Sh1t bass players say

[stoken6]

From another thread

 

Here's your daily task: start a thread about bass players.

 

Which brings me onto my favo(u)rite bugbear: failed guitar players who make crap bass players - inevitably with a pick.

 

"Yeah, I started on guitar, but switched to bass". You still play it like you play a guitar - badly.

 

I'll give some guys a pass: Macca obviously, Ronnie Lane, Tom Hamilton (I think he's ex-guitar), and T-Bone Wolk.

 

But as for the rest of you...

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

 

 

[I-missRichardTee]

I unfortunately have pride about my membership in the special club of bass players.

 

Guys that play bass, often are mediocre and guitar players who switch, are often mediocre. A guitar ability does not translate to bass, AT ALL.

I was given 2 weeks to learn elec bass.. I attended a rehearsal and the drummer and pianist were not happy about me in the band.. but a month into the gig, it was I who was not happy with them! Bass came to me like a duck to water... not that I am the best of the best... I admired those small number of bass heroes my whole life.

It's an art, and an uncommon one. It is not natural for most to be playing mainly roots and fifths while everyone else is playing melodically.

Then there is the rhythm part, again, not common.

BASS supports everyone else!

 

[MathOfInsects]

Not that I have an opinion about this, but...bass players have been insufferable since Jaco pulled them out of the basement and the shred-tastic 80s pushed them into notey bullshit.

 

My favorite guys to play with are the ones who keep the floor paved with grease and let that fact do their talking for them. I'm tired of all the fingery bullshit up high, designed to shine a neon light on their own chops. That's what I'm in the band for!

 

[JAD]

The fact that there are some bass players who treat the role of the instrument more like a notey lead guitarist would doesn't mean the opposite must be insisted upon either. Look at players like James Jamerson, Tony Levin, Nathan East, etc. They don't just sit on roots and fifths the entire time. Even the more frenetic players tend to be in bands where their playing makes sense, like Billy Sheehan, Chris Squire, Flea, etc.

[I-missRichardTee]

Not that I have an opinion about this, but...bass players have been insufferable since Jaco pulled them out of the basement and the shred-tastic 80s pushed them into notey bullshit.

 

My favorite guys to play with are the ones who keep the floor paved with grease and let that fact do their talking for them. I'm tired of all the fingery bullshit up high, designed to shine a neon light on their own chops. That's what I'm in the band for!

 

I 100% agree.

 

Jaco was ( is - depending on your pov ) a genius

to imitate a genius for most of us, including bass players is a recipe for unmusicality

 

Bass belongs in the bottom- Duck Dunn, Ron Carter.

But A James Jameson ( I am not dissing Ron who added wonderful things to the basics as well !!) is such a tremendously gifted player along with a great rhythm section, that in that special case, James can not only play the bottom flawlessly but add other melodic stuff as well.

I have never reached that level that James and MArcus achieved

I knew my place, my role.. and did it well. But I was always second banana to the best of the best who have mastered the bottom and still have ability to augment it.. I have a feeling of awe for that kind of rare gift. But few have it per century as far as I am concerned.

So bass players please listen to MATH!

[Lindaru]

One bass player who made me stand up and take notice was Barry Adamson (Pete Shelley - "Homosapien Dub Mix" and "Many A Time"). I just turn into a groove puddle when I hear the bass solos on those two songs.

 

As for what they say, the very first bass player we knew in our band in the seventies was pretty level headed but would take up a lot of time discussing the problems with his love life.

 

We did not have one in the eighties (I was the left hand keys bass).

 

The current guy has a great sense of humor and team work.

 

 

[BbAltered]

Sh!t Bass Players Say:

 

"This chart is outside the range of the bass" - spoken by the bass player within 30 seconds after I handed him his part for a song the band wanted to do and on which I had spent 2 hours making charts for all seven players (you're welcome, jerk-off). In truth, the bass player was correct: I had simply copied my piano left hand to make the bass part, and it was transposed down an octave from what a "true" bass part would be. In defense of myself, the bass player is an excellent reader who knew exactly what the notes were, and played the part perfectly despite the mis-transposition.

