A few years ago, New Zealand bass player and Nissan enthusiast Cary Moore had this bass built, based on a Rodney Matthews painting - or as he puts it "copied from a poster of aliens playing far out instruments live on Mars". But unlike the bass in the poster, Cary's bass only has two strings: "The E and the A string is all a bass player should need to do the job properly,If you want to play fancy stuff on the skinny strings then you should be playing lead guitar.I also have another standard bass that I have pulled the d and g strings off the guitar but it has no impact live like this beast." (Thanks Tommy)
7/22/2005
Man builds two-string bass inspired by aliens
A few years ago, New Zealand bass player and Nissan enthusiast Cary Moore had this bass built, based on a Rodney Matthews painting - or as he puts it "copied from a poster of aliens playing far out instruments live on Mars". But unlike the bass in the poster, Cary's bass only has two strings: "The E and the A string is all a bass player should need to do the job properly,If you want to play fancy stuff on the skinny strings then you should be playing lead guitar.I also have another standard bass that I have pulled the d and g strings off the guitar but it has no impact live like this beast." (Thanks Tommy)
he's got a point about the skinny bass strings.
ReplyDeletesurely it's way too thin to produce a ballsy sound worthy of an interstellar rock band?
ReplyDeleterealistically though, as great as it looks, in an artistic/creative way, i can imagine that he just looks daft playing it next to the rest of the band...
unless, of course they have matching instruments from the poster...
it would be alot cooler if the design innovations were functional rather than purely aesthetic
ReplyDeleteI don't know, having two strings is a functional innovation, sort of...
ReplyDeleteHa, nice! I've always thought someone should make Rodney Matthews instruments! I saw some drums he designed that looked pretty cool...
ReplyDeleteAlso, re: skinny bass strings; there's always the Lightning Bolt method of replacing the top one with a banjo string!!
ReplyDeleteHe needs the hat. Interstellar mofo's accessorize their hats and guitars.
ReplyDeleteThe guy from the Misfits tuned his bass EAEA, and he sucked too. So don't feel bad, Mr. two-strings! Just keep at it and you'll be playin' a non-retarded bass in no time!
ReplyDeleteI guess he really likes making 7 fret stretches to play octaves.
ReplyDeletePersonally, this strikes me as kinda "full grown man plays D&D" lame, and his remarks on this two string creation only lead me to think he's a total twit.
"And here's a drum kit I had modelled from Bam-Bam, only snare and hi-hat. You want to play bass, get a two stringed ego thing of your own. Sheena E proved that snare and hi-hat are all a true musician needs."
Uhhh, seems like the instrument in the painting has four tuning pegs, I wonder why he didn't make it a four string?
ReplyDeleteLooks a lot like a set of guitars Mosrite made for the Strawberry Alarm Clock - check this link out (move your cursor over the guitar image to see close-ups of different parts):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.themomi.org/museum/mfa/celebrity_guitars/1967_Mosrite_Electric_Guit.html
cheers
I remember there was a Danish hair band called D:A:D that made it onto MTV when I was a teenager. The bass player played custom Fender basses with only two strings, but I think they were only the higher two "skinny" ones! In fact, the band still might be around. Look at this link at count the tuning pegs:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.t-rex-engineering.com/default.asp?show=page&id=2441
is it just me or does this guy look like steve jobs?
ReplyDeleteSince I am having a 9 string bass made I would normal have dig at a 2 string bass but I have to say Mark Sandman from morphine did some quite cool stuff with only 2 strings.
ReplyDeleteDAD stands for 'Disneyland After Dark'. Seems like the 'struts' on this guys two-string bass resemble the single strut on the Roland G707 synth controller guitar (or the '77' bass model, actually) which can be seen here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.helpwantedproductions.com/guitsyn.htm
Two strings or ten; whatever. Who cares? Some of the greatest bass lines were played on one or two strings of four string basses.
Oh... I never saw a photo of anyone playing the 707 in a 'real' (vs staged) situation except for one of the guys from Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and anyway, he probably only used it as a guitar, not a synth, and probably just for the looks. Not that they weren't musical geniuses or anything.
ReplyDeleteI saw Mick Jones playing a 707 live with Big Audio Dynamite once, but yes, he was only using it as a guitar.
ReplyDeleteThe Presidents of the United states of America also uses a 2 string "bass". They call it a "basitar" though. It is actually a guitar with the nut filed open to fit bass strings. I actually have a guitar scale bass that I strung and tuned like this, and it was a blast to play!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the two string thing. How many times is there a bass line that actually even uses 3?
To the person above, I hate you.
ReplyDeleteyah, more than 2 strings just arent needed on a bass.
ReplyDeleteJohn Myung and Les Claypool really arent that talented, man, they need all those string just to be good... Jaco sucked 'cause he used all four.
i use three to four bass strings in a line sometimes, and I'm not even a virtuoso player like Claypool or Jaco
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about? As I recall, even Claypool plays a one string bass every once in a while. I'm not saying 4, 5, 6 or whatever stings aren't sometimes necessary, I'm just saying you can do a lot with just 2.
ReplyDeletewhat he said about the skinny strings is a load of rubbish!
