Beginners' Lesson

Ensure a smooth playing experience with these tips from Steve Lawson

- STEVE LAWSON

Welcome to BP 400! This month, we’re going to look at an aspect of controlling your sound that is often overlooked, but which for a number of reasons has become more and more noticeable over the years— giving notes their full length.

The amount of decay we want in a particular note—from ultra‑short palm-muted notes to infinite sustain— is a huge factor in shaping the sound of a line and its impact on the song. Today, we’re looking at the sustain end of the graph.

The reasons why this has become more significant over time are both stylistic and technological. Style‑wise, the prevalence of synth bass in much pop music has brought about a taste for incredibly smooth‑sounding bass‑lines—often with no gap between the end of one note and the start of the next.

Simultaneously, advances in bass guitar manufacture have also impacted the degree to which controlling the tail end of the note is a significant factor. A lot of older basses had a relatively short natural decay. That could be lengthened by using a compressor, but for the most part, there was a pronounced dip before the end of the note if we were playing anything longer than a half note at about 80bpm.