My friend got an Ernie Ball Music Man for $300-something a few years ago. It plays beautifully. 

 

A real music man for 300$!!!! That's impossible! These are super hard to find under 900$ and the average price is about 1200$! Your friend's a really lucky guy.

It was a Black Friday deal at Guitar Center. He was stoked to say the least. 

He also had an 80s Fretless which, while it had dings and scratches, played great for 400$ and to this day I'm kicking myself for not buying it.

For me, it's prog and blues all the way with either of these four beauties: Godin A4 fretless, Fender Jazz, Ibanez SR3005 Prestige and a Gretsch Broadkaster.

I have to admit that I replaced the Godin's piezo with a Hanson Chisonic, and the jazz has Hanson JSonics replacing the Fender pick ups. Sometimes changing a part is sufficient to make an 'ok'  bass into a 'yes!' bass.

 

Or into a 'Yes' bass! (bad word play )

In this recording I used a Squier Vintage Modified Fretless, a Musicman stingray (the harmonics part) and the classic 70's (for the solo):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4iDRtbESCY" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4iDRtbESCY

 

A good way to compare similar instruments is to pluck the D string (or the B string on guitars) as they are hanging on the wall then then feel the body of the guitar on the lower right side, near the controls. More resonants instruments will vibrate more and you can feel it. This will let you know which ones to try out and which ones to dismiss outright.

I went a bit further than that. I got rid of the Godin altogether, and replaced it with a self assembled bass: Allparts fretless neck, ebony on maple with a black headstock, a Warmoth Z body in Black Korina, with a Black Korina top, Nordstrand Vintage P/J pickups, a Hipshot Vintage bridge and Schaller light tuners. See my avatar for the result... and I can assure you it sounds as good as it looks.

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?

@progbethyname: spot on, provided that you add that this (apart from the Rick reference) should be irrespective of the bass that is being used.

 

I'm wondering if folks are getting scattered on a Rickey ... what made Squire famous on them was not the bass itself ... it might have helped ... but the fact that he had some special wiring done on his bass that made things rather interesting ... and according to him and "Bass Player" when he was on, it was the start of "stereo" pickups ... he wanted the pick ups split so he could have them do different things on them! This will give the impression that the guitar is the trick, and it is not at all.

 

It's the person behind it ... plain and simple ... soyou gonna tell me that Chris can not make a cheapie Fender Squier not sound good? ... you don't know Chris!

 

And the so called "proggy bass" is really sad of a question ... and pretty soon folks will be asking for a good "proggy guitar" ... like the Fender Telecaster can not play anything out there ... sorry ... didn't mean to blow up the thread, but that's really scary ... spend your money on a Rickey and get disappointed because you don't sound like Chris! Because you did not find out why!

I've met Squire, Percy Jones, damn near everybody over the years.  Bass parts in prog music tend to involve rapidity, key changes, lots of movement up & down the neck....the signature basses also tend to sound "punchier" (more mid-range) than the thumpier basses of the '60s Mo-Town funk sound for example. 

Keys include:

a) easy playing bass - I have a 1973 Rick 4001, it's an excellent instrument, but it is also a full-scale beast, so I'm not as proficient on this as I am on shorter scale instruments like the Gibson Triumph (my main Prog bass), Guild JS-2 and others.  Squire played a fretless Guild JS-2 on "The Remembering" from TFTO, it is a fine instrument. 

Figure out your hand size by playing several....you own the Gibson SG bass, which is short-scale, so that may be what you want to focus on. 

b) strings - the signature prog-bass sound is generated from classic roundwound strings.  Many players (including myself) swear by Roto-Sound, but other strings can give you a similar, bright sound for less money.  I tend to play lighter string gauges as I get older, they are easier to press down and bend. 

c) manufacturer - as noted, the Rick is heavily used in prog, almost to the point of caricature!  Squire, Camp, Bennett and Strater all played one.  Other popular basses include the Fender Precision (John Wetton), Fender Jazz (Geddy Lee, Greg Lake), Music Man (Tony Levin) and various custom models (Percy Jones).   Note the fretless bass I'm playing in my icon....that's a Hugh Manson custom, similar to the bass used by John Paul Jones.  Manson makes guitars for Matthew Bellamy, Martin Barre & is the tech to Steve Howe, so seek out a local builder & see if you can make a deal!  

d) style - I play with both fingers and plectrum, but prefer to use a pick for speed, sound and technique such as "tremelo picking" (which emulates a tympani, listen to Squire on "The Remembering").  Sometimes I switch within a song, but I usually use a pick for its precision and clarity of sound. 

