Who doesn't or can't play bass guitar

Larry Robinson · Post by **Larry Robinson** » 10 May 2009 8:24 am

My band director always told me a bass should be felt, not heard. I wholeheartedly agree.

Marke Burgstahler · Post by **Marke Burgstahler** » 10 May 2009 9:29 am

I play bass on my songwriting demos, but only to fill in the spot until a REAL bass player can do it.

A bit off topic, but I watched a show on cable the other night...it was a gig with Marcus Miller on bass and Steve Gadd on drums. They were locked so tight it was SCARY.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 10 May 2009 1:11 pm

I'd rather play bass and find another steel player to fill in for me, than have to feed an inexperienced bass player the chord changes all night.

Steve Alcott · Post by **Steve Alcott** » 10 May 2009 1:23 pm

Thanks for the kind words, David. See ya in Dallas next year if not before.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 10 May 2009 1:31 pm

I'd rather play bass and find another steel player to fill in for me, than have to feed an inexperienced bass player the chord changes all night.

C'mon, Rick - the real reason you'd do it is so you can steal all their licks.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 10 May 2009 1:58 pm

I'm not that smart Barry...especially since I've got some of the best around here to choose from!

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 10 May 2009 2:15 pm

Jim Sliff really nailed it ! A good base line needs to be felt as much as heard. Whien the Bass and Drums are in sync, your playing can rise to new heights.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 10 May 2009 3:37 pm

I used to think most bass players fell into one of two categories. One does a simple 1-5 or just a pentatonic walk, and the other just does continuous popping and string snapping noises. Then I heard a song by Hugh Griffiths, a reggae version of the old song "Cherish The Love". You might say it showed me what an imaginative bass player can do for a song, and that there are Sneaky Pete type players in the world of bass, too.

Archie Nicol · Post by **Archie Nicol** » 10 May 2009 4:22 pm

Having watched this clip many times, I believe the bass player is the band leader.

pick here

Arch.

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 10 May 2009 6:40 pm

I'm a fine electric bassist, but I can't play an upright to save my life!

Here's one of the more impressive (not to mention easy on the eyes!) bassists I've heard in a while:

Jeff Beck & Tal Wilkenfeld - Cause We Ended As Lovers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIFFRHBCPzA

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 10 May 2009 8:32 pm

We have a fellow in our area who plays a seven string bass. He plays melodies like all get out but has a bad habit of playing on top of everyone else in the band who is trying to do a solo. The guy is above very good as far as bass players go; however, he is losing his popularity in the music circles in this area.

To my way of thinking, the bass player is the leader of the band for tempo an timing but, the melodies and tunes are to be done by solo instruments.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 10 May 2009 10:39 pm

Many of us can play the bass. Few of us can play it well.

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 11 May 2009 1:00 am

And I don't play bass at all; never did, probably never will.

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 11 May 2009 4:43 am

I can recall monitoring the Mike Douglas show one morning and Roger Miller said to Mike: "I want you to meet my Bass Player."

The camera panned over and there was Buddy with his Emmons. He played a tune from the jazz album but I've become to old to recall which tune...

Regards, Paul

David Collins · Post by **David Collins** » 11 May 2009 4:49 am

Mike Perlowin wrote:Many of us can play the bass. Few of us can play it well.

Yep, got me described perfectly

I'm one of the many who can, but probably shouldnt!

Robert Tripp · Post by **Robert Tripp** » 12 May 2009 10:34 am

I'm primarily a bass player these days, although I double on rythym guitar, do some lead guitar in a pinch, and have played drums a few times (not very well I'm afraid), but at the same time better than some I've heard that are supposed to be drummers.

I agree that Bass and drums are the backbone of the song, but neither should be overdone in my opinion unless the song is based upon the drums or bass. I guess I have been guilty of a little too much soulful playing from time to time, and that is what propted me to save this link to a rather humorous piece about the Bass.

http://www.expensivehobby.com/humor/bass.html
I think it about sums it up.

If I ever learn to play steel which at this point seems hightly doubtful, I guess Bass would become my secondary. Growing up in garage bands, I remember nobody wanted to play bass. I grudgingly played it with a few bands just to get some gigs, and over the years after hearing a few people butcher the part, decided it was best for all concerned if I learned how to play it at an acceptable level of continuity.