[MotiDave]

too many bass players aren't bass players. and in 80s new wave too many keyboard players weren't keyboard players*.

 

*maybe thats why keyboards were practically banned in the 90s?

 

a scourge upon society ...

[Outkaster]

Reggae bass is a tall order. Most bass players underestimate the importance of their roll.

[El Lobo]

Which brings me onto my favo(u)rite bugbear: failed guitar players who make crap bass players - inevitably with a pick.

One name: Carol Kaye.

 

She plays bass with a pick. And besides the many hit singles and albums she played bass on, she also played guitar on several hits.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

[roygBiv]

The key to playing bass with a pick is to palm mute (or more specifically, mute the strings after picking with the side/heel of your picking hand on the bridge). I'm amazed how many bass players haven't learned that, and whack away at the strings with a pick and let the notes ring out.

 

Finger playing on bass is of course great, but if you can get pick+palm muting down, you can really turn the bass volume up, but keep it to short, staccato bursts and really drive the rhythm section. For extra credit, you should try to pulse your bass notes with the kick drum. Tricky, but sounds great.

 

I alternated as a bass player/keyboard player starting out, and stuck with bass for years before finally switching fully to guitar for decades, then back to keyboards only in the last couple of years. This forum has been a Godsend for the latter process, thanks everyone.

 

Anyway, being a good bass player, as others have noted before, is a mindset, a Zen thing. Nothing worse than a guitar player playing bass as an afterthought.

 

Like Outkaster said above, reggae bass is a whole 'nother challenge - in my current band (old-school reggae/ska), I play keys and literally insist on setting up right next to the bass player and his amp, where I can keep eye on the drummer.

 

The band keeps encouraging me to do more solos, but I keep telling them the most important thing I can do is lock into the groove, everything else is secondary (I guess that's the old bass player in me still).

[lightbg]

Lefty is my favorite bass player......

 

Jake

[stoken6]

+1 on Carol Kaye, but nobody could call her a failed guitar player.

 

Cheers Mike

[marczellm]

Greg Lake plays bass with a pick, and he is a guitarist.

 

By the way I simply love the sound of a bass solo, with the high notes and the vibrato. I think that a guitar solo is often cliché. A keyboard solo is hard to get expressive because tasty bends and vibratos are difficult. That leaves the bass as my favorite instrument to take a solo. (This is in the context of jazz, jazzrock, fusion.)

[16251]

I want a solo.

[keyClicker]

I have decided to start learning upright bass... lessons start next week.

 

So, hopefully I'll become one of the "failed piano players that now play bass."

[JAD]

Greg Lake plays bass with a pick, and he is a guitarist.

 

By the way I simply love the sound of a bass solo, with the high notes and the vibrato. I think that a guitar solo is often cliché. A keyboard solo is hard to get expressive because tasty bends and vibratos are difficult. That leaves the bass as my favorite instrument to take a solo. (This is in the context of jazz, jazzrock, fusion.)

 

Yeah, bending and vibrato on synths is incredibly tricky. The default setting of +2 leaves out bends of a minor or major third, makes normal whole steps bends too banal in always rising to the exact pitch rather than the fluid nuance of guitars and other instruments, and eliminates the possibility of employing vibrato that oscillates both above and below the target note instead of just up to it and below. Setting the wheel or stick for +3 or +4 helps, but it's still not as precise and natural as on a guitar. Soloing on fretless bass is a lot of fun though.

[rickzjamm]

Been listening the Esperanza Spalding lately. Great vocalist & incredible bass player!!

[Reverend Rhythm]

My latest Bass quote, said two weeks ago right before a street festival: :"S---! I forgot my Bass!"

[Threadslayer]

... That leaves the bass as my favorite instrument to take a solo...

I can't say I agree with you, but A+ for original thought. I can't recall ever hearing anyone say this - or anything remotely like it - before.

