Jay Z Guitar

HalfBlacko0000

HalfBlacko0000

Good Music
Ok so i purchased the new Jay Z album magna carta holy grail when it came out and i think its a great album and one of the songs caught my attention and i need someone who plays with alot of guitar/bass's real and VST i'm sure he used acouple thousand dollar real guitar on his project Rick Ruben produced the song its called "Picasso" JAY Z - Picasso Baby (CDQ) (Magna Carta Holy Grail) - YouTube and i love the bass thats being played in the song it switches up to a more of a electric guitar feel kinda reminded me of 99 problems. so i'm just curious what kinda of guitar or bass do you think is being used in these songs since its like 2 songs in 1 i'm not trying to remix the song or anything i just love certain sounds that i'd like to use for my own production i'm really digging the second part of the song 2:35 i would like to purchase a guitar with that sound i know alot of you are gonna say its the person playing the guitar not the guitar and i understand that but i'm not dumb i know certain guitars have certain sounds and built quilty or why pay $10000 for a les paul. lol i can't play yet but i'd like to have a good guitar to learn on and still have the sound i'm going for so all you Guitar fanatics i need ur help.
 
You can have that same guitar and the same guitarist, but when you run it into a different amp, mic it a different way or in another room, use a different pre amp, etc it is going to sound 100% different. So it's not a matter of simply getting a guitar. Yes, people pay money for expensive guitars and there is a reason behind it. It could be brand loyalty, it could be the actual craftsmanship of the guitar or the fact the guitar can be heavily modified or fits comfortably in their hands while playing. I'll ask my guitarists (all three of them) and the two bassists I work with to listen and tell me what they think might be used.
 
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OK so it sounds like a Fender J-Bass played through a Gallien Kruger (solid state not valve - the dynamic transitions are too fast for a valve amp to have reproduced that sound) Amp and box set - if I didn't know better I'd swear it was something that I played at a gig last December (certainly the bass and amp combination is what I played with at that gig) - total cost of the setup approximately $5k. Playing technique in the right hand is a combination of plectrum (or thumb pushes) and snapping.

Could also be something from the Scarbee series of bass guitar samples like the MM bass (based on a custom Music Man).

Additional thoughts on spending large amounts of money on an instrument - in most cases it is because the instrument has a specific sound that none of the others that you already own can produce - it has been my reason over the decades for buying new guitars - expanding the palette of sounds available to me when me when playing live or recording
 
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One of my guitarists got back to me and this is the exact email line for line word for word.

It's fairly generic overdriven guitar. The coolness is in the layering: trill lead line with some processing, dirty crunch chord. There may be a clav doubling the guitar chord & there is a pad thing in the background, hard to hear if it's strings or horn.
It wld be cool with almost any guitar/amp, just getting the right gain, not too overdriven & choosing complimentary sounds to layer

Bass is like a vintage fender tone, not too bassy, some midrange emphasis, not much top.
Click to expand...

Second guitarist:

Hey sounds like a bass with a jazz pick up, I have one. It's got the treble up slightly gritty like its ran through distorted guitar amp. Guitar sounds like synth.
 
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so what do you guys think would be my best option vst or real thing bandcamp. Native instruments I believe has all those bass's in a vst form is the second part of the song a bass or a guitar played in a lower octave ive never played a real bass or real guitar in my life "deff on my todo list" I own reasons electic guitar which sounds awsome I just dont know if its the right tool for the job im gonna play around alittle bit ill try each of your suggestions if I get anything good ill post it thanks to everyone for your replys hey band coach you dont have to break this whole song down for me but what key do you think this song was written in and maybe a couple of the bass notes I put logics guitar tuner on the track and the first song I get B-E-F-C and the second song G- F#-A#-G . Im sure its not played in that order since its just a tuner and its picking up on everything in the song but hey im tryin lol like I said im not trying to recreate the song im just really interested in how stuff is put together
 
part 1
B[sup]b[/sup]/C/D[sup]b[/sup]\F/F'-F'-F'-F'-F'-F'-F'-F'

part 2
G-----\F[sup]#[/sup]/G--/B[sup]b[/sup]-B[sup]b[/sup]-

/ = move up to
\ = move down to
- = stay at the same note

F' means the octave above (to distinguish it from the low F played just prior to jumping the octave)

in part 2, the part bass line is doubled by a guitar which sounds like a regulation Les Paul model with a bit of overdrive and chunk of distortion on it playing a power chord version of the first three notes (G-D - F[sup]#[/sup]-C[sup]#[/sup] -G-D) and then sustaining the G[sup]5[/sup] whilst the bass pops the two B[sup]b[/sup]'s
 
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