Bleak - Opeth - Bass Guitar Solo Cover

Here's my rendition of Bleak off Opeth's Blackwater Park album. Although I love the music, I don't take a lot of influence from heavy metal bass players. However, Martin Mendez is certainly one of the few. I love the way he is able to craft his lines around the guitars and drums, and not religiously sticking to them -- unless of course it's in the best interest of the song. He is able to add great melodic, rhythmic and dynamic playing into his lines, whilst still keeping the power and groove solid. I think this song shows off all these points well. Especially groove in the 'chorus' (if you can call it that) section -- the natural funk player inside me couldn't sit still and I probably over did that bit!
For this song I've got a slight bit of distortion on my tone. If I was playing this song live or recording it in the studio, I'd use a slightly thicker tone to pack out the bottom end a bit more. I chose this tone as you can hear what I'm doing a little easier.
As ever, all comments and opinions are appreciated.
-Rob Bob

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Opeth
• Bleak
• Blackwater
• Park
• Heavy
• Metal
• Bass
• Guitar
• Solo
• Cover
• Rob
• Bob
• Music
• Morrisby
• RobBobMusic

[SUPERTOUCHOX2]

what sort of settings are you using? i use fingerstyle and i play in a technical-ish metal/prog band. since weve got a lot heavier im finding a little hard to get my tone to cut through and at some venues it ends up being very muddy (partly due to the sound guy).

[RobBobMusic]

Hey man - thanks for watching the video and for the comment. This tone is from a Line6 POD XT. The thing that gives it the crunch and punch is a slight bit of distortion. I think the setting mimics a Tech21 Sansamp. I think the (untraditionally metal) guitar helps come out a bit too. Try adding a bit of gain to your sound - see if that helps and if not tell them guitar players to turn down! Thanks again for watching. -Rob

[PATEv4]

s1ck c0v3r man

[RobBobMusic]

ch33r5 m8!

[seb2112]

Although I'm not a huge Opeth fan, I envy their bassist, their laid back prog-rock orriented feel leaves a lot more room for grooves and walkings than most metal bands. Nice vid

[RobBobMusic]

Yeah man I know what you mean about envying him - its a sweet gig! Thanks for watching. -Rob

[Exylum123]

how can you not like opeth?

[jharahul]

i play bass myself. . you are a cool player dude. keep it up !!

[PARIAH805]

Do you have tabs for this? At least for the main riff? The ones on the web suck and I can't seem to get it right by myself. Great cover man!

[squiresuzuki]

@SUPERTOUCHOX2 Just turn up your mids and turn down your lows.

[aggeliki5z]

nice description of martin mendez!awesome cover too,keep it up!

[TelmoBass665]

at 3:55 it really looked like funk in sort of a way x'DD

the rest is really nice ;) keep going

[TheHynza]

nice cover. iyou should cover blackwater park.

[Exylum123]

@hojima Vocals are the best part...

[hojima]

@Exylum123 Easy. The vocals.

[SideWays8Productions]

Read the description, and I couldn't agree more with the Mendez bit. When I write songs for my band, I'm the same way. The bass is always doing something different off to the side, that fits with me guitar/drum parts. Excellent bass tone, and playing! Join my band? Haha post more Opeth stuff!

[MrBlack1368]

best "bleak" bass cover

[DrumBum561]

whats this tuning, and where can I get these tabs