Malignant Narcissism cover RUSH S&A Fender Squire P Bass demo

Malignant Narcissism is a short instrumemtal from the Snakes and Arrows album by RUSH. I was surprised at how hard it was to come up with what I consider to be a "presentable" recording.
My continuing study of RUSH and their music takes me down a new and different road, it seems, for every new song that I attempt.

This particular one, setting aside all comments regarding technique, I focus my commentary on recording.
I know I don't have pro equipment, it's just a digital camera, my stereo, and my amp, but getting enough separation of the notes so the recording wasn't too muddy was very difficult. It's a fast

song. Playing technique goes a long way but beyond that microphone positioning, room size, amp size, volume levels,... it was all very difficult to arrive at a good balance. Even now I don't

think it's perfect, but one day I'll have a decent studio set-up. Until then, this will have to do.

This bass is a Fender "Squire" P Bass with a Rumble 15 amp. This one made in Indonesia. I have a Bassman 100 amp (in the background), but I couldn't get it to sound very good for this

recording. It appears to be too big for this room that I'm in and I couldn't get that separation that I mentioned earlier. I upgraded the pickups to BassLines brand, an instant upgrade. Fuller

sound but I thought a tonal improvement in the low end would be better than actually realized. I want to be able to play the "E" string low on the neck like around 10th fret and higher without

losing so much sound quality. The pickups were definitely worth it at $70.

Special thanks to duilkin for some pointers on this song. Check him out on YouTube.

Category:

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[TheShad0w12]

this is totally what i would love to learn to do once i buy my bass good job man!!

[vtx1300dave]

@TheShad0w12 Thanks, this was a fun one to do, and yes, I'm still working on it. Oddly enough the more I listen the more I learn. Geddy is really good.

[2112SeanCoyne]

Fantastic

[vtx1300dave]

@2112SeanCoyne Fantastic? Huge thanks man. The music or the dancing? :)

[RushFan413]

are you using a fretless?

[vtx1300dave]

@RushFan413 Thanks for checking out this one. No, this is not a fretless bass. I would love to own one. I am studying as much Jaco and Steve Bailey as I can, both fretless masters.

[RushFan413]

@vtx1300dave Wow... This sounds really good with a bass with frets...  :)

[vtx1300dave]

@vineyardedge Thanks! Ha ha! It's been a while since I watched this. Glad you enjoyed it. I remember having a lot of fun with that recording.

[vineyardedge]

Cool! Nice job :D

[vtx1300dave]

@Maegan721 Check out my friend, TJH3113. His version is much cleaner and easier to follow. I hope you have fun with this, just as I am. Don't forget to learn the dance at the end Ha ha!