How does your violin experience inform your bass playing?I’m left-handed, but I play right-handed because my first violin teacher insisted. I hold my neck violin- style with my thumb straight out. My hand is small; I can’t wrap it around the fingerboard like Bootsy Collins, so I have to rely heavily on my fingertips. It’s an unnatural position that causes cramps, and it took me years to get over the pain. On the other hand, a violin-style grip facilitates great control over the amount of string pressure on the fingerboard, and that is tremendously important tonally. A lot of my tone comes from having my strong hand on the fingerboard, which also allows me to incorporate my pinkie a lot.
Your tone also sounds like it’s influenced by a distinctly fingerstyle plucking technique.I’m a fingerstyle player through and through. A lot of the tone comes knowing when to dampen a string, and how much plucking pressure to exude. Last year, I cut off the tip of my middle finger with an Exacto knife while framing something. I flipped out when I saw the piece of finger on the cutting board with the 15-year callus I’d built up. I rented Standing in the Shadows of Motown to study how James Jamerson accomplished so much using just his index finger. I quickly realized that the amount of pressure— and your ability to modulate it—is much greater with the index finger because it’s much stronger than the others. I had to re-learn how to play bass while my middle finger healed. The tip is still misshapen and cut off at a 45-degree angle. When I started using it again, I became hyper-aware of string pressure. You can get a lot of depth and soul out of your fingers by digging into the strings with various amounts of pressure. Both hands should work in concert—like shuffling cards.
How exactly do you use various string pressures to achieve more depth and soul in your playing?When you become aware of the correlation between right- and left-hand string pressure, you start finding the combinations that will vary a note’s brightness or thump without actually making it louder or softer, which can cause unevenness, or make a line’s backbone fall apart altogether. “Go Hibernate” is a good example: The bass should thump along in the verses, and then bounce and dance for the chorus when there’s more movement. At that point, I stand my fretting hand up higher to dig in with my fingertips. I also pull my right hand back over the front pickup and tilt the attack to add a touch of fingernail. Together, those adjustments brighten the sound without messing up the mix.
It sounds as if working through the injury has actually helped you reach a higher level of playing.My playing had reached a plateau, and the injury made me realize it. Now I think of each note as having supreme importance, and that has sharpened my focus. I’m trying not to take any note for granted—even if it’s a song I’ve played a million times.
CAN BE HEARD ON
Loquat, Secrets of the Sea [Talking House, 2008]
“I tried to limit my playing to match the kickdrum hits, and only added notes in-between to bridge a melody together if was absolutely necessary. We were super-well-rehearsed going into the studio, and we nailed all the rhythm tracks in the first few takes at each session.”
CURRENTLY SPINNING
Santogold, Santogold [Downtown, 2008]
“The songwriting is smart, and it’s got an incredibly fresh sound that incorporates the soul of Jamaican dub music with a New York hip-hop street vibe. ”
GEAR
Bass Fender Jaguar Bass, Fender Jazz Bass
Studio rig ’75 Ampeg SVT head through an Ampeg 8x10 cabinet, plus a direct signal “We recorded using Digidesign’s Pro Tools, and we used IK Multimedia’s Ampeg SVX plug-in on a few tracks. The DigiRack EQ III plug-in was helpful for dialing in bass tones on the final mixes.”
Live rig Gallien-Krueger 400RB-IV head, SWR 2x12 cabinet, Novation K-Station keyboard
Effects Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer
Strings Dunlop Nickel Plated Steel medium set (.045–.105)
“The Jaguar became my primary bass last year because it plays like a Jazz, but it offers more tonal control including the ability to go active when I want a bottom-heavy dub sound, like the one on ‘Who Can Even Remember?’”