What's the deal with short scale basses?
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2024
- Insert Seinfeld joke here.
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They are fun to play but it makes me look like I've got a guitar strapped on, and who wants to look like...them?
This comment! Made me laugh like crazy
Being a guitarist, you almost had yourself owe me this phone that I almost dropped laughing. This feud of ours has a sweet, warm place in my heart. I used to have exchanges like these with my late long time bassist friend. Miss him very much! Cheers
People still mistake basses and guitars regardless, I don't think a short scale makes that more of an issue
😂😂😂
Lol me, i’ve had enough of my giant v strings american jazz bass
You forgot the most important selling point: it looks absolutely ridiculous if you’re a tall person. I’m 6’1”, and it looks like an absolute toy on stage and I love it
My concern is the opposite. I am a 5'6 / 5'7 guy (I am very happy with my body, before anyone tries to bully me) and I have a large, full scale Jazz bass, which is fine to play but I do feel I look a bit ridiculous in it sometimes. Like I'm a kid playing my big brother's bass 😂 So I do like the idea of a shorter, lighter bass.
So I've been looking for something more aesthetically proportionate to me, that doesn't sound like sh*t.
Your drug of choice is cereal, mine is Kit Kat chocolates. You have to make this life livable.
Fully agree.
"...floating in a cloud of hipster smugness." Heh!
👌🏼 Spot on 🤣
Love how this video is edited! Your cutting in and out between tone samples and informative descriptions really helped me understand what the deal is with short scale basses 👌🏼
The issue for me with a normal 34 Inch scale is when I play standing up my short arms and hands struggle reaching notes and stretching my finger along the top of the fretboard. I can raise my strap way higher to reach but that don’t look too cool😂
Raising your strap is going to move the head stock further away! Electric bass is the best invention since sliced bread , and short scales is having a come back like gluten free sour dough (and that oxygenmoronic because you need gluten for the bread to furment ,
I think I should be a baker instead of a musician..
32" scale.bass maybe?
You feel my pain the struggle trying to stretch is just pain
5 string bass will be your best friend. You do not need to strech to reach the Moon for the first 3 frets of E string, you will have them from 5th fret on up on low B.
Dude from Royal Blood does awesome things with his shortys. Keep up the good work.
At first I read "with its shorts"
He plays a Gretsch Jet Junior Electromatic. Relatively inexpensive and has a distinctive growl that I like and is fun to play.
Mike Kerr.
A bass player for a little British outfit called the Rolling Stones - Bill Wyman - played short-scales on most of their early recordings. I believe they had some success...
Framus basses specifically, with their narrow but deep 'broomstick' necks. Some chap called Ronnie Lane in The Small Faces played the excellent Harmony H22, known for it's thumpy sound. Muff Winwood, the bass player with The Spencer Davies Group played one - that's what made the great sounds on Gimme Som Lovin' and Keep On Running.
Also that Jack Bruce fellow & his EB-3. I think there was a guitar player in the group, ol' Whatshisname.
@@aaronsinger That's just silly...
Never heard of them. Must be some blues cover band or something /s
Add Paul McCartney - Beatles, Jack Casady - Jefferson Airplane, Allen Woody - Allman Bros. Jack Bruce - Cream to the list
2:10 it's like the iPhone of basses. Next they'll take out the output jack thing and make you connect to an amp with Bluetooth
Or they make their own type of output jack so can only use a special cable for it and not the ones everyone else is using 🥲
@@quentinmcsloth240 Lightning output jack
@@soulubilityofficial6635 The proprietary Jumpin' Flash Jack. (Maybe I should trademark that.)
That's the comparison I was looking for. Thanks!
I love my Sunburst PJ Mustang. I was recording a song with a friend and he got blown away by the tone I could get out of that thing. Got my hands on a 1978 Mustang with all original pieces, it sounds OLD SCHOOL
I have played bass from the age of 12 to current date and im now 59 years old, i have had many and i mean many different bass guitars, i recently moved to short scale bass and i won't go back, i love it, i have two, one i left all stock and the other i set up for piccolo strings for something different, great video, thanks 👍. (edited because of typo).
Same hear, got a Mustang waiting for a custom Maruszczyk, so much easier to play, a different tone to a long scale but not a bad one.
