We’ve covered a lot of different material in the Bass Tone series: after 9 articles and 6 podcast episodes, it’s about time to stop and check whether your ears have kept up! We’ve had a few quizzes along the way, but this week it’s time to add a final test on bass effects, and re-check your knowledge on the previous three topics.

The first quiz is all about the sounds of the fretless, introduced in “The Upright Bass” and “Fretless Electric”. You’ll need to distinguish between fretted, upright and fretless electric bass guitar sounds to succeed:

Next up we’ll take a listen to different playing techniques, as introduced in Playing Techniques, Part 1 and Part 2, and the corresponding podcast episode. Do you remember all about slaps, pops, slides, pull-offs, and hammer-ons? Time to find out!

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Work on their ear training skills and help them identify different timbres, pitch, and dynamics this Halloween. Enjoy making your own Foley sounds, play sound charades, and scare your Halloween party guests.

You’ll also find lots more Halloween music resources below, so read on… if you dare!

Scary Halloween Sounds

1. Ghost Howl

Make haunting groaning sounds in a PVC pipe or cardboard tube. Experiment with different materials. Discuss high pitch and low pitch. Have the kids imitate low groaning sounds and high groaning sounds.

2. Ghost Chains

Take an old bike chain or thick metal chain and drop it in a large metal pot. Try dropping the chains slowly and quickly. Talk about the differences between thin metal chains and thick metal chains.

3. Thunderstorm

Take a large metal sheet and firmly suspend it by wire or rope. Using two soft mallets or wooden spoons covered in fabric, roll on the sheet to make a convincing thundering sound. Strike the sheet with a hard stick for lightening effects. Add a rainstick or water falling in the shower to add extra rain sound effects.

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Last time on Bass Tone we looked at how you can use EQ, compressors, limiters and overdrive effects to craft your perfect tone. There’s a whole wild world of audio effects beyond these though. Traditionally reserved for guitarists, the effects we’ll be looking at this week can now be part of any bassist’s arsenal, as manufacturers produce bass-specific versions of their famous effects.

Modulate to Innovate

“Modulation” effects mix the original signal with a processed copy which varies over time. The type of processing done determines the type of modulation effect produced. For example, a chorus effect delays the copy, and continually changes the delay length in a random sort of way.

A “low-frequency oscillator” controls the change over time. Depending on the effect, it may control the range (sometimes called “depth”) or the speed (sometimes called “rate”) at which the sound changes.

Modulation effects tend to be less popular on the bass than on guitar or keyboard. The main reason for this is that the bass line is so central to the mix of a rock record that producers often want to avoid the washiness and lack of punch that excessive modulation can cause. However, the additional clarity in the high frequencies that the modern bass amplifier provides, coupled with the range of extremely high-quality specialist bass effects on the market, means that these issues aren’t really the problem they used to be.

That said, if you find yourself playing live with less-than-ideal PA, or your bass effects are not of the highest quality it is very important that you keep your modulation effects subtle to ensure that you’ll still be heard clearly.

Chaining many effects pedals together can also introduce noise Click to read the rest…