Blu DeTiger on designing her “dream” bass, and cultivating the new generation of bass players
Launching a signature guitar in 2024 is a tricky game – with every show and appearance an artist makes posted all over social media for sleuths to pore over, it’s tricky to road-test something new without letting the cat out of the bag.
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So it was with Fender’s newest signature artist Blu DeTiger – who also happens to be the brand’s youngest signature bass artist and first female signature bass artist. Almost as soon as she started soft-launching her bass, the internet sensed something was afoot.
“I’ve been talking about it for a while,” she admits, “so I feel like I haven’t been that secretive about it, but also, I’ve been playing it since March. So, people were kind of like, ‘Oh, this bass looks different than her other ones. What’s going on here?’ People on Reddit are hilarious with this kind of stuff.
“I’ve just hinted at it a bunch,’ she continues, “but I see no problem with that.”
We catch up with DeTiger on a break from her tour for debut album: All I Ever Want is Everything – a record which showcases all her musical virtuosity as a bassist fronting a band, as well as the lead vocalist, a combination that is a lot easier said than done.
The transparency that the new release was on the way, as showcased through her many Instagram posts with the sparkly blue bass in hand, clearly comes from a place of pride that she’s able to create a bass that she wants to pick up every day – as opposed to something that sits at the back of her collection.
“I’m so happy with it. It’s perfect. It’s literally the best bass ever,” she exclaims.
Image: Press
Light Speed
Her excitement is understandable. At just 26 years old she finds herself in truly esteemed company as a Fender signature bassist alongside the likes of Flea and Jaco Pastorius – all while being able to represent the kind of bassist she wants to be.
“What was important was making something that was super versatile and something that I didn’t really see in the market, which is a super lightweight bass,” she explains. “This is the lightest bass Fender has ever made, with a never-done-before chambered ash body. I also wanted it to look cool as fuck on stage, really shine and be aesthetically interesting and beautiful. Then you also have the controls and the electronics which add to the versatility and ensure you can get any sound you want.”
The Fender Jazz Bass dons a custom Blue DeTiger Fireball bass humbucker and Player Plus Noiseless Jazz Bass Pickups adding both vintage and modern tones. DeTiger also opted for an active/passive toggle, being able to sculpt and shape tone depending on the desired style. And of course, the bass is adorned in her iconic blue finish, with Fender using Sky Burst Sparkle complemented with all chrome hardware and a mirrored pickguard.
Image: Press
As for the bass being lightweight, DeTiger was not shy in admitting that this comes from a very personal place.
“I’ve had the worst back problems my whole life, because I started playing when I was seven, and they’re really heavy instruments. Also just being on stage for an hour every night and carrying it around airports and to gigs and rehearsals. It’s just tough on the body.”
However, when you want to create a lightweight bass, a monumental consideration for both DeTiger and Fender, is the fear of losing frequency range once you start to cut the instrument down.
“That was the big thing that we worked on together,” she explains. “Just tweaking it and tweaking it slowly to make sure that nothing was lost when it came to the sound in the bass.”
Eye On The Future
DeTiger keeps calling it her perfect bass, but surely there’s things she’d want in a future signature bass? “I don’t know, it literally is perfect!” she jokes. “But If I got the chance to, I would want to do a spin off with a short scale in a different colour way. It would be really fun to do a black and white bass. Just something a lot simpler.”
It’s a surprise to hear the queen of the blue bass, who takes every opportunity to own and dress as her moniker, admit that a monotone bass could be on the horizon if Fender gave her the chance.
“Blue basses are my thing; I mean it just is my favourite colour and with this bass I do say it’s my dream bass, so of course it had to be blue. But who knows in the future, different colourways would be fun.
“Also I wanted to make sure that any player, regardless of if you know who I am or not would want to pick it up and play it and achieve exactly what they wanted to.”
Image: Press
Four-string Queen
Despite picking up the instrument at the age of seven and developing a name for herself growing up in New York City, it was the decision to start posting videos on social media app TikTok during the pandemic that really cemented her prominence in the bass world and beyond.
What started as a TikTok series where DeTiger would play the bass riffs from songs such as Tame Impala’s The Less I Know The Better, to Megan Thee Stallion’s Savage, led to eventually showcasing her own music with single Figure It Out. Thanks to its punchy intro, catchy lyrics, or the fact that users were convinced the song was sung by TikTok star Dixie D’Amelio, the video garnered over 250,000 likes.
While it might not have been the intention for DeTiger’s use of the app, and maybe just a way to pass the time in lockdown, she soon became somewhat of a bass icon, especially for those who suddenly had many hours on their hands with the prospect of trying a new hobby.
