Hey guys, I'm pretty sure this is the right forum for this thread, but if it's not let me know. So I play in a four piece rock band that is going to be a two piece rock band for the summer, and I was curious if anybody had any suggestions for how to adapt my playing to take care of the bass and guitar parts. I have been working on doing the songs on my own but it just doesn't sound right without the guitar. I have been sending all my low end from my B7K to my bass amp, then taking the clean output of that and pitch shifting to send to my guitar amp, and even with that it doesn't really work.
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What is the other instrument? You need melody, harmony and rhythm. Usually the guitar provides the harmony by playing chords and then sings the song providing melody. You provide the rhythm, groove and bottom end foundation for the song. The guitar's strum pattern can also provide the rhythm and groove...
My point, who does what really does not matter as long as melody, harmony and rhythm are served.
A uke and a voice is really all that is needed...
My point, who does what really does not matter as long as melody, harmony and rhythm are served.
A uke and a voice is really all that is needed...
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Assuming the other piece is a drummer, you're basically talking about a Royal Blood setup. Lots of guys on youtube showing their take on it - the Royal Blood guy himself is notoriously close-lipped about his signal path. I think the thing about it is that it only really works with songs that are written to be played with that kind of a setup. You aren't going to do Sweet Home Alabama or some such tune in any bass/drum duo and have it sound like a real song, no matter what you do. Some songs are all about the interplay between different parts, and you don't have them.
Having said that, bi-amping and pitch-shifting one chain an octave up to a guitar amp is the basic key, which you're already doing. The thing is then, to have enough interest, to think how to give yourself more options from there. One thing is to be able to mute either amp at will; I do it with a pair of JHS stutter switches. That allows some variety, muting one line at times to solo the other.
I would mostly focus on the upper-octave chain for additional possible effects. After the octave-up, I actually use TWO EHX PitchForks. One is set to a 5th up and a 50/50 blend; that allows a "power chord." The other is set an ADDITIONAL octave up, with the blend at full and the switch set at momentary; that let's me "solo" very high synthy notes above the general mix. To top it off, that chain also has an EHX C9 pedal for organ sounds, and a fuzz pedal (an SUF Civil War, in my case) for "rhythm guitar."
At the end of the day, with all this, you can still only play parts that are all in unison, and that's going to limit the songs you can do. The only other way around it that I can think of, apart from recruiting other musicians, is to get comfortable with a looper (I have one but am not very good with it), or to use backing tracks.
Having said that, bi-amping and pitch-shifting one chain an octave up to a guitar amp is the basic key, which you're already doing. The thing is then, to have enough interest, to think how to give yourself more options from there. One thing is to be able to mute either amp at will; I do it with a pair of JHS stutter switches. That allows some variety, muting one line at times to solo the other.
I would mostly focus on the upper-octave chain for additional possible effects. After the octave-up, I actually use TWO EHX PitchForks. One is set to a 5th up and a 50/50 blend; that allows a "power chord." The other is set an ADDITIONAL octave up, with the blend at full and the switch set at momentary; that let's me "solo" very high synthy notes above the general mix. To top it off, that chain also has an EHX C9 pedal for organ sounds, and a fuzz pedal (an SUF Civil War, in my case) for "rhythm guitar."
At the end of the day, with all this, you can still only play parts that are all in unison, and that's going to limit the songs you can do. The only other way around it that I can think of, apart from recruiting other musicians, is to get comfortable with a looper (I have one but am not very good with it), or to use backing tracks.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
If you want to stay on bass, you would likely need to rearrange the songs to suit the new configuration. Most duos doing covers tend to have one or both members playing an acoustic guitar or bass and both singing. You can do alot of material with that config.
Since you said you are trying to cover guitar parts i will assume you don't have a guitarist and the other piece of the band is a singer or drummer. If a singer, it will be tough to make work without a guitar unless you rearrange how the songs are played. Alot of pressure on the bass player to fill in the space, and the guys i see that pull it off have 6 string basses and play alot of chordal stuff in between their bass runs.
Since you said you are trying to cover guitar parts i will assume you don't have a guitarist and the other piece of the band is a singer or drummer. If a singer, it will be tough to make work without a guitar unless you rearrange how the songs are played. Alot of pressure on the bass player to fill in the space, and the guys i see that pull it off have 6 string basses and play alot of chordal stuff in between their bass runs.
