauge electrical wire stripped at both ends...one end taped to the bridge and the other end to the player’s wrist/arm/whatever (Band-Aids work great there)...just make sure the bare wire is in contact with the bridge and the skin. Works like a champ.
He has some valid points and tips throughout this. Even down to the last one telling bassists to just let the guitar players do their jobs. That goes for any instrument though. Sometimes egos get involved and some garbage guitar player insists on recording all of their parts when the producer could do it way better. So you pay for more time and deal with ol fumbly fingers trying to get through chord changes…just to have the producer secretly re-record the parts. Anyways, this guy has valid points, but he’s also just way too angry about the bass and bass players. He gets a lot of stuff wrong too. Less in his actual points, but way more in the other stuff he says.
For the record, I split my time evenly between my instruments and pornhub! Great video Glenn, emailing a link of this to my bassist even though he likely practices most of these already. There’s always an “ahhh” moment in your videos. Thank you Sir!!
How come you’ve had a terrible experience with bassists? I’ve met a lot of bassists and they weren’t too much of a problem to work with. In fact, they’ve never underestimated the instrument; they would use it as a solo instrument even. Idk. That’s my experience with with bassists. Love your videos, Glenn!
we all know glenn is the only reference that exist in the whole 7 billion people in this world. Dynamics is not important with all the record he mixed that nobody heard of.
In fairness he mainly does it during faster sections to get rid of the low rumble and tighten things up instead of just muting everything the guitar does
Okay, exception to the rule, if you can play like Dave Ellefson, you're allowed to palm mute. I'd wager he's using a palm mute like a volume pedal; a nuanced approach rather than hamfisting his palm onto the strings.
Is this tutorial directed to musicians imprisoning some sound engineer in their basement? Because otherwise i dont know how would these apply to home recording
One year later but, use the best tuner you can afford. Low frequencies are very close to one another so to make a bass sing like an angel, intonation and Princis tuning👍
