With Jonathan Davis, what was your approach to interpreting electronic and non-traditional bass styles on upright?It was kind of “choose your own adventure,” because there weren’t bass lines per se. There was a lot of keyboard bass, and then on Korn stuff, Fieldy’s approach is more percussive. I threw all the previous information aside and came up with my own lines and tried to have them make sense, or I picked up lines that were otherwise played on guitars; all that drop-A guitar stuff is kind of in the bass range, anyway. I would just turn on the distortion and take what I felt were the most driving forces in those tunes and interpret them on the bass. Sometimes I’d turn on an octave pedal, mess with the sound a bit, and maybe play 5ths. The upright with distortion and a bow sounds like the biggest guitar you’ve ever heard.
As a traditionally educated upright bassist, what prompted your use of effects?When I started, I was “Ray Brown Jr.” I have transcribed every single Ray Brown solo, bass line, and record ever. I did them all because I was studying with John Clayton, and wisely, he feels that’s really how you learn to wrap your mind around an instrument: emulate those who you feel are the greatest, and learn exactly what they do. Then, at a later date, you can put your own spin on it. I pretty much followed that to a T.
As I got older, I felt that even though there were players who brought the upright to a place where the bassist can be the leader and take more solos, it always pissed me off that when it came time for the bassist to solo, everybody would hush up. The piano player’s comping would get really sparse, and the fire would kind of leave because the drummer would switch from sticks to brushes. You bring everything down because the bass just can’t push that much volume. As technology advanced, it became easier to play on top of a band the way a tenor player would. So with the band still smashing and swinging the barn doors off, you could build your solo to that same height; you didn’t have to have the dynamics stay at the same level. So I took it a step further and thought, As long as we’re tampering with technology on the upright bass, what happens if you start putting effects on it that make it easier to change the tone, so that the frequency cuts through the band and the audience can better hear what you’re playing?
What are the challenges of pushing the upright in a modern context?When you’re not just holding down the pocket in the low end, you can do some interesting things. Jonathan Davis is a low-end fiend, but if I dial in my upright for laying down big diamonds, it’s going to sound muddy when I play fast. I play too fast to have a wide tone, so I’ve got a keyboard bass in my rig that allows me to hold down fat notes without constantly having to modify my sound. I’d rather go for a tighter low-midrange sound on the upright so I can do quick movements to 3rd position and see what lives around there. It’s been really fun to play with the bow and the distortion.
CAN BE HEARD ON
Jonathan Davis, untitled at press time; Terrence Howard, Shine Through It [Centry/ Columbia, 2008]
Miles Mosley, Bear [Mo’Mosley Music, 2007], Taming the Proud [Mosley Music, 2005]
CURRENTLY SPINNING
“If Tony Levin’s on a record, I’m getting it!”
GEAR
Basses 150-year-old German upright with Gage Realist pickup; King Double bass with King pickup system
Rig SWR California Blond 2x10 combo, SWR SM-900, SWR Working Pro 700, two SWR 4x10 Working Pro cabinets
Effects Fulltone GT-500, Electro-Harmonix POG, Boss OC-3 Octave, Dunlop Bass Wah, Line 6 Echo Park delay, Boss volume pedal, Aphex Punch Factory compressor, Boss Super Shifter, Korg MS200B keyboard
“I’ve used SWR gear since I was 16. I like it because it’s simple.”