Guitar that plays bass at the same time?

[littlebadboy]

Not sure where to post this...

I have a Yamaha EG112C2 that I use to try out experimental wiring, string gauges, etc.

It's now configured to play bass at the same time. It has 2 separate circuits. One is a normal HH circuit with a separate output, while the other is for a 2 pole pickup that senses the 5th and 6th strings only. It also has its own output which goes to an octave pedal (my choice is the Digitech Drop) then to a bass amp.



Thought of sharing.

[Mossman]

That's cool! Now if you add a MIDI pickup to control a drum machine from your guitar, you'll be a one-man band.

[bleys21]

Ok, that's pretty cool. It was weird watching the bass only portion, as that was my main question initially: what would the bass notes sound like when strummed? But they sounded great.

Seems to me that using fingerstyle, would work really well in that configuration. I can't play fingerstyle for crap, but I bet it would sound pretty close to separate guitar and bass.

[rrobbone]

....Or a bass that plays guitar at the same time?





It's a question I've been having a lot of fun playing with lately, but I'm doing it all digitally rather than through pickup re-design. It's an interesting concept.

[Partscaster]

While your playing all that, what keeps the bass player out of the fridge?

[Milkman]

I've been wanting to do this for a long time. I don't know why, since the only sane, mostly sober, capable and reliable musician I know is a bass player.

That really sounds pretty good for this type of music... here's another example from my neck of the woods....

[Mossman]

I've been wanting to do this for a long time. I don't know why, since the only sane, mostly sober, capable and reliable musician I know is a bass player.

That really sounds pretty good for this type of music... here's another example from my neck of the woods....

This is like a better, more attractive White Stripes...

But why did he tape over the name on the headstock? That's not a Gibson.

[nomadh]

Cool idea and killer hack.

[littlebadboy]

Thanks everyone!

I learned, after the fact, about a band called Local H, another 2 piece band (guitarist + drummer) had a similar guitar set up. Except that he uses a half of the p-bass pickup to capture his 5th and 6th strings.

[littlebadboy]

Ok, that's pretty cool. It was weird watching the bass only portion, as that was my main question initially: what would the bass notes sound like when strummed? But they sounded great.

My 2-pole pickup does a great job in just picking up the 5th and 6th strings. If you strum the 1st to 4th string, the octave pedal doesn't pick them up, so it's fine. If you include the 5th and 6th, it may get a little goofy through the octave pedal, but is a personal preference. So, I just adjust my playing to avoid strumming the 5th and 6th.

[golem]

I feel like we may have talked about this before. But the dude from Local H does this:

[rrobbone]

The geek side of me loves this idea and wants to try it.

The practical side of me wonders why they don't just hire a bassist. There are plenty of decent ones around - hell, they could hire me. I work cheap.

[golem]

@rrobbone You'd hope they'd have enough $$ to hire a bassist, but they certainly make more money if they don't hire one. I noticed that after White Stripes Jack White always had a full band. Black Keys also evolved to have a larger band after they made it big. I do think that a big part of what makes bands try to make do with only two is $$.

While I've heard of Local H, it may very well be that they prefer more $$ in their pockets. They're not a huge band.

[deeaa]

Well I can imagine touring with just two guys in the band would be easy and cheap...but then again...pretty damn boring too. Even with a 4-piece band we loved to drag along at least one extra member just to make it more fun and happening. Plus they could snap photos, help some with the gear, stuff like that. But mostly it was to make it more fun to party.

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[tlarson58]

In my experience* bringing in a bassist is tricky because, by nature it seems, they're an odd breed.

Alternatively, his/her availability might have something to do with their personality/vibe (see "all the good ones are taken" mantra of unmatched singles).

I'd rather surrender my guitar to play bass (as I'm doing now) than bring somebody in and throw a wrench in our dynamic.

*twice.

[deeaa]

In my experience* bringing in a bassist is tricky because, by nature it seems, they're an odd breed.

Alternatively, his/her availability might have something to do with their personality/vibe (see "all the good ones are taken" mantra of unmatched singles).

I'd rather surrender my guitar to play bass (as I'm doing now) than bring somebody in and throw a wrench in our dynamic.

*twice.

In no less than four of my bands at least that I remember, the bassist was actually a guitarist that only started to play bass in order to join our band. Often they didn't even have gear and used my bass.

And on a few occasions that guitarist become bassist would also have been way better a guitarist than I am, but it still worked great. I need to play the guitar in my bands because when I make riffs and songs, actually few people can play them like I play them. Not because I'm a great guitarist or that they'd be technically super hard, but they're full of little rhythmic details and odd fingerings, or they require just my kind of sound to work well, that other guitarists seem to really have trouble to replicate even if they're really great players. Even when they have no problem playing them, they sound totally different, either far too clean and clunky or far too driven and lacking definition.

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[littlebadboy]

Well I can imagine touring with just two guys in the band would be easy and cheap...but then again...pretty damn boring too. Even with a 4-piece band we loved to drag along at least one extra member just to make it more fun and happening. Plus they could snap photos, help some with the gear, stuff like that. But mostly it was to make it more fun to party.

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Speaking of 2-piece bands...