I am a bass player. I was always against a short scale bass, for reasons you talked about with quality and I really like the long scale. But as I get older, I tried and bought a Sire U5, its really great.
Just bought a Sire U5 as my first bass. I can’t play for sh*t but it’s so much fun trying! 🤣
What strings do you use? I’ve heard Labella flatwounds suit the Sire u5 so I’m going to give them a try.
Short scales are definitely having a moment. Love those Fender PJ Mustang basses, wish I purchased it from CME when it was on sale for $450. Crazy they go for $700 now haha
Yeah, the prices on everything went up pretty dramatically about 4 months ago. Glad I snagged this one when I did.
899$ plus trudeau taxes here in chinada
@@ampthebassplayer I just put a down payment at my local store on what's gonna be my third mustang pj, I love the finishes on the fsr ones, and there are some nice upgrades for them on the aftermarket
Fast forwarded, it is $850 plus tax now in the States.
I have a Gretsch junior jet...very pleased with it and probably short scale for life now
I had a 1983 P-Bass but sold it (for a $500 profit) to get a 2018 Squier J-Bass. I used to think Squier was junk, but not anymore! With the leftover cash, I bought a Squier Jaguar SS 30" short scale, and it quickly became my main bass. I had no idea what to do with the J-Bass until I decided to restring for BEAD tuning. I see no reason to go back to long scale basses. The biggest disadvantage so far is a smaller selection of flatwound strings, but they exist. I think if I lost the discontinued Jag SS, I'd get the Squier replacement: the new Jaguar with a 32" scale.
Short scales are stupid easy to shred on lol, i have 2 shortscale basses, ones a fretless, both guilds.
Got a PJ Mustang in Torino Red, and I love playing me some Vulfpeck as well! And Fine China sounds amazing with the right amount of fuzz.
Cool video here. I recently purchased a short scale acoustic bass, mainly for practice and for the simplicity of just picking it up and being able to play whenever I want without having to plug in and turn things on (though, if I wanted to play through an amp, I would have to plug in but, I digress).
Having played around with it for the past couple months or so, I have really begun to like it more and more. The light weight and nice sound are really growing on me. There were only a few details that I had to address like the fret ends being a little sharp (nothing a little filing for a few minutes couldn't fix), The action needed to be lowered (as expected what with the change in temps during shipping).
Still, the biggest issue for me (and one that I didn't even notice/consider when I ordered it) was the fact that I totally overlooked that it was a short scale bass and as a result, finding short scale acoustic bass strings has been a real chore. The strings it came with were/are fairly generic and I wanted to upgrade to a better set of strings. Now that I have looked for them, it appears that many manufacturers discontinued making them and I could only find mostly electric short scalse bass strings but, not really any acoustic bass strings.
I mean, yes, you can technically use electric bass strings on an acousitc bass but, they will alter the tone of your bass and I was really hoping for a deep yet rich, claar tone that acoustic bass strings bring. I found a lot of acoustic bass strings sets still being offered on many websites... only to se the words, "Sold Out", "Unavailable" or "Discontinued" next to the item. That or the sets being offered were either medium or long scale, mostly. I guess I'm gonna have to get electric short scale strings for it but, I was REALLY dead set on acoustic strings.
Lesson learned. Still not sorry I bought my acoustic bass though. I am loving it and I'm thinking of getting a ZOOM A1XFour pedal for it. I love ZOOM as well, especially their newer products. ZOOM really has come a LONG, positive way since i got my first ZOOM bass pedals (ZOOM 506 & 506 II) around 25 yrs. ago.
Along with my 506's (which are still in great condition after 25 yrs.), I now have the ZOOM B1Four, B1XFour, as well as the G1Four and G1XFour along with a BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppresor and a Trace Elliot Transit B bass preamp pedal. It may not be the latest, most expensive "flavor-of-ANY-month" gear but, I really do love ALL my gear. They're like my kids (if I had kids, haha). Again, cool channel and videos.
This was exactly the information I was looking for thank you
Great video. Got more curious about short-scales. Maybe nice for travel as well... or a headless paddle bass...
I own a 1977 Fender Musicmaster short scale bass, picked it up over 30 years ago for £75 and it's still rockin'.
