Lars K. Norberg

[MardyAss]

this guy is insane on the bass, even DiGiorgio salutes him.
Could you imagine yourself working with him at some point Ron?

[fragility]

mmmmm tasty!....Nice thinking Mardy

[ronjarz]

Lars is a killer bassist, but after my experience with Sean Malone, I'm a bit hesitant to work with any fretless bassists. Seems like they have too much of a "jazz" mentality. When Steve DiGiorgio and I were trying to work together, I heard some of his playing with fretted and fretless basses (he does both very well), and would much rather hear his playing with a fretted instrument.

Trying to get Malone's bass track on "In Memory Of" to sound aggressive and heavy was difficult. There was no attack, no fire, no click, just a tone. Michael Manring recorded a beautiful solo for me on "Words For Nerds", which was done on a fretless bass. Actually, I wrote that part specifically for Sean, but after all of our negative discussions and disagreements, I never sent it to him.

But I'd be anxious to hear Lars' fretted playing. I have a difficult time listening to the Spiral Architect CD because of the bass. His playing is great, it's just a sound that I don't care for. Just a preference, I guess...

Ron

[Theater of Omens]

my brother finds Norberg's playing very distracting in Spiral Architect. I personally like it. everyone should certainly respected the ability though. to each his own, is what i always say

[MardyAss]

Does Lars play on any other known albums than Sceptic's Universe?

And I've been wondering, is there anything like a fretless guirar?

[thefub]

Originally Posted by MardyAss

Does Lars play on any other known albums than Sceptic's Universe?

And I've been wondering, is there anything like a fretless guirar?

Trey Gunn plays a Warr guitar which is fretless I believe. The Chapman stick is close, well, kind of,ahh maybe, i dont know its just goofy.

I am not sure of any other album Lars is on but his playing is annoying on Sceptic's Universe. It has its moments but as a whole I do not like it. As for the sound of a fretless, I like it when it is not overdone.

[jimbobhickville]

Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick are both 'touch' guitars, which to my understanding means you can tap on the strings at any point along the fretboard in order to produce a sound. The difference is a Warr Guitar generally has 10 or 12 strings and a vast range, while the Chapman Stick is comparable to a bass guitar. Somebody correct me if I misunderstand that; musical instruments aren't my forte. The ones I've seen appeared to have frets, but they could have just been lines on the neck to mark where frets would normally be, so I couldn't tell you on that one.

Anyhoo, Sean Malone plays a lot of Chapman Stick. From my understanding most of what is on Gordian Knot's S/T disc is actually done on a Stick, not on bass. At least, I read that somewhere. The best use of Warr Guitar I've ever heard is on Behold... the Arctopus which actually has nobody on bass. All of the deeper tones are done on the 12 string Warr Guitar.

As for Lars Norberg, I love his playing on A Sceptic's Universe. Someone described it to me as Mega Man on steroids, which fits, but I loved Mega Man, too I dunno; I just think it is a cool, unique tone he's got going on there. But the best bass tone award has to go to Arjen Lucassen on Ayreon. Regardless of what you think of the music, that guy is an amazing producer and I about cream myself hearing that bass tone.

[thefub]

I always thought they were fretless. Perhaps it is just the tone that it gets with the lack of fret buzz. I am sure someone here knows. I have never seen one up close. Oh well, I am an idiot and I'm not afraid to admit it.

[fragility]

Mardy - I remember vigier used to make some fretless guitars in the mid-nineties (http://www.vigierguitars.com/)

If you want some fretless guitar resources:
http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=main

btw - how'd your band work out in the end?

[MardyAss]

Originally Posted by fragility

Mardy - I remember vigier used to make some fretless guitars in the mid-nineties (http://www.vigierguitars.com/)

If you want some fretless guitar resources:
http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=main

btw - how'd your band work out in the end?

How my band worked out?

[jimbobhickville]

Originally Posted by thefub

I always thought they were fretless. Perhaps it is just the tone that it gets with the lack of fret buzz. I am sure someone here knows. I have never seen one up close. Oh well, I am an idiot and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply I had seen one in person, just in photos. I honestly couldn't say whether it had frets, but it did have lines on the neck that were either frets or painted lines.