ReplyDeletebasicaly you're not good enough 2 use the!
all basses are very needed, from a 1 (E) string bass (which i have, but only because the other 3 (a,d,g) are missing), to the 11 string. one could make a argument thats all you need, is 1 (E)string, after all you can play in every key at least 2 octaves with 23 frets, and its a simple way to learn the fretboard. personally, I like to see a 2 string bass tuned, C#, F#,
ReplyDeletelove ivan
Alright Let Me Just Say That Cary Moore the Guy That said "The E and the A string is all the bass player should need to do the job properly, If you want to play fancy stuff on the skinny strings the you should be playing lead guitar"......is an idiot...the biggest idiot i've ever heard in my life........honestly. First of anybody who thinks that all you need is two strings to play bass "properly" is a dumbass. Second I HATE it when people rip on bassplayers saying that we are just to dumb to play a six string guitar. But I REALLY HATE when another bassist rips on all bassplayers by saying that all you need is 2 strings to play properly...thats like saying were all dumbasses like you Cary....so screw you Retard who cant even play a 4 string and classify people who make creative music with their "skinny strings"....Screw You
ReplyDeleteP.S. the bass does look pretty cool though
A 2 string bass? What a great excuse for not being able to play!
ReplyDeleteThe bass is pretty cool but it's a pity there are people who think like this...
ReplyDeleteI play bass professionally and i use a 6-string bass. Honestly, i HATE bass players who can only play one note per bar, in just one octave (that's why 2 strings are enough for that idiot).
The bass is not a low guitar. It's a different instrument, and therefore has nothing to do with playing lead guitar. Where did the beautiful bass lines go? Bass is not accompaniment... it's melody as well as harmony, unlike the guitar.
Anyway... let's see how this all ends!
Darius.
Does anyone else remember that japanese group where there were six people playing one-string guitars on a huge sculptural piece?
ReplyDeleteThey could have used some nice space-hats.
i'm CARY I am looking for someone named Cary who might want to buy my bass with my name and yours: cary on the fretboard. Its an American made 1979 P Bass made into a fretless epoxied fretboard. i also changed the pickguard. you can find it on ebay (reserve is only 500.U.S.$) put the following in search; FENDER p Bass US 79fretless maple maple maple SUNBURST
ReplyDeletei'm CARY I am looking for someone named Cary who might want to buy my bass with my name and yours: cary on the fretboard. Its an American made 1979 P Bass made into a fretless epoxied fretboard. i also changed the pickguard. you can find it on ebay (reserve is only 500.U.S.$) put the following in search; FENDER p Bass US 79fretless maple maple maple SUNBURST
ReplyDeleteCARY I am looking for someone named Cary who might want to buy my bass with my name and yours: cary on the fretboard. Its an American made 1979 P Bass made into a fretless epoxied fretboard. i also changed the pickguard. you can find it on ebay (reserve is only 500.U.S.$) put the following in search; FENDER p Bass US 79fretless maple maple maple SUNBURST
ReplyDeleteGune de schlert ni wass '2 strining bass' ofensa du aliens! Smaka du rulni di coffense o'brigen till mes relm.
ReplyDeleteright i hav to admit it looks pretty cool, but u r a fool to think u only need to strings i play bass and quite francly without my two baby strings id have problems and as u say i should play lead i seem to remeber all bass strings a deeper than electric strings yer u can play em high but thats not the point basses are ment to have 4 or more strings if ur gonna have 2 strings go play some indiam music. if u wanna hit the full range of notes u need at least the four strings and mybe 5, 6 is taking it to far but 4 or 5 i could understand maybe even 3 but 2 strings man get a life innovative idea, NO fool with to much money trying to show off and be different your an idiot get a real bass not something fancy. i know what why dont u get a p bass or a j bass and get some custom artwork done dont be an idiot and get tht thing made ull just end up hurting urself or someone in ur band or even worse a crowd member and the beems on the outside of the neck are a stupid idea also in the occasion that you may need to look at ur neck to see what ur playing that blocks your view man get some new glasses the youll see where uve gone wrong.
ReplyDeletelots of love Davey
I don't see how you can criticize this man. I think it's childish since I doubt any of you have heard him play. Music isn't about how many notes you can play, it's about creativity in sound. If he doesn't need four strings to do so, I congradulate him.
ReplyDeleteI love to keep the base line simple and basic, this is my preference not everyone's.Here is a link to mp3.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pouringrain.co.nz/music_mp3.htm
This is probably an ancient post but I don't care. I got irritated by all the "cool" people here who are cutting on Cary's really COOL bass. I only use 2-3 strings most of the time - and mostly 2. We all have our own styles - that's the beauty of music. If we all played slap bass or if we all played fancy bass rifs on 4 (or 5+) string bass guitars, wouldn't it be rather boring? Anyway, I know the harsh responses this would receive if I had answered this during this active discussion, and I also know the mentality behind those responses. But who cares? And you'd probably throw me to the wolves knowing I'm a woman. Hee hee hee. Must go practice now.
ReplyDeleteyo, this is the most retarded looking bass i've ever seen in my life.
ReplyDeleteWell, the bass-player in D:A:D has three strings; a D string, an A string, and another D string.
ReplyDelete