I do like the look of the short scale but wow the sound difference is huge I much prefer the clarity and high end of the full length
i'm sure that 90% of the sound difference between those two basses are fresher strings on the full scale precision
As a guitarist who also bought a full scale bass a decade ago, followed by unknowingly buying a short scale acoustic bass a few weeks ago - I love the short scale. It's more natural for me to transition from one instrument to the next, and lots of fundamental skills are simplified, particularly string muting. It built my confidence on bass, but also reinforced things I've learnt on guitar as well.
They are wonderfull.
I have an intermediate 32 inch scale, and two 34 inch. Love’em all. Thinking of getting a Gretsch Junior Jet…
I loooooooooove my Sterling by MusicMan SS Bass in Olympic White. Sounds amazing! So easy to play since guitar is my primary instrument. Even my OOO Martin is short scale.
Explaining the difference in upper harmonics would be a main point in having a video like this.
Can bass string gauges influence this in any way?
I bought a squire mini precision, put in a fender pure vintage pickup, swapped the bridge to a fender himass, then the tuners and nut. Plays and sounds killer, and ended up costing me just 250$.
I’ve become a little obsessed with short scales. I have a jazz bass ultra and actually thinking of selling it for a short scale Sandberg. Short scale just fits with my style and is way more comfortable for getting all of the neck. But options are limited. Play a Gretch Jet II now. It’s sweet, but a little cheap feeling.
Those are cheap, I had one and ended up selling it, replaced it with the double cutaway short scale hollowbody, much better playing and sounding, and it looks and feels like you'd expect a Gretsch to
Squier Modified Jaguar SS is my go-to bass... great sound, super playability 😎
I've got one too - with half-rounds - love it!
I think it’s definitely a preference thing. I had a beautiful diamond series p bass full scale and ruined myself by picking up a short scale stingray at long and mcquade. I’m short as heck and used to be a guitar player so any way you slice it the short scale is just more comfortable for somebody like me. That Ernie ball I tried in the store got sold within a week. So I ordered on a Sterling and put it up against my p bass and there was no comparison to which was easier/ more fun to play and the Sterling cut through a mix way better. I have three Sterling short scales now lol
I’ve been looking at testing an maybe buying a Fender mustang for it’s sound and short scale. Did some experimenting on my long scale bass, tuned it down from E->D and put a capo on the second fret, that way I “faked” almost a short scale. Wow so easy it was to move around the fretboard. Now I want to come out Ymir quarantine and try a short scale for real.
Thanks for the vid, I never realised the big tone difference between short and long scales! I'm a guitar player mostly, I picked up a cool early 70's Les Paul shape Coronet short-scale bass, it's easier for me to play as I am used to that size neck, I'm wondering what gauge strings to put on it? I'm thinking lighter cos it's smaller but we all know logic and guitars doesn't always go right - like the first string being the lowest one (!). What guage do you put on you shorties? Cheers
GHS Brite Flats are terrific. I have them on several short-scale basses.
Mault o meal is the best cereal. Most value and tastes the same as its branded counter part. Love it! Im right there with u. I buy one of those bags and its gone in like 4 bowls (my siZe bowls lol)
I went to short scale because of a bad shoulder. I love my Sire U5. Definitely worth it if you can find one.
My uncle has an Alembic from the 70's that I think is a 28" scale, it's very short scale. Build quality on it is excellent, and it's made out of top notch woods.
I really dig the tone of short scale basses, but they're difficult for me to play. I don't know why. I guess I'm just use to long scale.
There's definitely a bit of an adjustment. I played guitar before bass so going between different instruments and scale lengths hasn't ever been too much of an issue for me. I can definitely see that being a problem if you don't spend a lot of time with short scales though.
I don't know who joe dart is. I love my 1968 and 1973 Fender telecaster basses, but I just bought an SD Curlee bass in bits. Looks like 32.5 scale will rear its shorter scale head around here soon.
berry colossal crunch with marshmallows... the ultimate sensory overload
They're a whole thing lol
thank you for the comparison with a P bass, i was hesitant between the two and they sound very different, P bass it is then.