[stoken6]

Been listening the Esperanza Spalding lately. Great vocalist & incredible bass player!!

 

+1 love her stuff.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[16251]

"I have to change my strings soon"

[MurMan]

The fact that there are some bass players who treat the role of the instrument more like a notey lead guitarist would doesn't mean the opposite must be insisted upon either. Look at players like James Jamerson, Tony Levin, Nathan East, etc. They don't just sit on roots and fifths the entire time. Even the more frenetic players tend to be in bands where their playing makes sense, like Billy Sheehan, Chris Squire, Flea, etc.

I'm also a member of the sub-human club.

 

imho, the primary role of the bass player is to set the groove. Some players can do it sitting on the root. Other's use a lot of notes. The best example of that is the late, great Bob Babbett on Midnight Train to Georgia. Bass lines that don't contribute to groove become "too many notes".

 

[video:youtube]

[MotiDave]

"I have to change my strings soon"

 

I know a bass player who used to change his strings every 10 years, whether they needed it or not!

[JAD]

Old bass strings are actually a plus in some circumstances. They give more of an upright tone to an electric. Jamerson never changed his until they broke.

[Polkahero]

Which brings me onto my favo(u)rite bugbear: failed guitar players who make crap bass players - inevitably with a pick.

One name: Carol Kaye.

 

She plays bass with a pick. And besides the many hit singles and albums she played bass on, she also played guitar on several hits.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

 

Check out the bass playing in my "Midnight Confessions" thread. Yep, that's Carol Kaye of the famous Wrecking Crew studio cats out of L.A.

[Ken Beaumont]

Other famous Bass players who use a pick:

Chris Squire (Yes)

Noel Redding (Hendrix)

Paul McCartney (Beatles)

Phil Lesh (Dead)

Scott Tunes (Zappa)

John Lodge (Moody Blues)

Tommy Shannon (SRV and Double Trouble)

Jerry Peek (w/ Steve Morse band)

Joey DeMaio (Manowar)

Graham Maby (Joe Jackson)

Rick Danko (The Band) .

Roger Waters when he plays bass with Pink Floyd he always used a pick.

 

On the talkbass forum some new players always brings up this and usually gets set straight right away. Whatever is comfortable for the player to keep a groove with. It doesn't matter if they use their fingers, thumb or pick. What matters is taste and timing. A good bass line is the foundation for the whole groove.

 

 

 

[cedar]

"I'm having my first bass lesson today."

 

One week later:

 

"I can't make my lesson because I have a gig."

[nadroj]

Cannot agree more about the bass players who over play. However, the best bass player I've played with is a "I started on guitar" guy but he was strictly a rhythm player. Didn't like playing lead. When he plays bass he keeps the groove solid and keeps it straight. He'll only do a run if his fingers get numb or if the tune calls for it.

 

I've had bass players who, in a pop band, have started walking over (bad) chord substitutions all over a basic 1-4-5 because "if the guitar player can be fiddly, why can't I?"

 

For a start, you have different roles. You play different instruments. And the guitar player can do it in a way that makes it subtle.

 

Similarly, a bass player I played with used to say to me: "Don't play anything below this note" *points to middle C*. "This is my territory."

 

Fair point; I suck at left hand bass, so I rarely if ever play it. The only times I might play down there may be octaves on a piano, a single low note on a wurly or a deep synth part. HOWEVER, when 1) we're a pop/rock covers band, if the tune has piano in it, and that piano has a pretty specific part that plays in the lower octaves, you can probably bet I'm going to play below middle C. 2) If your toy amp didn't sound so awfully terrible through the PA the rest of the band wouldn't be asking me to fill out some of the lows (even if it's just one note). 3) If you didn't walk all over every song I wouldn't have to try and hold down a groove with the drummer over your unnecessary soloing.

 

Damn, that guy ground my gears.

[CowboyNQ]

My brother tells a story of a band he played in with a bass player that only strung his instrument with two strings.

 

When the bass player was asked the inevitable "why do you have just two strings on your bass" question, he would say "In case I break one".