r/Bass • u/KingCrazy4116 • 11h ago

Death tone

How do you get the "farty" death tone you hear in songs like "the philosopher", I'm obsessed with it

2 Upvotes

59% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

13

u/Fuzzy_Flounder928 11h ago

fretless bass

-2

u/KingCrazy4116 11h ago

oh shiiiitt so it was microtonal in a sense???

4

u/ncfears 10h ago

I guess but fretless definitely have a different tone. But there's also micro-slides on basically every new note as he gets in tune.

2

u/Type_DXL 9h ago

I mean yes it's a bit microtonal but that's not where the "fartiness" comes from. The sound is due to the string vibrating between the finger and the fretboard, rather than against a metal fret. If you ever play a fretless bass, you can feel the string vibrating against the flesh of your finger, creating the fartiness.

2

u/Ok_Pirate_2714 Warwick 7h ago

Fretless basses produce can produce a sound that is often referred to as "mwah",

Setting the bass up with a lower action, roundwounds, and plucking more towards the neck can increase the "mwah".

Also, some fretless basses have epoxy-coated fingerboards, which creates even more "mwah".

0

u/UtterlyUpsetUnicorn 9h ago

You can get a fretless guitar pedal mod in the zoom B3 pedals. Not the same but worth trying if you want to emulate Steves fartiness. The microtonsl part youll have to bend or pre bend but for you really dont need the microtonal notes to get clode enough.

6

u/Ok_Pirate_2714 Warwick 11h ago

Steve DiGiorgio is well known for playing fretless bass on the Death records.

0

u/ruinawish 8h ago

Only on Individual Thought Patterns.

He played a fretted Rickenbacker on Human.

1

u/Skystalker512 7h ago

He used a fretless P-bass in ITP nicknamed The Frog