My son has the Ibanez Mikro bass and it's a sweet little bass... I'm thinking about putting some Quarter Pounders in it
As an older person (64YO) I find the reduced suppleness in my left wrist is rendered pain-free when I play a short-scale bass. I can still play a regular guitar, but a long-scale bass is painful.
I happen to own the very Fender you have in this video, just not flippin pink and I love this bass, tone and all 👶 boy. I recommend this instrument to anyone who wants to play and loves the bass guitar. Keep it Funky everywhere you go 😎...
The difference in sound is quite audible. But anything such can be handled by different amps and eq:s and stuff right?
I really like playing short scale basses. My go to practice bass is a SX P-Bass copy from 12 years ago. I would like to get a 5 string short scale like the mikro or mezzo (from Ibanez) but I have to find them in stock to try them out and that is proving to be more difficult than it should...
Getting a good low B on a short scale is tricky. I've heard good ones on Serek's, but they're expensive custom made basses.
@@ampthebassplayer Yeah, I know that might be a problem... That's why I wanted to try them out before... I heard good things about the Ibanez Mezzo ones. There's also a talman that is 5 string and short scale but I was able to play the 4 string model and it was very crapply made in some things (nut, for one).
I have too many 4 stringers... I wanted a 5 stringer but I also wanted short scale. Maybe I need to get one of each :x
@@edbrito-swdev On the TalkBass forum, I've read good reviews of the short scale Ibanez 5-string.
@@kijekuyo9494 the tmb35, the smrd 205 or the mikro? They have those 3 short scales... 32, 30 and 28.6 inch scales, respectively.
@@edbrito-swdev It was this one, the TMB35 with a 30" scale. www.ibanez.com/na/products/detail/tmb35_1p_01.html Here's the forum page that mentions it. www.talkbass.com/threads/the-official-short-scale-bass-club-part-4.970319/page-221
Bought my first base 4 months ago. Gretsch short scale. I absolutely love it. After playing guitar for 40 years short scale was recommended. I doubt I’ll ever play anything else. Next one in the cross hairs is a mustang.
I have the same one, in shell pink
The Ibanez GSRMs are really good. :)
I got me one of those as my first bass.
Walnut finish, black hardware.
Dark looks befitting the dark, warm sound.
I absolutely LOVE it!
I wanna try one with Flatwounds on it, just to see if I need one.
I wanna downtune to drop A to Drop c# someone help me out, there’s nothing on yt about it
Paul McCartney still uses his Hofner short-scale bass...
The CIJ Mustang basses are superb, especially when strung with flatwounds.
What song does he play at 2:40? It sounds like vulfpeck, but I cannot find any of their songs that has this riff
Disco Ulysses
I remember how good was the epiphone rumblecat in my hands... one of the best basses I ever played. Shorties are better than their fame. And today's tech can give em the punch they didn't reach in the sixties
I love that squire mini bass. I’m not sure but I think it’s shorter than short scale.
I got a short scale bass for only 200 dollars and it comes with all accessories that you need for a bass except an amp and it's also on a trusted website
Jazz Bass Legend Stanley Clarke has played an Alembic Short-Scale for almost his entire multi-grammy-winning career; so there is a legit place for them outside of students and smaller folks as Stanley himself is a tall guy with big hands. The only downside I see to them is if you try to play drop D and that low string will get a bit sloppy compared to a 34" bass; otherwise the darker tone of a short-scale (especially with some flat wounds) is great.
Shorter scale to cereals. Got it. 😊
The music man my shot scale sounds Just like my long scale
Short scales are an awesome addition to anyone's collection. Definitely jonesing for a JMJ Mustang.
The only thing to bear in mind is that if you are looking for a cheat code because you have poor left hand technique then you will just carry that to short scale.
When you hear players talking about long stretches then the first thing is to learn you shouldn't be stretching, you should be using micro shifts etc.
im looking into getting into bass i found the actual bass and amp im considering but how would you start learning? id like to find a free way to i know one of my favorite bassists are self tought so how would you do that?
If you're going the self taught route, I would just learn as many songs as you can. Find players that inspire you and copy their technique. For free learning resources, I like Josh over at Bass Buzz. He has a paid course, but his free videos here on UA-cam are also really really good.