Image: Press
“The pandemic had a big thing to do with people wanting to try something new and seeing it online more,” she explains. “I would get a bunch of comments and messages saying ‘you inspire me to pick up the bass’ and ‘now I play bass because of you’. That was the most touching and rewarding thing for me that I had anything to do with someone else’s musical journey. I want to put the instrument out there and show what it can do.
“It’s so rewarding and cool to me that there’s been an army of new bass players and people getting into the instrument. My biggest goal in life is to be a mentor and a role model. So that’s what I really want this to all be about: inspiring people to pick up the bass and get into it.”
She says that this goal of being a role model comes from not seeing herself in the bass world while growing up. “It was really hard,” she admits. “That’s why I’m trying to put it out there more so that young people coming up can see someone doing what they want to do.”
“Don’t get me wrong, there were a few people I looked up to such as Meshell Ndegeocello who got me into singing while playing, which is super underrated and very difficult. There was also Kim Gordon who was just cool as fuck. She’s just iconic. But yeah, they weren’t many when I started out, so I knew I just had to make my own path and keep doing me.”
30 Rocked
It was this draw from the internet and willingness to make her own path, that eventually led to the bassist being crowned one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2023 for contribution to music.
All this attention from TikTok allowed DeTiger to become “more secure” in her playing, she explains. “You grow up and you play for other people, and you might start feeling insecure around other players in bands. I think when I started putting myself out there and people started to tell me I was the shit and giving nice compliments, I realised, oh maybe this is something that people like. It gave me a confidence boost in my playing, and affirmation that what I was doing was important as it’s inspiring people.
“The bass isn’t looked at as a ‘cool instrument’. It’s always seen as something in the background, or the ‘backbone’ of a band. I think I’m trying to shed a new light on it. People were very receptive to that online, so that’s always affirming.”
As for criticism, the security in her playing has resulted in quite a hardened attitude if people are to give her hate online.
“I don’t even take it seriously because I just think, ‘well, you’re wrong’,” she says. “People can think whatever they want to think, but I know what I can do. I know my ability and know what I’m capable of. Of course it affects you in some way,” she continues, “but if anyone is going to tell me I’m bad at the bass guitar then they need a reality check. I’ve been playing for so many years, I can’t really be that bad can I!”
Here, there and everywhere
For someone barely into their mid-20s, DeTiger has a touring record to beat. Whether that be performing with Olivia Rodrigo, Caroline Polachek, Chromeo, Bleachers and many more, as well as opening for a host of musicians from Sabrina Carpenter to Charlie Puth, she knows what it takes to be malleable as a bassist.
She says it’s something that has only made her stronger as a bassist and performer as she gets stuck into her own tour.
“I’m just so grateful that I got to see that side of the touring industry as someone who was a hired person in the crew,” she says. “Just to see the ins and outs of what makes a good tour manager and what makes a good band and working with musical directors was so important for me to then take into my own project when I started going on my own tours.
“Getting to see both sides of a tour is really interesting and eye opening,” she continues. “It helps me to be a better leader for when I’m going on my own tours, as I’m able to pick the right crew – and I know the importance of having a kind person to look towards on the other side.”
Image: Press
The conversation of course turns to her own tour, which celebrates her debut album All I Ever Want Is Everything. Displaying the full range of the bass, the multi-faceted album shows how the instrument can take the centre stage, whether that be through using envelope filters and phasers to shape the sound, bringing in DeTiger’s iconic slap bass, or hearing how the instrument can sit at the front of the mix and not be overshadowed. It shows DeTiger as a well-trodden musician that defines her own sound. Not that she wants to be defined by anything else.
“2024 is just so fluid, and it just doesn’t really matter,” she admits. “I just think it matters less and less, because there’s just so much fluidity with genre and style. I just do what makes sense for me. Everything I put out there is going to feel like me, because it’s always going to be like an amalgamation of all my influences and what I grew up listening to. I kind of just do my thing and don’t think about it too hard.”
Does this freedom come from a place of confidence? “Absolutely,” she admits.
“It’s taken years and years of playing and just studying the neck to get to a point where I could just pick it up and feel like it’s going to be a natural expression of everything in me. And nowadays I kind of always do which is awesome. You have to feel really comfortable on an instrument to get to that point and get through all the boring stuff like theory and scales. But once you’re there it’s just freedom.”
Find out more about the Blu DeTiger signature bass at Fender.com
The post Blu DeTiger on designing her “dream” bass, and cultivating the new generation of bass players appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
