Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

[Lucky Eastwood]

Hello everybody!

I have been watching videos on youtube on people playing their electric basses with double bass bows and I'm kind of curious. Which electric basses would be best to be used with a bow?

I know that fretless basses with flatwound strings are better for something like this.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

I know that fretless basses with flatwound strings are better for something like this.

Based on what, exactly?

My favourite example of this sort of thing is Tony Levin, playing Chapman Grand Stick during the Stick Men rendition of The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky.

 

[BlueTalon]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

The thing about using a bow is that the strings need to be on an arc, rather than parallel, because you want to be able to bow one string at a time. Bass guitars aren't set up flat, per se, but they might as well be for well set up for bow they are(n't). So the ideal bass for bow use will have a neck with a small radius, the smaller the better, that way you give your bow the best access to each string. The next things to consider is a bridge with enough height adjustability (most are probably ok), and probably a narrow body (I don't like Hoffners, but they seem ideal for this application).

 

[BlueTalon]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

Based on what, exactly?

My favourite example of this sort of thing is Tony Levin, playing Chapman Grand Stick during the Stick Men rendition of The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky.

Probably based on the presumption that someone using a bow on a bass guitar would be attempting to mimic music typically played on a contrabass. I know it's not necessarily true -- my first thought when I read the thread title was Jimmy Page live. (I know he didn't play bass, but his was the quintessential example of non-traditional use of a bow on a guitar.)

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

 

[BlueTalon]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

 

[Mincer]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

Based on what, exactly?

My favourite example of this sort of thing is Tony Levin, playing Chapman Grand Stick during the Stick Men rendition of The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky.

Yeah! Isn't that amazing?
I think you have the same problem as guitarists have when using a bow- due to the flat fretboard, you can get to the outer strings, and that is about it. I think it is simply the wrong instrument for any real use other than a short part of a song.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

You need a bridge where each string can be raised individually to get the right arc, as Blue Talon said. Also, if you can spread the strings out further. Kahler makes/made a non-trem bass bridge that had/has a very wide adjustable string spacing, but I'm not certain if the height could vary enough. Your best bet may be a detuned cello.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

What if instead of trying to play each string individually, you use the bow and fret chord shapes on the bass? I know chords aren't used often, but they sound good in certain settings.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

You're not thinking "bow".

 

[Liko]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

Hello everybody!

I have been watching videos on youtube on people playing their electric basses with double bass bows and I'm kind of curious. Which electric basses would be best to be used with a bow?

I know that fretless basses with flatwound strings are better for something like this.

Depends on the sound you're after; a fretted bass with roundwound strings is not out of the question for bowing. There are quite a few YouTubes of people trying it out on their go-to bass, and allowing for the facts that the players aren't trained in bowed bass (screech city; this is trickier than it looks), most get a pretty good sound, very like a double bass but a little brighter and with some extra sympathetic harmonics.

Just to try it out, I'd just get a cheap $8-$20 bow, and be prepared to change the strings when you're done messing around. If you decide to pursue this sound more seriously, coated strings like D'Addarios, or tapewounds, will help prevent horsehairs getting caught in the windings (actual double bass strings are typically tapewound for much the same reason).

The biggest limitation of the electric bass for bowing will be the wide bridge radius; double basses have maybe a 4"-6" radius equivalent at the bridge to allow easy access to all strings, while electric basses are much more guitar-like with bridge radii of 10-15" or flatter. Most people I've seen doing this don't bother with the inside strings at all, and many focus solely on the G string as it's easier to access with the bow (you don't have to avoid your own body as you do with the E).

 

[Liko]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

What if instead of trying to play each string individually, you use the bow and fret chord shapes on the bass? I know chords aren't used often, but they sound good in certain settings.

That requires careful adjustment of the saddle heights with just the slightest curve, so that the bow can contact all the strings with equal pressure. It's a fine balance; too little pressure on any one string and *screeeeeech*. But it's doable, more so than trying to get a string bass's bridge radius to get good access to each string.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

You're not thinking "bow".

I'm thinking more in the way that Jimmy used his bow.

 

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Best Electric Bass To Use With Bow

I use an Expanding Hands FingerBow on my Hofner fairly regularly. It's got flats, and the radius is such that you can either bow just the G or E strings, or get the GD and AE at the same time. So, it "kind of" works, meaning that it all depends on your application and specific wants/needs. I usually use it for those gigs where I'm playing more ambient color/texture type of things, over straight grooves.

Biggest thing for something like this, especially on bass, is to have flatwounds. Any round string (coated or no) usually has a high pitched whistle to the immediate attack, crazy overtones and a very thin sound. Flatwounds are as close as you're gonna get to traditional classical strings, and have more of that characteristic when bowed. Groundwound strings can get there, but you've gotta have a set that have been played for a bit first, so they're worn in well.

And as already mentioned, bow technique and rosin choice are going to be huge considerations if you go this route. I've found a light, powdery rosin is the best at grabbing the strings without pulling them, or making any really obnoxious sounds right away. As for bow technique, that takes a bit of time and practice to get even, consistent attacks with the bow (whether you're going to attempt one string or the entire board). I've been playing double bass since I was 11, and bow technique is consistent learning.