Bass playing and singing the lead vocal..,

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TeetonetalTeetonetal Frets: 7801
is just about the hardest thing I’ve attempted, suddenly got a tiny, tiny bit of respect for sting.

roger waters and Phil Lynott, any other singing bass players?
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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6598
    edited January 2019
    Lemmy.
    Paul McCartney. 
    Jack Bruce. 
    Roger Waters. 

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  • For one band I was in I plodded on root notes and did fills between lines. On riffier stuff, make the vocal line suit the playing not other way around
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    Bass is weird like that.

    I can sing while drumming in odd time sigs. I can sing while playing guitar. Both just came naturally to me. But singing and playing bass is mysteriously much harder.
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  • KeefyKeefy Frets: 2272
    I've been doing this for about 15 years now, and at first I found it fiendishly difficult. Ideally you need to know both the bass line and the vocal line so well that you can do either on 'autopilot'.

    It can help to start with an extremely simplified bass line under your vocal, and work up from there.
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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11414

    I've seen Bryan Adams do it.  I saw him at Wembley Arena (maybe early 2000s) and he had stripped it right back, so it was just Keith Scott on guitar, him on bass, and a drummer.  He just played a white P Bass all night.  Got a girl up out of the audience for the Mel C duet - which was quite entertaining.

    I've tried it once or twice.  It's not easy at all.  These days if I'm singing I'll play guitar. If there is no bass, I'll just let the KB player cover it with their left hand.

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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23966
    I can sing and play guitar easily. Done it for years.

    But bass and singing is much harder. I think it is because the guitar part is usually closer in feel to the vocal and the bass is often quite removed from it.

    Root only / match the guitar stuff is quite easy - but proper bass lines and walking is a nightmare.

    If I wanted to go back to singing properly then I'd have to swap to guitar I think. 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Rick Danko
    John Wetton
    Nick Simper
    Joey Spampinato 
    Be seeing you.
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  • TeetonetalTeetonetal Frets: 7801
    I can sing and play guitar easily. Done it for years.

    But bass and singing is much harder. I think it is because the guitar part is usually closer in feel to the vocal and the bass is often quite removed from it.

    Root only / match the guitar stuff is quite easy - but proper bass lines and walking is a nightmare.

    If I wanted to go back to singing properly then I'd have to swap to guitar I think. 
    Root only or with simple fills is fine. 
    Tried doing Red house, with the typical blues bass riff and that was a nightmare!! I think knowing both parts 100% is the key - you just cannot think at all.
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  • MusicwolfMusicwolf Frets: 3632
    I don't think that anybody has mentioned Geddy Lee yet.

    Back when I was a bass player I think that I sung just one song as lead vocalist (which was probably one more than the audience would have liked).  It is tricky and you need to be able to do both without thinking about it.  It is also worth noting that the heavier the instrument the harder it is to sing, and basses are generally heavier than guitars.  I didn't fully appreciate this until I got my Parker Dragonfly which was ultra light weight.  I seem to recall Geddy Lee saying that this was one of the reasons that he played Steinbergers for a while.
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  • way harder than playing guitar and singing, not sure why
    https://www.gbmusic.co.uk/

    PA Hire and Event Management
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1563
    Doug Pinnick is a reasonably well known bassist front man.

    2 lesser known quality recent examples I've seen are the chaps from Cordovas and Massy Ferguson
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23966
    Tom Araya 
    Geddy Lee
    Mark King
    Suzi Quattro
    Pete Steel
    Esperanza Spalding
    Troy Sanders
    Gene Simmons
    Kim Gordon

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    Alan Lancaster
    Justin Currie
    Demis Roussos - no that really isn't a joke :).

    And I hate to say this since I can't stand his voice, but Glenn Hughes.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • simonksimonk Frets: 1467
    Has anyone said Les Claypool yet?
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    It's not so bad if you are doing straight 8s but for anything complex it's a nightmare.

    I had to sing and play bass on "girls on film" once and that was seriously challenging.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Has anyone said Roy Estrada yet?
    Be seeing you.
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  • SchnozzSchnozz Frets: 1926
    I love Glenn Hughes

    It's easier if you use a pick IMO
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  • Mark King was my idol growing up for that reason. 

    I've done it, but it ain't easy! 

    My Trading Feedback    |    You Bring The Band

    Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23966
    Schnozz said:
    I love Glenn Hughes

    It's easier if you use a pick IMO
    Definitely. Although I’m 99.9% a fingerstyle player so I’d have to learn pick playing properly too! 
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  • SchnozzSchnozz Frets: 1926
    Schnozz said:
    I love Glenn Hughes

    It's easier if you use a pick IMO
    Definitely. Although I’m 99.9% a fingerstyle player so I’d have to learn pick playing properly too! 
    Yeah, I was the same - I still struggled on a P bass, because the string spacing felt harder to pick across (needed one with a grip too, as it would spin)
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