Any producer on the planet would have said, "it's cool, but let's split it and track both." Then likely not used it as it's too heavy for the driving kick. Still cool however.
@@happymontanamusic Andrew Wyatt composed, produced, and played the bass synth. That theory doesn't apply when one of the producers is the bass player. The octaver is only useful in the upper registers on bass guitar because notes begin to break up when you drop below 40 Hz. That's why they aren't used for many styles other than funk or techno. It isn't really an issue of not fitting in the mix if instruments are EQed properly. Split tracks are SOP for most instruments when effects are used because you can always add processing to dry signals, but you can't really remove it from a recorded track. If the processed track doesn't fit in the mix, you can process the dry track and tweak it.
A similar trick that i use is to use software (like Audacity) to play the original track back an octave higher but without changing the speed. It tends to make the bass jump out of the mix and make it easier to discern the pitch.
I'm actually surprised that the playing an octave higher trick was such a revelation for some. I've been doing that for decades, since I first started playing - kinda thought all bassists did that.
I saw Jon in a songwriting /recording session with Warren Huart some weeks ago. There he build up a basspart from scratch while they were writing the song. For the first part I thought I would have done something similar.....and then I completely lost him He is so good
The octave and no volume tricks are awesome, and I'm totally nicking them for the guitar. Absolutely love seeing other musicians explain their process 'in-situ'.
Thank you so much for admitting that even great musicians can draw blank at the beginning of a song on stage. I have had that experience and I’ve gotten very frustrated with myself. Something I have played 1000 times and in the moment, it is gone.
5:39 Gosh!! For a longest time I thought I’m weird. There are day when I find the right notes instantaneously and there are those when I’m not able to hear it almost at all 😅
That is interesting how he talked about how if he writes the chart than he can't memorize it and they are two different parts of the brain. Sean Hurley sad the EXACT same thing. Good lesson.
Same thing with lots of musicians who read sheet music. You take the sheet away and some musicians forget. I've noticed it myself. So I practice both reading and memorizing it's a workout.
If it's a wedding gig or something, I don't have the time to memorize 40 plus tunes. I Nashville them out. If it's a good one off studio sesh thing, all memory
I spent 52 years engineering sessions and most of the time the person that played it on the record would have to learn it again themselves. "Play it for me. I forgot what I played." Band members know them all by heart but for session players it was just a passing moment in their daily life.
@7:17 this is great advice... for years I struggled with learning songs, as I was using notes, and tabs.. all those became crutches and would end up never learning the song properly as I always had notes to fall back into... for a few years now I don't take note. and force myself to learn from memory.. it goes much better live, and I think makes you a better musician.
The thing about him playing things an octave higher to figure notes out, I’ve been doing this for years. Absolute game changer when learning things by ear
It’s cool hearing him talk about his octave trick to learning songs. I have been doing that for as long as I can remember. It just seemed like common sense. But people do look at me like I’m crazy first until I explain that it’s easier to hear the notes especially when it’s a lower range
This guy is a Pro! Pop music have so many examples of incredible bass lines. Rhythmic tension is a concept I've learned from pop, for instance. Great video!
Even when I’m not a fan of most current tendencies in music, I love Dua Lipa. Her blend of styles, and the kickass bass is great. But I guess for anyone filling John Entwistles’ shoes, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Lately I am also learning music playing along even though there are charts. Cool to hear from someone the same concept. That I am not the slave of the charts.
Love these videos! Sharon's joyfulness and enthusiasm is infectious!! Ian's combination of chops and humility bring likable authenticity to the channel!! Thanks for sharing
Listening to an absolute pro like that drop the nuggets of wisdom just feels surreal. It gave me such a boost! I wanna go practice now! Inspiring stuff
Jon Button was the first bass player I followed on instagram when I started playing bass like 10 years ago. This is such a wholesome full circle for me :)
@11min, its so cool to hear someone else say that! I also heard that in martial arts maaaaany years ago “Practice doesn’t make perfect…if you’re learning incorrectly. PERFECT practice makes perfect!” I need to reimplement this, and many a Bruce Lee quote, back into my life 🤣🤣
Love it when you pit someone against their usual genre. Tells me that good musicians can handle anything thrown at them. p.s. That Octabass setting is musical.
