Gig playing bass on guitar synth

Cristofre

Cristofre

Jul 8, 2004
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Georgia, USA
#1
This might be taboo here, but I played bass this weekend without using a bass. ;-)

So this weekend one of the other guys in my band and I did a duo gig in a little bar.
Usually for our duo gigs I bring a guitar and a bass and trade off depending on the song, but I bought a guitar synth (Roland GR-33) a few months ago and decided to use that this time.

I've set up a number of patches where the bottom two strings on my Telecaster copy have a bass sound and the top four have a piano/organ/strings sound doubling the guitar. I also have some patches where all 6 strings are doubled with bass (kinda sounds like an eight string bass)

All in all it worked out pretty good. We had a much fuller sound than normal, and with less equipment on stage. Also, I didn't have to scramble to switch instruments between songs. Every once in a while the synth tracking would emit a sqonky note if I started playing too hard, but it wasn't very noticeable.
 
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#2
Congrats on successful gig on Guitar synth, brave move ;-)
I also have Roland GR-33, with pickups mounted both on guitar and bass. Bought it years ago and had big plans with it but actually never really used it outside my bedroom ;-)
 
#3
Hi,

Cristofre said:
This might be taboo here, but I played bass this weekend without using a bass. ;-)

So this weekend one of the other guys in my band and I did a duo gig in a little bar.
Usually for our duo gigs I bring a guitar and a bass and trade off depending on the song, but I bought a guitar synth (Roland GR-33) a few months ago and decided to use that this time.

I've set up a number of patches where the bottom two strings on my Telecaster copy have a bass sound and the top four have a piano/organ/strings sound doubling the guitar. I also have some patches where all 6 strings are doubled with bass (kinda sounds like an eight string bass)

All in all it worked out pretty good. We had a much fuller sound than normal, and with less equipment on stage. Also, I didn't have to scramble to switch instruments between songs. Every once in a while the synth tracking would emit a sqonky note if I started playing too hard, but it wasn't very noticeable.
Click to expand...

Screenshot from 2017-05-01 13-42-15.png


Just kidding!

I guess it's better than left hand bass from a keyboard player. ;)

As long as you are playing it and singing it yourself, I won't complain. It's good that you can take less gear to the gig and make it more versatile. Why not just play a Geddy ax? ;)

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I used to work with an excellent musician who played a synth guitar and a double-neck steel. He was magic and made our quartet sound like a ten piece band. Good for you.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#4
Torrente Cro said:
Congrats on successful gig on Guitar synth, brave move ;-)
I also have Roland GR-33, with pickups mounted both on guitar and bass. Bought it years ago and had big plans with it but actually never really used it outside my bedroom ;-)
Click to expand...
This is the first time I used it on a gig, and I thought this small gig would be a good try out. Hardly any of the patches it came preset with were very useful to me, but it's pretty easy to reprogram and move patches around. I've been trying it out with the full band during our practice/jams. It sounds pretty cool bi-amped, the synth running through my bass amp and PA, and the guitar signal going through a guitar amp.
 
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#5
BassCliff said:
Hi,


I guess it's better than left hand bass from a keyboard player. ;)

As long as you are playing it and singing it yourself, I won't complain. It's good that you can take less gear to the gig and make it more versatile. Why not just play a Geddy ax? ;)


BassCliff
Click to expand...

Ha... funny thing is with the full band I pretty much split between playing bass guitar and keyboards, and I've gotten relatively decent at left hand key bass.
As for the Geddy axe, I've actually been contemplating building a doubleneck bass/guitar synth . I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to trying to slim down on equipment.
 
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#6
Cristofre said:
Ha... funny thing is with the full band I pretty much split between playing bass guitar and keyboards, and I've gotten relatively decent at left hand key bass.
As for the Geddy axe, I've actually been contemplating building a doubleneck bass/guitar synth . I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to trying to slim down on equipment.
Click to expand...
This isn't the place to be to talk about slimming down the pile of equipment anyway. Making it grow, perhaps.
 
#7
Good for you. I used a guitar synth a couple of times to make some organ and keyboard noises in a keyboard free band. It was fun. I got stuck using one of those skinny string whatchacalls :D;) because I never could get the setup to work right with bass. I'm sure it was me not Roland's fault.
 
#8
I use the Roland GR-55 on bass at our gigs religiously. Have it set for certain song sounds: keyboard/bass mix for Whitesnake to assist our keyboard player, piano/bass for Van Halen's "Right Now", 12-string bass for Cheap Trick, and a few others. As long as it's set up well, there's usually no problems. Can be a little troublesome depending on the song and style, but I only use it for about 10 of the 40+ songs we have.
 
#9
wordsmith4u said:
I use the Roland GR-55 on bass at our gigs religiously. Have it set for certain song sounds: keyboard/bass mix for Whitesnake to assist our keyboard player, piano/bass for Van Halen's "Right Now", 12-string bass for Cheap Trick, and a few others. As long as it's set up well, there's usually no problems. Can be a little troublesome depending on the song and style, but I only use it for about 10 of the 40+ songs we have.
Click to expand...

I thought about maybe buying the bass version pickup and putting it on one of my basses, but it seems like I've mostly read that the lower strings don't tend to track well. At least on the older models like the GR-33 like I have.
I have no experience with the GR-55.
 
#11
Cristofre said:
I bought a guitar synth (Roland GR-33) a few months ago...
Click to expand...
Played one for a number of years back when I played mostly guitar. Played piano, pipe organ, acoustic guitar, synth lead and Sax on it.. Got some weird looks from folks at time wondering where those sounds were coming from.. LOL
Playing it is not quite like playing guitar, and the GK settings are key to accurate tracking and making it work live.
Thought about upgrading to the GR55, but don't do much guitar these days.
FWIW - also own a VG99, GT100 and other guitar gear..
 
#13
Cristofre said:
This might be taboo here, but I played bass this weekend without using a bass. ;-)

So this weekend one of the other guys in my band and I did a duo gig in a little bar.
Usually for our duo gigs I bring a guitar and a bass and trade off depending on the song, but I bought a guitar synth (Roland GR-33) a few months ago and decided to use that this time.

I've set up a number of patches where the bottom two strings on my Telecaster copy have a bass sound and the top four have a piano/organ/strings sound doubling the guitar. I also have some patches where all 6 strings are doubled with bass (kinda sounds like an eight string bass)

All in all it worked out pretty good. We had a much fuller sound than normal, and with less equipment on stage. Also, I didn't have to scramble to switch instruments between songs. Every once in a while the synth tracking would emit a sqonky note if I started playing too hard, but it wasn't very noticeable.
Click to expand...
If I recall correctly, a band back in the '60's called The Doors did not have a full time bass player and Ray Manzarek did bass on his keyboard. I know they used bass players in studio though so could not say from any records what was or was not bass.
 
#14
Boristhespyder said:
If I recall correctly, a band back in the '60's called The Doors did not have a full time bass player and Ray Manzarek did bass on his keyboard. I know they used bass players in studio though so could not say from any records what was or was not bass.
Click to expand...

I actually play quite a bit of key bass in the cover band I'm in, being a three piece band, we try to make it sound as big as possible and have variations in textures and instruments to cover a wider range of things and keep it interesting.
I can play keyboard "bass guitar" sounds with the left hand, and have piano/organ/synth pads/strings/etc on the left.
(We do three or four Doors songs)
 
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