How I absolutely changed my tone (using just 1 technique)
It’s the age-old argument: tone is in the fingers. But is it really?
Your bass playing starts with your tone. And improving your tone is largely a matter of cleaning up your technique and getting more control of the bass. But can the right player really make any instrument sound good?
In today’s new video, Ian Allison shares his #1 tone secret and the plucking hand concept that completely transformed his sound. This one simple trick is all you need…
As always, see you in the shed…
Scott 🙂
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#absolutely #changed #tone #technique
Originally posted by UCWTj3vCqkQIsrTGSm4kM34g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liozNX1uqA0
Such a gifted teacher!
Fudge, Billy Sheehan lied to me ????. Thanks, I’ll give it a try!!
The exercise from 7:30 onwards seems priceless. Well done Sir!
Absolutely love this guy, only got to find out about him when I watched a noble di video, does he have his own channel or anything
My daughter (6) has been taking bass lessons and the instructor is telling her to "push" her finger through the string to get the kind of thing you're talking about. (I had been struggling how to tell her how to do that haha)
Man, I really wish I could take lessons from Ian. What a great teacher.
Jack Cassidy plays with the Clack
I had a heavy 1970 P bass and I know what your mean. Low output..real low action…best bass I ever played.
Having spent more time than I care to admit striving to become a mediocre guitar player, I very recently switched to bass, and feel I may have found my instrument, or at least my path for the moment. I have to say, I really appreciated your presentation here – your no-BS, no-schtick approach to conveying your info was welcome, and when I began to formulate a question and regret no being able to quiz you on a particular detail, you actually, miraculously anticipated my question and presented an answer. Many thanks, and I look forward to following your lessons????
What is the name of the song of the bass line he is using as example?I know it but can't remember ????
I used to play classical guitar a little bit, and there is a technique called 'apoyando' (or 'rest stroke'), and it's very similar to that you're showing here. When I started playing bass, I was doing that intuitively but then unconsciously switched more to 'clacking'. I need to work again on this.
Also, what I've noticed is that no matter the instrument, the principle so many teachers do convey, is that you should play TOWARDS the body of the instrument. Not parallel, definitely not outwards, but towards. This includes both finger and plectrum playing.
There is always one moment, whether it's a bass or 6 string guitar or cello playing pizzicato etc, that your mind goes back to when you think of a good tone. There is that ONE time with each instrument when you know you made that string vibrate perfectly for that instrument – and it was so obvious but at the same time such a subtle difference in technique that it freaked you out. When I was 4 I began taking violin lessons at SIUE and a student teacher was instructing me but she was a violist. I can't remember much about the rest of one specific lesson, probably in my second year with her before she graduated and bailed and broke my heart, but she described proper bow technique to me for making the body vibrate as loud as it could before reaching saturation and falling apart, literally the instrument can't absorb any more and it overloads and starts to naturally distort. It's not a volume thing, more like a specific maximum density of harmonics that any solid object can sustain and still produce pure fundamental frequencies. Anyway, she put that bow on the 2nd string (G) and played, I believe, an A…. that room changed. Everything in the universe at that moment was about that note and it was surrounded by a woody mid rangy viola thing that brings to mind marble and dense hardwood forests and a smell of old oaken casks. I went both tunnel vision and singularity all at the same time.
That was in, iirc, 1978 but those 3 or 4 seconds that she sustained that note are like still brand new in my mind. I still hear it, I still feel it. It was like that sensation of something that makes your jaw lock up when someone else is singing. Totally freaky and illusive but the most mysterious thing in existence and the ONLY thing worth chasing for the rest of your life. Yeah, Ian, I get it. I have plucked, picked, bowed, slapped, snapped, thunked, popped, whacked and flubbed probably 100,000s of notes since the moment I just described but only a couple dozen of them were perfect and usually they happened when I was alone, not plugged into anything, and just was playing from a comfortable state of mind. I do, however, agree that there are techniques that put you in a much higher probability zone for producing perfect notes.
An additional benefit of pulling through is that you can get some extra muting the next lowest string as your finger pulls through and rests on it.
I don't know man, didn't feel like this tip was that useful. Most of us, I think, just pluck though the string, which gives that fatter tone. If you want a deeper one just change to a P bass or roll the front pickup knob and play away from the bridge
great lesson. A great bass player years ago showed me the same thing but used the samba as a way of teaching it….. everything just fell into place after that.
The “clacking” technique is by far the best sounding and coolest looking technique in my eyes. To each their own. God Bless Steve Harris
I bet a lot of bassists have a similar story to mine: When I started off, my teachers were guitar players who taught me how to play bass. Think about that….my teachers were literally playing a different instrument. So it was much harder to learn these kinds of tips and techniques. That’s why I enjoy this channel; it’s a great resource for bass players…made by great bass players!
When you said "Let's take this a little further" after the 16th notes I was like YEAH 32nd NOTES LET'S GOOOOOO!
I don't see any arm movement. Point is not made
It must be hard for you to listen to Fieldy lol
30 years. It took me 30 years to discover this! ????
Thank you Ian! I have a lot of awesome habits from my hardcore days that weren’t helping me communicate the way I currently wanted. My playing is so much cleaner, I’m going to have a fun time with this!
Big, low-end thank you, Ian.
I only play 16th notes with a pick but I still watched the whole thing.