[fragility]

Originally Posted by MardyAss

How my band worked out?

Thought you had joined some band a while back....I'm guessing you don't remember that I'm midnightkittty

[Gildamere]

I've seen John Myung of Dream Theater play a Stick, both live and on video, and though I don't bother to check right now, I'm pretty sure that his stick has frets.

Tapping on fretless instruments is (if a t all possible) very hard, at least I can't produce any decent tones when trying to tap on my fretless bass. Could be due to the fact that I am a bad player, though

[symphonial]

Ron Thal a.k.a. Bumblefoot plays a fretless guitar on 9.11, for example.
OYC

[MardyAss]

Originally Posted by fragility

Thought you had joined some band a while back....I'm guessing you don't remember that I'm midnightkittty

oh! ha ha, sorry, its pretty rare that I'm in here.

Well, we disbanded. And that really, really sucks actually, 'cause we were IMO one of the best underground DM bands in Denmark. I dont know why really, I guess that the others were pretty tired of it, been struggling with the band for over 10 years and going nowhere. And the vocalist left, moved to some city.
Me and 2nd guitarist joined another band, with the drummer, called Lunar Caustic. But we left it soon after, the music wasn't the same, and I couldn't afford all the transportation (trains, bus)... but they've recently released a demo, sounds pretty good.

What have you been up to then?

[MardyAss]

Originally Posted by symphonial

Ron Thal a.k.a. Bumblefoot plays a fretless guitar on 9.11, for example.
OYC

What's 9.11? Album, band, song...?

[jimbobhickville]

I believe it's an album by Bumblefoot by his statement, but I could be mistaken

[symphonial]

You're not mistaken jim, "9.11" is an album by Bumblefoot ideed (2001) it is featuring Mattias Eklundh and Dweezil Zappa. His latest effort, "Uncool" (2002), also contains fretless guitar experimentations (It's a Vigier...Excalibur I think, not sure really). Ron Thal can be compared to brilliant lads like Mattias "IA" Eklundh or Ron Thal when it comes to musical approach. It's very humorous, fast, quite complex, inspired by many musical scenes, and the three of'em like to make funny guitars with 36 frets, different necks, wings that move when the vibrato's used and all that stuff.
www.bumblefoot.com
ps: Bumblefoot ain't metal really. Listen and find out.
Cheers,
OYC

[Dave The Templar]

Originally Posted by ronjarz

Lars is a killer bassist, but after my experience with Sean Malone, I'm a bit hesitant to work with any fretless bassists. Seems like they have too much of a "jazz" mentality. When Steve DiGiorgio and I were trying to work together, I heard some of his playing with fretted and fretless basses (he does both very well), and would much rather hear his playing with a fretted instrument.

Trying to get Malone's bass track on "In Memory Of" to sound aggressive and heavy was difficult. There was no attack, no fire, no click, just a tone. Michael Manring recorded a beautiful solo for me on "Words For Nerds", which was done on a fretless bass. Actually, I wrote that part specifically for Sean, but after all of our negative discussions and disagreements, I never sent it to him.

But I'd be anxious to hear Lars' fretted playing. I have a difficult time listening to the Spiral Architect CD because of the bass. His playing is great, it's just a sound that I don't care for. Just a preference, I guess...

Ron

I was on the Borknagar forum and i read a post from Asgeir Mickelson(drummer in Spiral Architect and Borknagar) saying that Lars played only FRETTED bass on A Sceptic's Universe!!!
He mentioned that lars will be using a fretless bass on the next Spiral Architect album though

I personally love his bass playing and tone

[Taedium Vitae]

Yeah really... I thought it was easy to hear that he's playing fretted on that album? It's very punchy, but hey, it's a Steinberger too so...

Also, have you all noticed that the lowest note he takes is a low G# (below standard low B)? On Fountainhead. It's easier to notice on the 1995 demo version. It rocks. Not sure how the hell he tunes.

I prefer fretless.

Warr Guitars and Chapman Sticks are fretted.

David "Screaming Headless Torsos" Fiuczynski is another "well-known" fretless guitar player.

[jimbobhickville]

Fuze rocks, didn't know he played fretless.