25 Top Rock Bass Songs: Tab. Tone. Technique. by Hal Leonard Corp

Author:Hal Leonard Corp.
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Published: 2015-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

“SCHISM”

Tool

After revitalizing the metal scene in 1993 with Undertow, Tool began increasingly bending toward prog rock (or prog metal, if you prefer) with each subsequent release. Their breakout album proved to be Ænima (1996), which reached #2 on the Billboard 200 despite its challenging, non-radio-friendly, shifting time signatures and angular themes. For Lateralus (2001), the band veered even further into King Crimson territory while racking up a #1 album, with “Schism” earning a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. The mathematical unison and harmony riffs of bassist Justin Chancellor and guitarist Adam Jones are plentiful on the release, to say the least.

TONE

Chancellor made use of his workhorse Wal four-string on “Schism,” which was tuned to Drop D (low to high: D–A–D–G) for extra sonic weight. By this point, he was employing a three-channel approach with regard to amplification. Channel 1 ran through a Mesa Boogie M-Pulse amp with a Pro Co Turbo RAT pedal for slight distortion, while channel 2 went through a Mesa Boogie M-2000 amp with a clean setting. These two amps fed Mesa Boogie 8x10 RoadReady cabinets. The third channel went direct to the mixing board via a Demeter VTBP-201S tube preamp. The result is a really fat, complex tone with a bit of crunch. Chancellor uses a DigiTech Bass Whammy pedal to achieve the scooping effect heard during the interlude. Wal basses aren’t exactly cheap, often going for over $5,000 on the used market. However, you should be able to get close enough with a Music Man StingRay, which Chancellor himself uses on occasion in the studio and live. Try running through a tube head, such as the Mesa Boogie Bass Prodigy Four:88, and a 4x10 cabinet, with a Pro Co Turbo RAT or other bass overdrive pedal set for slight grit. Boost the low end on the amp and carve out a little midrange for a bit of a scooped sound. The standard DigiTech Whammy pedal or the bass version will do the trick (they’re the same price) set for one octave up for the octave/scoop effect.

TECHNIQUE

Chancellor plays the tune with a pick, and the sound of the attack is pretty integral to the tone. You’ll be doing a lot of counting in this song, as the time signatures shift fairly regularly. Within each one, there will certainly be a pulse that’s accented by just about every instrument, so listen to the recording first to learn to feel these accents. Pay special attention to the sixteenth-note-triplet hammer-ons from the open strings that are used throughout the song, making sure to keep the notes evenly spaced and not lopsided. This music’s effectiveness depends upon its mathematic precision.

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