I recently shared that I turn my volume off when learning a song to hear the bits I'm missing on r/bass and it was crickets. It's not what you know it's who you know obv 😂 - definitely trying that octave trick though
I love this song just for the bass. I had so much fun dancing to the bass on this video. Blasted my speakers. I think I will be hearing from my neighbors tomorrow morning. I don't care!
Thank you for the tips and the practice makes permanent…well I will never forget that! Admittedly I have two badly herniated discs in my lower back and early mornings are very difficult as of late. This video really put a smile on my face that I’m hoping will carry me throughout the day. If I make it up to my third floor music room I’m going to work on a song an tryout some of these ideas.
Dua Lipa just headlined at Glastonbury. She put on a great show. Trouble with BBC sync with sound & video caused people to think she mimed. I didn't come to that conclusion although there was pre-recorded string parts and maybe some backing vocals.
I get the part with citing a different song in a song. Back when Implayed in a cover band, we had an evening where we played our standard set and in a modern pop song (not sure which it was, was 10yrs ago) instead of the original solo I played the extended Sultans of Swing solo (just in a different key) that Mark did in the famous live recording (Alchemy tour). It was a mind blowing experience because it just made everybody look up, and get wild. Especially the band (they were all so much better than me).
I could really identify with this video. My idiom for learning bass for a new song (cover) is often, “You think you know a tune until you have to learn it.”
I was always taught… “ Don’t practice a song until you can play it right… Practice it until you can’t play it wrong.” This guy is a monster player, and I learned quite a few tricks from this video! Many thanks!!!
Great lesson here! And yes, about "Practice makes permanent", I did read somewhere that if you're learning or practiceing something, and you keep messing up, STOP; as you're teaching your brain to do it wrong! Plus I think I've actually used the octave trick rather inadvertently a couple of times. Great video!!! (And great choice for a song, I hadn't really paid attention to it, and now I gotta hear it again!)
I've heard bands confidently cover a song and there's glaring errors in the playing, as if they were learning the song off of a cassette tape they recorded off AM radio 30 years ago and made 15 copies of if and manually spliced together broken copies. I have naturally sharp ears for melody and chords (but not lyrics) and playing something blatantly wrong is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Man that was tight, fat and groovy!!! Major respect for Jon Button!!!! So many gems from this pro bass player! 04:25 | 06:24 | 07:00 | 09:01 | 10:36 | 13:38 ❤
When I started playing bass I used a software called Amazing Slow Downer which allowed to play with the pitch as well as speed, and it was perfect because I would play the song one octave higher highlighting the bass like he said, and I would also slow things down.
Well hot damn! One trick I like to do when learning a song is to run into my little PA mixer and play through headphones. I put the song in one ear, my bass in the other ear. Pretty easy to hear it's different if your ears are not hearing the same thing. I have also picked up a guitar to learn the riff an octave up similar to what John was doing. The fret positions are the same. I do really like that practice makes permanent, that is so totally true!!
I'm no way a pro, but I played covers in bars for many years. I did the octave higher thing while learning, wow, glad I did some things right for me, that worked for such a pro like John! I thought that was some great advice.
Very good tip; the octave up. Tnx! And also so good to hear that I have the same sort of quirk as Jon seems to have; that he has to remember it directly and not write it down first. If I do the latter, I'm never able to remember it again! And I always thought it to be a bad thing because I'm autodidact and not schooled... So good these vids of you guys! You just made my day for ever 😀 Oh and another thing, I have that too!!! The beginnings of songs! Pfew... Last night was such a night... 😕 Also here I thought it was just me...! Blancks a plenty untill we're gone and bang, all the notes are back in my mind and fingers. Bizar...
👏👏fantastic! awesome bass player and super great nuggets tricks to catch for improving learning to play a new song. Thankss. Super appreciate this master lesson🖖
I use a program called Capo. Here I can loop sections, slow it down without changing pitch or changie pitch without changing the tempo or change both. Go up an octave or go up a quarter (next string same position). The sound quality is not changing much even at 50% tempo. It does it much better than Logic Pro. Then I take a chunk at a time like looping 8 bars at a time.
my university professor also tricked the class when claiming that "practice makes perfect" was not true; he said it should be "perfect practice makes perfect". its a great way to remind yourself to really evaluate how you are solving a problem, are you executing correctly or not.
