Bass - the final frontier?

What's Hot
RockerRocker Frets: 4947
Bass is the instrument that few musicians in a band understand or even know what the bassist is doing.  Possibly sometimes the bassist doesn't know what he is doing......

I jest of course.  From my perspective, the bass is the only fully interpretive instrument in the band.  Take any song and five bassists will likely play bass differently for this song.  And all will be right as long as they are playing in the right key!  Googling the original band and learning the bassists chops is not the only way to play bass on the song.  The original bassist has, himself, interpreted the song and he played it as he felt it should be played.

Guitarists have not got this freedom.  Well known riffs like SCOM, Sweet Home Alabama etc need to be 100% right by the original as the audience know the song and expect it to sound as per the record.  The 'correct' way to play bass on Brown Eyed Girl does not work for me.  By correct I mean the way the guys on YouTube play it.  I hear it differently and play it differently.  And at no stage did any of the band members say that my efforts sounded wrong.  For some songs they might say - we will play it with a shuffle feel and leave it up to me to make sense of that.

So: is bass the final frontier?  It may well be.  No other instrument, jazz guitar, sax etc. allows the player complete freedom to play a song as he hears it in his head.  And if the groove is good, nobody in the audience is even aware of this fact.


Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
«1

Comments

  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Can you be a bit more specific?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Can you be a bit more specific?
    I can not.
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • blobbblobb Frets: 2914
    To paraphrase FZ:

     "I like Bass, it gives people something to listen to if they don't like the music"
    Feelin' Reelin' & Squeelin'
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • DulcetJonesDulcetJones Frets: 515
    When I played lead guitar in a bar band I often strayed  from the original and no one ever called me on it.  The only two songs my bandmates insisted I play at least close to the original were Sultans of Swing and Black Magic Woman.  Oddly, when I saw Dire Straits,  Knopfler didn't play it anything like the recording.   Maybe I was lucky that I had a band that encouraged me to improvise.  I did play bass in a power trio for a year at one point and that did prove to be something like you describe, but I think too many guitarists take the note-for-note approach too seriously. 

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    octatonic said:
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Can you be a bit more specific?
    I can not.
    I’m glad that’s clear then
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited May 2018
    octatonic said:
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Can you be a bit more specific?
    I can not.
    I’m glad that’s clear then


    To answer it seriously (ish)- it all depends on genre and setting.
    If you are playing in a wedding band and playing jazz then you have to mostly stick to the script across all the instruments.
    There is a bit of room to move for improv, but not much.
    If you are in a 3 piece power trio playing original music then you go do whatever the fuck you want and it goes down as 'artistic expression'.

    The rule is generally that the more instruments you have the less sonic space each member has.
    I played (drums) last night at a functions gig- normally we are 8 piece, but last night there were only 5 of us.
    Usually I mostly keep time as 8 people fill things up.
    Last night I was able to stretch out a bit more.
    More instruments also means more places to hide and fewer instruments means you get heard but if you fuck up then everyone knows.

    Bass isn't any different to any other instrument in this regard- if our bassist went off-piste in Vehicle, River Deep Mountain High, or Let's Dance then it wouldn't work that well and I'd throw sticks at him mid-set.
    Other songs, such as It Must Be Love, Mustang Sally or Midnight Hour, he has a bit more flexibility as the horns and guitars carry it a bit more.

    We recently lost a keyboard player and the guitars are picking up the slack. Some of the parts they have come up with aren't exactly like the original but it is close enough that people recognise the songs, or at least they do by the time the vocals start. Up until that point it sounds like a 'mysterious' intro.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16255
    I remember an interview with Richard Cousins ( bassist with Robert Cray amongst others) and he said something to the effect that he liked playing bass because it was the instrument that controlled how a song felt. I saw Richard play a couple of years ago and he certainly knew how to control the groove so, for some styles at least, that seems absolutely true. 

    Another interview ( I’ve spent a lot of my life on the toilet reading guitar magazines) was with BruceThomas ( of the Attractions) saying he learned bass by playing along to Motown records and that getting the notes right didn’t matter, it was getting the feel ( or groove or rythmn or whatever e exact term he used) that counted. 


    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • SporkySporky Frets: 27590
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    octatonic said:
    octatonic said:
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Can you be a bit more specific?
    I can not.
    I’m glad that’s clear then
    :)

    To answer it seriously (ish)- it all depends on genre and setting.
    If you are playing in a wedding band and playing jazz then you have to mostly stick to the script across all the instruments.
    There is a bit of room to move for improv, but not much.
    If you are in a 3 piece power trio playing original music then you go do whatever the fuck you want and it goes down as 'artistic expression'.

    The rule is generally that the more instruments you have the less sonic space each member has.
    I played (drums) last night at a functions gig- normally we are 8 piece, but last night there were only 5 of us.
    Usually I mostly keep time as 8 people full things up.
    Last night I was able to stretch out a bit more.
    More instruments also means more places to hide and fewer instruments means you get heard but if you fuck up then everyone knows.

    Bass isn't any different to any other instrument in this regard- if our bassist went off-piste in Vehicle, River Deep Mountain High, or Let's Dance then it wouldn't work that well and I'd throw sticks at him mid-set.
    Other songs, such as It Must Be Love, Mustang Sally or Midnight Hour, he has a bit more flexibility as the horns and guitars carry it a bit more.

    We recently lost a keyboard player and the guitars are picking up the slack. Some of the parts they have come up with aren't exactly like the original but it is close enough that people recognise the songs, or at least they do by the time the vocals start. Up until that point it sounds like a 'mysterious' intro.
    As it happens, I completely agree with you ;)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    octatonic said:
    No.
    Beautifully argued @Octatonic.
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16255
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    My Sting quote ( although I think he stole it from somewhere else) is ‘always try to be the worst musician in the room.’ 
    I know he’d be incredibly proud of me.
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    My Sting quote ( although I think he stole it from somewhere else) is ‘always try to be the worst musician in the room.’ 
    I know he’d be incredibly proud of me.
    I always try to be the worst magician in the room.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • martmart Frets: 5205
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    My Sting quote ( although I think he stole it from somewhere else) is ‘always try to be the worst musician in the room.’ 
    I know he’d be incredibly proud of me.
    I always try to be the worst magician in the room.
    I always try to be the worst escapologist left in the room.
    2reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    Totally depends what you play. I was in a rock /punk cover band with 2 guitars and bass. If our bassist went off piste in... Say... Killing In The Name,  Longview or anything by Royal Blood then it would have destroyed the set 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 994
    Everybody I ever played with has their head so far stuck up their arse that if I just played the root note instead of the groovy lines I usually do, that they wouldn't know the difference!

    The guitarist I lay with now always plays over my solo in Brown Eyed Girl.
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579

    The guitarist I lay with now always plays over my solo in Brown Eyed Girl.
    Read that line back to yourself and decide if that’s what you meant to say ;)
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7734
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    But supremely talented musically. You two must be opposites then. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    My Sting quote ( although I think he stole it from somewhere else) is ‘always try to be the worst musician in the room.’ 
    I know he’d be incredibly proud of me.
    I always try to be the worst magician in the room.
    I tried that for a spell
    2reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    axisus said:
    Sporky said:
    I read an interview with Sting.

    He came across as a complete twit.
    My Sting quote ( although I think he stole it from somewhere else) is ‘always try to be the worst musician in the room.’ 
    I know he’d be incredibly proud of me.
    I always try to be the worst magician in the room.
    I tried that for a spell
    Tricky isn’t it?
    1reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.