Better Bass Tone with “The Producer Switch” (costs $0)

What if you could flip a switch to magically get the perfect bass tone for any song? The power is in your plucking hand...

Where you place your plucking hand has just as much power as buying new gear or turning knobs. In this lesson I’ll show you Lee Sklar’s secret “producer switch” so you can stop GAS’ing and confidently pick the right tone for the music.

You’ll hear plenty of demos of how these positions sound in the video - plus I’ll show you the frequency spectrum while I change position, so you can actually *see* the difference in tone.

Then we’ll dig into how you can actually learn to use the right position at the right time. I’ll spill the beans on which one’s the most common (and safest) plucking position in most styles of music, plus an easy cheatsheet for deciding when to move to your other plucking zones.

Finally, I’ll let you test these positions in three different styles of music, so you can start to get a feel for how they affect the sound in a band context. Play along with me in the video, and then make sure you use that Soundcloud link above to really dig in and absorb the power of “the producer switch.”

#basstone #TheProducerSwitch #LeeSklarRocks

[BassBuzz]

Sorry for spilling the beans Lee, I hope no producers are watching… 🕵

Timestamps for this lesson:
0:00 - Lee Sklar’s “Producer Switch”
1:20 - The Physics of Plucking Position
1:55 - Setting Up Your Producer Switch
3:36 - The Switch in Action: Reggae Playalong
5:48 - Disco Playalong
6:45 - Rock Playalong

[cactustactics]

Reminds me of an engineering story where they taped some labels onto a mixer that wasn't connected to anything, and let the band members "tweak their tone" until they were happy with where it sat in the mix

[panictryouts]

"Moving your hand alone in your room wont really cut it" The shades and the sound effect had me dying!

[mitchfindergeneral]

Probably one of the most important bass lessons online right here.

[DonyaLane]

Back in the 90s in NYC, my husband was an assistant engineer at the legendary Skyline Studios. Their tech & maintenance staff had a good sense of humor, and they left a "dead" button on all the consoles that read: ELTEE. It was the Everything Louder Than Everything Else button.

[cajunpyro]

I know we've never met but you just became my online bass teacher.

[marunikusbakufu]

Lee has a signature bass with a producer switch that lights up. The final setting is the middle finger! So apropos!

[fibwick]

You're a saint for making these free videos! Thanks!

[tonybp]

This reminded me of the numerous articles I've read about how many production houses always end up recording with a Precision Bass because of the tone, and how several session bassists recommend buying a Precision because of this. I always found that weird, they sound like a commercial for Fender. Maybe all it's needed is Lee's switch.

[insertmetalusernamehere]

Just wanted to let you know that because of your videos I've picked up a bass for the first time in 20 years. You're awesome man. Thanks for what you do.

[philallen]

Love the great instruction and advice, but also the humour and accessible format. Thanks, Josh!

[mysterj]

Great content, and a tip I think EVERY bass player ought to learn almost as soon as they start playing. Another tip: Before you mess with your room EQ, try hand placement.

[insanedrummer]

Dude major probs. You started the YouTube game super late and still dominated the bass education area. Best bass teacher on YouTube easy. I never even knew about this... great info!

[jehandelange]

Congratulations on 300k Josh, so happy for you! :)

[judih.]

I sorta figured this out recently, but this video really demonstrates the impact of moving your plucking hand. Thanks Josh!

[unclewormwood]

Still the best channel on YouTube. I might be biased because I play the bass guitar.
But I made it incredibly difficult for myself for over a decade playing in live bands and recording, too smart to learn music theory.

I started with this guy. Forgot everything I thought I knew and leveled-up. also learned that better gear doesn't make you sound any better.

[HaineAoW]

I've been self-teaching myself how to play bass, and I am sure I am slaughtering the hell out of the technique, but your video's are a godsend. For the longest time I noticed the differences on where you play, but it never dawned upon me that they were legit techniques. Now I know where to look out for in songs and how to apply this to make my tone sound better. Thanks for all you do, and keep rocking on!

[Canonmm]

That's an important topic! Thanks for bringing it up :)

This video has one dislike at the moment - looks like the Producer Josh discovered about the Magic switch that does nothing ;)

[lightfootmusick]

if you are playing a $50 ibanez the knobs and switches already won't do anything.

[tom_something]

1:20 - The physics for this stuff gets really interesting, because when you pluck a string from a particular position, the string actually solves sort of a math puzzle for us. Normally, a string would move the most at its midpoint. But that's if the string is just ringing at its base frequency. It can also ring at multiples of that frequency. When you pluck the string from any place than the center, the string almost sort of goes back in time and says, "wait, how can the peak of the string be here (where the player's finger plucked it)? Oh, it must be a mix of the different frequencies that I can ring at, and we just happen to be looking at it at a moment in time where it looks kinked as a result." And so the string will play its various frequencies in just the right proportions to "explain" what happened.

The deep-dive physics get more complicated, because the string can be not just pulled perpendicular but stretched laterally. Then there's internal friction, and the fact when we pull the string it doesn't have the exact perfect shape to match the "solution". But it's all good. That just explains why when you watch the visualization of the string ringing, the proportions of the frequencies chance over time as it rings out. And that's part of the character of the sound, too.