@@ampthebassplayer I agree. I'm a mediocre drummer at best and I go by "It's not how much you know it's how well you know the songlist" and because of that everyone is impressed and I'm a paid drummer. When I audition I always get the material first and learn it well enough to play the gig b4 I audition... I say I'm only mediocre because of the awesome drummers I see on youtube lol. And since I also play some bass and piano, my drum timing is tight. lol I learned about that trying to play piano to my own drum tracks.
The new stingray short scales are amazing
I'm 6'2" with large hands. I've put my beloved P bass away. The short scale basses are the most comfortable to play.
Hey men thankxx .. Learn something today ...about shot scale and standard ..scale bases...
It's a good idea to mention a couple notable short scale players: Paul McCartney. Les Claypool.
berry colossal crunch is and should be considered an addictive substance
I have a pink gretsch electromatic. I love it 🙂
Small hands and old here *cough*. Short scale works for me. I have a 2004 Squire Mustang bass ($240.00 delivered). Squire really upped their game in the early 2000s,to be sure. The build quality,fit and finish,and overall look/feel of this "bargain" bass is wonderful. Down the road I may upgrade to the Chris Novak "FAT" pups.
I have a Glarry copycat bronco style bass. Gave 67 for it new, put in a 20 dollar "50s tele" pickup and changed the capacitor from 0.047 to 0.1.
For what I paid, I was expecting an absolute turd, but overall, it's acceptable.
I first thought your bag of cereals was a bag of dog food ;-)
It’s not far off! Too much sugar for dogs though.
@@ampthebassplayer I love that shit way too much too, thanks god we're not dogs
I thought you were gonna break out into Charlotte the Harlot by IM. for a second.
I'm a lazy f*** and I need a shortscale to minimize practice time :D
Is this ironic it serious?
Sometimes the sound and quality sacrifice of a short-scale bass is worth it when you can actually do the things you need to do that couldn’t do on a standard scale. If learning on a regular scale bass has never been a problem for you, then you really can’t fully understand.
There isnt a sound and quality sacrifice its just a different sound it comes down to preference
Is a short scale base the same thing as a 3/4 size base. I really need to know this is my question. Okay I am told that they are not the same.. I welcome answers and comments about this
I usually only see size expressed in quarters in orchestra instruments and not so much in electric bass. The most common ones you’ll see are full scale (34”) medium scale (32”) and short scale (30”). Shorter basses exist, but they don’t really have a common name and will usually just say the scale length in inches.
I've got tiny hands...what's the deal with that!
Lol
I didn’t want to get a short scale but I eventually caved because all the cool basses are short scale
I'm conflicted. I like the sound of my höfner but the fell of my jazz. Damn. Good I have both, haha
What is your bass??
Worth noting that some vintage Fender Mustangs are well made, quality instruments...
Ever heard of an eb-3?...some well-known players have used them, Jack Bruce, Glenn Cornick, Andy Fraser, Bill Wyman among others
@@jasondorsey7110 Yes - the SG bass.
Deep and dark-sounding; isn't that what bass should be? For those concerned about the looks of a shorty on stage: buy a Squier Paranormal Rascal, which is longer than many long scale basses.
Sir Paul McCartney played a short scale bass so............
Bass so kawaii
Here are some good reasons to buy a shorty: Flatwound strings require greater tension for standard tuning. On a 34" bass this increased tension is very noticeable. The strings will become much stiffer.
At first, it will feel like you're pressing down on rods rather than pliable strings. It is much harder to bend flatwounds strings on a 34" bass. A beginner probably won't even try. If your action is somewhat high, flats can be quite a workout for your hands on a 34" bass. One last downside is this: If you check your setup after installing flats on a 34" bass, you will most like find that you have to relieve the truss rod, because the neck will almost certainly bow under the tension of the flatwounds. You need to be careful when installing flats for the first time on a 34" bass, because if your truss rod is already tight, you could crack your neck. Not likely, but it's possible.
Shortscale basses have the opposite problem. A shorty strung with roundwounds can feel a bit too loose and floppy for some people. However, if easy bends are really your thing, then a shorty with rounds is very easy to bend on, like almost too easy.
