Playing Bass through a Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth Pedal – Bass Practice Diary – 14th August 2018
I started using a Roland GR-55 about four years ago. Soon after getting it, I made a video of some of my original compositions arranged entirely on my bass. I used the GR-55 to create different voices. Remarkably, that video passed 20,000 views last week. You can watch it here. To mark the event I’ve decided to feature the GR-55 in my Bass Practice Diary for the first time.
I never imagined that my original video would be so popular. In fact I was slightly concerned about releasing it. Because I thought I might get some negativity from people who don’t like the idea of playing a bass through a guitar synth. In fact the reception that the video has received has been almost entirely positive.
Why I started using a Roland GR-55
I write and arrange music on my bass every week. I can play several instruments, but bass will always be my first instrument, just like English is my first language. So it’s far easier for me to compose with my bass than with a guitar or piano. The Roland GR-55 gives me the capability to use my bass like an electric keyboard. As a way of utilising MIDI. The advantage of this is that I can lay down entire tracks on my bass, either multi-tracking or looping without it sounding like an orchestra of bass guitars. And the GR-55 also gives me the potential to use the regular pickups on my bass at the same time or independently, so I have the best of all worlds. It’s like my bass has become a bass and an electric keyboard all rolled into one.
I get that many bass purists won’t like some of the synth sounds. But for me, as a way of presenting my music, the pro’s of the GR-55 vastly outweigh the cons.
Can You Plug a Bass Straight Into a Roland GR-55?
No, you need to install a Roland GK-3B pickup onto your bass before you can plug into a Roland GR-55. Because the GR-55 does not have a jack input. You need to use a 13-Pin MIDI cable which will connect with the GK-3B pickup. The pickup also has a jack input so you can plug your bass into the GK-3B and control both your normal bass pickups and the GK-3B MIDI pickup through the GR-55.
The GK-3B is relatively easy to install. I installed mine myself by following the instructions. You can install it with double sided sticky strips, so there’s no need to drill into your instrument unless you want to attach it permanently. You may have noticed that I’ve attached the GK-3B to a black bass. The pickup is black, so if you install it on a bass of any other colour, there’s a good chance it will spoil the appearance. You can attach the GK-3B to 4, 5 or 6 string basses. The same pickup works for all of them.
Hi, many thanks for the video and diary.
I’m thinking of buying a GR-55 to use with a Cort 6 string fretless. Mainly I want the different instrument sounds (choir, string synths, sax etc).
It seems to work well with bass, although the bass pickups aren’t easy to find?
Hi David. Yeah, I think the Roland GK-3B bass pickup works well. It’s easy to install and you don’t need to drill any holes into your bass. I did a quick google search and it is showing up as out of stock with a few retailers. Hopefully that’s just a side effect of the lockdown and they’ll start supplying them again soon.
Many thanks for this. There are several available second hand, so I’ll get searching 🙂
Hi Johnny! I recently purchased a new Godin a4 fretless, and I couldn’t wait to try it with a GK-55 that I also purchased. However, I’m having major issues with tracking and ghost notes. Like, there’s no way I could play a flute solo or any solo instrument without it freaking out! I’m not sure if it’s the piezo. Do you have any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Dustin. You can set the sensitivity for each string. I don’t remember exactly how, because it’s been years since I set mine, but a Google search should provide the details. It sounds like you need to reduce the sensitivity. Once you have the sensitivity set where you want it, you still need to make sure your muting technique is good. Midi synth pedals like the GR-55 are very unforgiving, they will interpret any unwanted noise as an attempt to play a note. So they will go crazy if there are open strings vibrating unintentionally.
Hi Dustin,
Johnny is absolutely right, you have to spend a few hours adjusting every string’s sensitivity individually. It sounds like a pain but, once you’ve achieved the right levels, you’ll never need to do it again. Checkout pages 11-12 in the manual.
I think playing with a fretless creates particular issues for the GR-55. The extra tonality, harmonics and slides (which give the fretless so much character) are a huge problem with the GR-55 because it tries to constantly adjust to each sound.
So, you have to change your playing style a lot; muting unwanted strings is essential and you will get better results playing down near the dedicated pickup.
For things like piano, flute, sax etc. I find it’s a good idea to go into the settings for each tone and change the value for ‘CHROMATIC’ to ‘ON’. This means that the GR-55 identifies the nearest note and plays it, without trying to adjust to each tiny tonal change from the fingerboard. This means that slides aren’t as smooth as usual (it sounds like you’re playing a fretted instrument) but the difference it makes to the GR-55’s playability is HUGE. Pages 24-25 in the manual. I know it sounds like a pain but it’s easy and becomes second nature when you’re experimenting with the different instrument sounds.
Johnny’s videos convinced me that the GR-55 could sound great and so I kept trying and these changes really helped. Love the GR-55 now.
Hi David. This is great advice and really helpful. Thank you.
Thanks Johnny, glad to help.
Your videos and advice on the GR-55 made all the difference to me. You convinced me that I could make it work and now my bass can alternate between a choir, an orchestra and a flute in seconds : )
Thanks David. That’s really kind of you to say so! 👍🎶