Here, this is mine!  No matter what, just play and have a blast!  There are no shortages of excellent instruments these days, and the Korean models today are nearly as good as Japanese guitars years back.  

 

So, again ... you are suggesting that you would not do the same thing for a guitar, keyboard or drumset?

 

It's a bizarre question ... all guitar players would look for a guitar that is "easy" for their hands and fingers, or they would not be able to do their stuff .... everyone has favorite strings that suit their sound better .... many folks use special instruments built to their own preferable specs ... style ... wow!!!!!

 

It's the same thing ... the question is nutz!

 

How about asking next for a good "proggy groupie" ... ??? (... we could have fun with that one!)

 

Again ... ALL instruments are different ... so what?  And it's like saying that the same bass can not be played in rock or any other music. And that is plain wrong!

 

Again ... let's talk about a "proggy guitar" next ... stop evading the idea and see the point! How about a "proggy drum set!" ... that would go over well! I like this one better ... a "proggy drum set" ... probably has to have 12 toms (like Carl Palmer), 437 cymbals like Bozzio, and ... where's the drummer? like Mike!

 

An instrument is an instrument and any of them can play a multitude of different things. So suggesting that the Rickey is proggy, is like saying that Paul McCartney is an idiot and using the wrong bass! Ohhh btw, there is more progressive stuff in those days on a Fender Jazz, or Precision, than there is a Rickey! Bahhhhumbug ... the Fender is not a "proggy" bass?

 

 

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!

 

How true that is. I've always loved the Ricky sound and thought the best bass sound ever was on side one of "Hemispheres" but then I eventually found that Geddy played that on a Fender. A lot of the Geddy sound comes from his finger technique.

 

I use a Warwick and get quite a good "proggy" sound with a bit of distortion from my Fender Rumble 350 combo.  Not quite the old Ricky sound but it's good enough (as I don't play in a prog band anyway).

I remember the first time I saw Chris Squire playing a Fender, I thought, "Oh no, why are you doing this?"    Same with Geddy and his Fender Jazz bass.

I think you meant Music Man (by Earnie Ball)

 

That's not my picture, btw. I also have a cheap Chinese double bass but it hasn't seen use with a group (yet). Both of those basses have EXCELLENT tones (the Ibanez is really versatile and the B string sounds perfect) but, if I could do it, I'd sell them both and buy two Wals.

A Mark III Wal with these exact configurations but fretted...

... and a fretless Mark I Wal just like Colin Edwin's.

Hi,

Just a question about all this ... with all the electronics that everyone can get these days, wouldn't even a cheap bass be able to imitate something else? 

It seems rather strange to me, that you have to buy a Stratavarious, in order to get a good violin sound (so to speak!), when you can easily replicate it nowadays with some reasonable electronics, at a very do'able price? 

I imagine that as one gets more proficient that he/she would want the real thing itself ... but that might be just me thinking at this point. 

I have an Epiphone EB-3 (hard on my small fingers), and a short scale Ibanez that I have not gotten to fool around with enough yet!

Davesax1965 wrote: The one guarantee I can make is that you won't find a Rick cheap. Unless you go for a Chinese Rickenbacker clone, AKA a Chickenbacker.

.

LMAO!

Davesax1965 wrote: Personally, I use a Danelectro Longhorn short scale for my bass work. But then again, I've never been conventional in my bass tastes. ;-)

How much was it?

I love Rickenbackers, but they're expensive these days, and have had manufacturing issues in recent years.

There's no such thing as a "proggy" guitar to my mind. The prog is in the player....