+1 for Jim and the Rush tune.

I want to try this so bad, but I am afraid to make the leap and leaving all the current originals behind that I have been shaping for the two years I have been playing. This idea is so appealing though especially after seeing Jim's video.

Keep'em coming

Thank you ALL for your nice comments!

Regarding the specific tuning, glad you saw the same things that I did, Greg.

My actual DBR strings arrived today from Stick Ent, and I have now changed them. Unfortunately the 6th string is a little dull sounding compared to the others and compared to sets I've received in the past, but not too bad. I understand that happens once in a rare while. The highest melody strings are actually thinner than I would have thought, which is great to still play melodies on. Incidentally, the highest note on the melody side is a C# (an octave above middle C), and the highest bass side note is an E (10th above middle C). So there is still a wide range for chords and lines in the melody.

Did a quick video after setting up the new strings, jamming on another favourite tune, "Roundabout" by YES. I play this song normally, of course, on my Rickenbacker...trying hard to duplicate the muted open strings in the latter half of the main 1-bar riff. The Stick is working QUITE well in this regard!

Basically tried to do the bass line exactly as on the electric bass, with a bit of 5ths side stuff in the last few seconds of the song. I did use a bit of plucking, and some picking in the latter half too. Normally I'd pick a bit closer to the 12th fret, but you couldn't see the pick in the webcam, haha.

Lastly, I also flipped my ACTV2 pickup back the original way, I'd reversed it to get a "bridge" pickup sound. I think I prefer it flipped though, so I might go back.


note: I had to pitch-shift the song by -36 cents in order to bypass Youtube's WMG copyright detection bot. If some parts sound a bit phased that's why. Thanks!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrWIk9EPCk[/youtube]

I am ordering strings tomorrow morning...

Awesome job, Jim on Roundabout. It is truly inspiring and eyeopening to see a Stick used this way. Bravo..

Steve

More!!!!!, More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May I please put in my Yes request??? "On the silent wings of freedom" please.

Hi Jim - your first two Stickist posts include videos of Rush and Yes tunes? BEST FIRST STICKIST POSTS EVER.

I didn't go the DBR route (instead mirrored 4ths) but Geddy Lee and Chris Squire are two of the reasons I went that way.

I don't know about the copyright issues, but I think these videos are an excellent example of the DBR tuning and how it can be used to fill the bass role. They deserve to be in the video section of S.E site IMHO.
Congratulations Jim! Awesome work!



Cheers, Daniel.


PS: Very nice music on your myspace page; man you are good!

Hell yeah! That rocks. Keep 'em coming. I would love to hear more Yes arranged for any tuning. I have the Fragile sheet music, but it will be years until I can play it. Thanks for the inspiration.

Hi Jim,

I'm really enjoying these.

About the strings...the set is on the "light" side of things to make them sound better at higher frets for right hand "bass soloing" a la Jaco, and for a consistent feel transition between the 5th and sixth string. If you think the low C is a little light, they can send you a slightly thicker one. I have lights on mine, and the feel is great.

Did you detune the audio before detuning playing the part or after? If you detuned the Stick to match, then perhaps the lightness of the string just means that it's pitch is too low to get the right kind of tension on it at the lesser tension. I wasn't clear about this based on your post.
Also, since the string is thinner, you may need to lower it at the bridge (if the core is the same diameter as the old one) or raise it (if the core is thinner). The goal is to get the under side of the strings to be slightly higher as the strings get thicker within a set.

Also, as far as the sound goes, do you have any of the small magnetic shims on your pickups. The best balancing I've found with the ACTV-2 is to put one of those between the 7th and 8th strings. This will bring out the 6th string a bit more and balance it with the others.

The inverted (bridge) position will definitely give you more of a Rick sound. You can experiment with adjusting the pickup heights after you do that.

Go DBR!

Hey all, thanks again for all the feedback. It's great to have a community to bounce things off of!

In response to Greg, I did the pitch shifting of the audio track after it had all been recorded. Performed it at normal pitch.

All I meant by a "dull" string is that it just didn't have the same snap as the rest of the strings. Maybe it did have to do with the magnetic shim though, I never even knew what that was on my pickup! Since I flipped the block around, now the shim is between strings 3+4, which is probably not a good place. Thing is, I don't seem to be able to move it...seems quite stuck on there. I have experimented with raising and lowering the pickups though, since my melody side's strings are much more massive and have more volume.

I love the strings sent from SE though, the feel is GREAT! You're right, the strings I had before were too "clacky" on the higher frets, the strings that SE chose for the light gauge are great. They all feel great.

Newest vid here (been busy here ) is YES's "Heart Of The Sunrise". I promise I will try other style of music soon, haha. Just getting a kick out of what the Stick is capable of. This song has a LOT of picking, as I found I was unable to get the same sound from multi-tapping the same pitch on different strings.

I did the part mostly the same as the E-bass part, except for the bass solo in the slower section of the first two minutes. At 6:15 though, I found that multi-tapping the same pitch on different strings was easier than picking - so you mileage may vary. All in all, it's been lots of fun just discovering what's possible. I have been able to slap on the Stick too, though I'm finding that a 10-string grand spacing might be easier than my normal 10-string.

I had to do some editing to get the video under 10 minutes for Youtube, and again the slight pitch-shift. Plus, there are so many spots where you have to start out of nowhere, and they didn't record these songs to clicks, so some sections don't wait exact number of clicks...nor do they start in the same tempo as the previous section! This caused me to miss a bunch of entrances, haha...but I love that quality too - just makes it difficult to play to. I had to watch the waveform on the screen most of the time.

I recorded these tracks with my webcam, recording the Stick into the Amplitube AMPEG SVX plugin, into Pro Tools where I could properly EQ the low end out of the original track. Edited it all putting the audio from Pro Tools into the movie and removing the webcam audio.

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzHvit__FSU[/youtube]

Wow, Jim!