A good proggy bass guitar!

I agree it's all about technique - it's how you make the strings work. A good articulate bass rig is also important for live work. Playing is about comfort and efficiency. I use a couple of Yamaha TRBII 5 strings about 10 year old Japanese ones, with and without frets. Comfortable, not too heavy, play and sound great. Yamaha know how to deliver great value and consistency - worth checking out.

The TRBs have a 35" scale. Don't know if that makes a significant difference to string tension?

 

 

sturoc wrote: infocat wrote: Simple (?) question for you bassy's out there...  the necks on bass guitars seem to be longer than those on regular guitars.  Why?  (In layman's terms, please!) The scale (neck)  is longer due to the lower octaves the bass strings handle.

That isn't the whole story. Like with a regualr guitars, the neck-lengh of a bass guitar can vary depending on the model (usually from 30" to 36") - often you will see these called short-neck and long-neck or short-scale and long-scale. This measurement refers to the vibration length of the string (distance from nut to bridge) and this length, along with the string tension and the string thickness (technically it is linear mass density, but that is proportional to the thickness, which is proportional to the weight) determines the note that an plucked open string will sound. In theory you can make a bass guitar with the same neck-length as a regular guitar, you would just need to fit it with heavier strings and reduce the tension.

 

This means that for a bass guitar to be in tune the strings have to be of a certain length, certain thickness and "tuned" to a certain tension. If we change the neck length we will need to either change the string tension, or change the string thickness to play the same note - both of these changes will affect the tone of the note (ie it change the harmonics). Usually on a long-scale bass you will used lighter weight strings and higher tension to produce a harder, more defined bass note to the softer tone of the short-scale playing the same pitched note.

 

Tone is the overriding factor, but choice of instrument is also deteremined by the length of your fingers - a long-neck has wider fret-spacings which can be difficult for short-fingered players.

 

I love it ... like ripping the Ricky in "prog" ...

 

I think it important to help folks know what the music is about ... but to state outright and blindly, that it is because of a sound ... is totally insane ... heck ... PFM and Banco even used the concert basses many times ... but that is ... being ignored! And not progressive? ... who needs an expensive Ricky? Ohhh heck, ELO played Cellos and other low strings too! We should really check all those pictures and how many Fender Jazz basses you can find ... and that is not "proggy"?

 

NOW, if the idea is for the person to buy one? ... I would tell him ... hard to suggest ... really is ... but these days the Bogey Man 5 string is becoming real popular, specially in the metal areas with folks like John Myung ripping the 5 and 6 string on these ... I probably would by a nice Stratus Graphite 5 string bass (similar to Guy Pratt's), or go with a nice Warwick 5 string of some kind ... if not a nice 5 String ESP or Shecter. My hand is too smal for a 6 string.  We haven't even got to the "Bitch" and some of the other experimental instruments that only Levin and a handful of folks are good enough, or, more than likely, brave enough to play!  The majority of rock/progressive bass, is not worth the discussion musically and you can teach any ten year old! We can exclude Chris Squire and the like in his early days, I suppose!

 

Ohhh ... btw ... if you want an even more "proggy" bass, even the "Bitch", or the ones that Levin and friends are playing around with, would be way more "proggy" than the ones you even consider!