I need your good advice....

[EriJon]

Status:
I have a small band with 3 friends; percussion, horns, guitars and my Nord Stage 2.
As you can see... no bass. They want me to "play" the bass as a part of my keyboard, and I try...
Could anyone with experince with Nord Stage explain me the best way to do it?
I do not want any influence of the bass on the mid/upper keyboard, just on the low.
I have tried to find nice bass sounds, both synt and "normal" bass, but i have not found what I'm looking for.
Is it maybe better to create this effect with other Nord keyboards? If yes.....then which keyboard?

Most of my "problems" can probably be soved easily by experienced Nord users... and I would happy for some advice.

Regards
Erik, Norway.

[RedLeo]

There are plenty of people here who I'm sure will give you the right sort of advice you need about bass sounds. However, I'm going to ask: do you actually want to do this rather than having a bass player? It may be convenient for your bandmates but is it in your best interests? It's basically asking you to do two jobs in one, and having to play and develop a one-handed keyboard playing style could limit you musically. If it's what you want to do, go right ahead, but don't be forced into it because, hey...he's got a keyboard with bass sounds...

[EriJon]

Thx RedLeo... I see your piont!

[Nillerbabs]

Also, from a listener's point of view, if I go to a concert where I can hear bass, I want to see them strings being worked. I do realize that many modern keyboards give you so many good sounds in spades that they could make entire ensembles redundant (only they are only a pale, ridiculous resemblance of real instruments), but to me there's nothing more corny and annoying than a keyboardist playing bass, guitar or brass sounds - unless it's a desired musical effect and not just an imitation of an instrument. We're pianists and/or keyboardists, and I advocate that we play OUR instruments and let others play theirs - or pick up that particular instrument and learn it properly

[DJKeys]

I have to agree. I once had a very successful show band leader call me and offer me a lucrative job playing keyboards. He sent me a video, told me what the pay was, looked great. I was all excited until he told me that he wanted me to kick bass with my left hand. No fun at all, had to turn down that opportunity because I knew I would never be happy doing that.

[z0tt0]

Erik, I have played keys and keyboard bass many times in jazz and jazz-funk styles for many years. It is quite possible on my Stage Classic, and I have grown to like it even better than on the Yamaha S90 I used before. Understand that by playing keyboard bass, you are restricting your ability to solo because you have to 'split your brain' to keep a bass line going when it's your turn to blow. But the jazz Hammond players of the 60's and 70's did it, so you can too. It will greatly improve your groove and soloing skills if you keep at it, but it is very difficult and frustrating at first.

Make yourself some keyboard splits with a synth bass on the left and piano on the right. Transpose the piano down an octave so you can get to the mid range notes below middle C for nice comping chords that are in the correct range. But you will have to learn to space your hands one extra octave apart so it takes getting used to. I found the first synth bass patch on the Stage Classic to be useable, there's another patch with "B" in it that could be used. Tweak the synth patch to try to improve the bass sound, and nobody else will sound like you. Groove with the drummer and learn the bass grooves off the recordings.

Try to find a way to jam with a bass player, too, so you develop that skill, too. A Stage 2 that could play sampled bass would be good, but if synth bass was good enough for Stevie Wonder, it's good enough for you. Good luck and go for it.

[z0tt0]

Check out some Soulive to hear keyboard bass done totally awesomely.

[klavifon]

I play in a soul/blues/r'n'r/pop cover band (it's actually a trio) and I also play bass with my left hand. I tried all sorts of different bass sounds (synth bass, bass guitar sample), but I think that Hammond B3 bass works best in my situation. I use a 88800000 registration, some drive and Leslie speaker on Stop mode. And I also use assignable Ch3, that my soundman can easily mix keyes and bass seperately.

Try this and let me know how it works for you.
Cheers

[kagamul]

What works great for me in my trio is using a Rhodes sound tweaked to sound like a Piano Bass.
The optimum would be to send the bass signal to a dedicated bass preamp or amp.
I always try NOT to sound like a bass guitar (except when I'm playing one) because I don't like "faking" things.

[z0tt0]

And if you're playing bass make sure you play through the big speakers, the best you can afford. Like JBL EON15 or QSC K12. Or a PA with 15 inch speakers. Or a separate bass amp as kagamul wrote. 10 or 8 inch speakers won't cut it for bass unless they are in a dedicated bass amp (I tried a tiny Acoustic Image bass amp once as a keyboard amp and it was great--very expensive though).