This brings us to the real sweet spot for short scale basses. Flatwound strings on a shortscale bass are a match made in heaven. Since flatwounds require more tension and shorties with rounds are a bit loose and floppy, your problems are solved. Flats on a shorty will be tighter than rounds, but the strings will probably still be more bendable than a 34" bass, even with roundwounds. So, now you end up with bass that has easy to bend flats.
The other plus of flats on a shorty is that they increase that dull, low end thump that you heard in this video. If you like that sound and you don't mind the loss of brightness, then this is the perfect combo. If you're into 50s, 60s and 70s Rock and Soul music, then get a shorty with flats as as your main bass or as a backup bass for older styles.
I think I'm buying one today. Max budget of $300, $400 if I'm just dazzled.
3" goes a long way
Hofner style short scales are fun to play
i would love to see a left handed one 🙄
Thing is the whole 34" as standard is arbitrary anyways. There's no real reason to it other than "it's always been this way"
you can swing that bass without hurting someone
It's not the point of the video so the history part was understandably simplified.
Up until the affirmation of Fender in the middle 60s, the early electric bass guitars were often "short scale" (Gibson, Höfner, Burns, ...).
There were no standard measures for a newborn instrument held like a guitar and substituting the acoustic double bass.
Fender imposed itself because of good designs applied to simple production (also ergonomics, sound and maintenance).
When the big Fender basses became the reference, the short scales looked like toys because of the size and the quality differing from those.
Longer scale means more overtones and clarity, the limit being the playability for a guitarist.
For reference, a spanish guitar scale length is 65cm, a double bass ~105cm. Today a short bass is considered being around 76cm, a medium 81cm, Leo Fender chose 86.
But remember, this was for an instrument meant to sound like a double bass, rubbery and with little sustain, using flatwound strings and amp/cabinet technology in its infancy.
In the 70s bass amps started getting better and roundwound strings were becoming popular, giving new sounds to the instrument (slap technique, metal, Pastorius, ...).
Fender basses had set the standard and were/are partially copied by most guitar brands (with its scale length too).
Later, underground, a few players and makers were trying new designs: after all, virtually, brighter/better sounding amps and strings don't need that huge scale anymore.
But the "shorty stigma" and the electronic synthesizers probably diverged the attention, as well as instruments effectively targeted at children size.
Now the macho-bass mentality of big, heavy, hard instruments is finally waning, though in the market there are not many short and medium scale basses. And many of them are not well thought instruments, being often 60s bass replicas or combining with other features that do not make justice to the potential playability.
Interestingly, in the 80s Fender/Squier in Japan made literally scaled down versions of Precision and jazz bass (the whole intrument with the right proportions), offering short and medium scale. It was a great success, to the confusion of the american division. They were discontinued and recently only the Jazz bass re-got this treatment for the Japanese market. Those 80s intruments are very prized today (lucky the owners!).
In conlusion, scale length matters only relatively and what should matter is having fun playing an ergonomic instrument. (And anyway Fenders' designs are good but not perfect). Let's hope that new serious short and medium scale basses will be conceived soon. And that Fender remakes those wonderful small Precisions!
Huzzah
eating cereal is a one-way cancer ticket
Dude I think this is the first time I've actually seen the bottom half of your face
Gotta ditch the Viking beard for a more summertime look!
I am not man enough to play a pink bass, and that's is a sad realization that makes everything worse.
no mention of frets or notes whatever
No idea what you mean. Short scales have the exact same notes and frets as standard basses.
@@ampthebassplayer so ur making vids for people who already know these things
@@iknowthisone6844 No, I'm making videos for people to fact check me on dumb shit to feed their egos.
BARNEY MILLER
I am thinking of tuning my short scale bass to B-E-A-D tuning... Is this bad idea?
It’s possible to get a short scale to sound good at low tunings. Serek makes a short scale 5 string that (from their demos) sounds incredible. That is a $3000 bass though so YMMV. Even so, give it a whirl and see if you like it! Worst case scenario, you have to replace your nut to go back to standard tuning and you’ll be out a set of strings.
just like fiiiiine china
#shortscalelife
"hipster smugness" THANK YOU. Thank you for finally saying this. It has to be said. Dart is good no doubt but I absolutely hate that hipster bullshit.
Those vids that just don’t add anything.
Those comments that just don't add anything.
@@ampthebassplayer well you just proved otherwise.