Tracy Sheehan · Post by **Tracy Sheehan** » 12 May 2009 10:59 am

Not sure this belongs here,but a funny story and a lesson on what not to play.A few years back i played bass in my sons band he had at the time.He played lead guitar and was also a very advanced bass player.
He taught me bass and later taught me a difficult jazz riff.I had to work on that for a while.
Any hoo,one night in a club i was playing steel and we got a request for some 50's country rock song.
Was a simple 3 chord song and he had me play bass on it and he played lead guitar.Some where in the song i was able to fit the jazz riff in on bass he had taught me.I was so proud of my self.
When the song ended he handed me his guitar and said here,take the guitar if you want to play lead.

Tracy

Rick Winfield · Post by **Rick Winfield** » 12 May 2009 1:16 pm

I satrted out on bass, went to rhythym guitar, and ended up playing lead for many years. Took on PSG (age 56)after dobro and lap. I don't presently own a bass, but if I did it would a fretless stand up electric. It'a all about the groove ! a little theory behind it- makes it interesting!
rick

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 12 May 2009 3:20 pm

I've always considered myself primarily a guitarist and steel guitarist, but In my music career, I've probably played more gigs on upright and electric bass than any other instrument. I've always been kind of a reluctant bassist. I took it up in self-defense at a time when I couldn't find a bass player that would satisfy me. the bass is just so important, and all the really good bassists are always busy, it seems...

Playing pick-up gigs on bass (usually without any rehearsal) with good jazz players gave me some great on-the-job ear training, and the ability to hear and anticipate complex chord changes. Having a good concept of the bass and it's role in various styles of music really helps your playing on any other instrument. It's a real "roots up" approach to understanding practical harmonic concepts and chord progressions.

I don't do many gigs on upright anymore, but I still gig on fretless electric fairly often.

Frank Bradley · Post by **Frank Bradley** » 13 May 2009 4:52 am

"There are lots of people who play bass, not very many bass players though."
Lee

You've said it all Leland. I started playing bass at age 9. It may be easier to learn at first, but it takes years to become a "bass player"... that goes for any instrument, especially the PSG. It may be easier to learn the basics on the bass, but a great player comes from the soul, not from how many runs and licks he can do to muff up the song. As with any instrument, a musician can not only hear but feel the language spoke through a great "player".
I'm 51 and just picked up the PSG again after about 25 years. Someday I'll become a PSG player... right now I'm enjoying the journey it takes to get there.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 14 May 2009 2:45 am

Well, +1 or more to whats been said, here's my take

I have been doing this Instrument thing since I was about 12 or 13, many moons ago. Guitars, Bass then Steel now add Mando and Dobro on top of that.

I thought I was a Bass player, I had gigged many years on Bass with groups, had good gear and played what I thought was well, with a guitar players mentality.

In the mid 90's I was asked to join the praise team at church on Bass, of course I said sure. How hard can this be ? each player in the band is a goof, except the Grand Piano lady, I would be a perfect fit, I have been playing for decades ! Full Pentecostal Praise music, this will be fun.

well, all of a sudden I found myself playing behind the Grand Piano and a gal that was really really good, maybe the best sight reader I have ever seen. I all of a sudden was lost, faking my way around Eb and Ab tunes, I found myself not in sync with the Grand Piano and she let me know. Why didn't she complain before? easy, it was her son on Bass and she was not going to diss her own son. Now, me and the drummer were supposed to be in sync with some of these very assertive praise songs, he was, I was not.

I found that all of the above the 5th fret playing I was doing was no longer applicable. Above the 5th fret, that's what a Guitar player does when they play Bass. A Bass player plays as much as they can under the 5th fret, and, this is where Jazz basses and P Basses come alive. This is where they growl at you.

So, over the next 6 years, 3 services/week, all the specials, all the charts, all the rehearsing, leaning over the Grand Piano and watching the left hand, all that, I , at last in my own mind started to become a Bass player. I knew I had reached a new place when the Grand Piano gal started asking me to show her what I was playing rather than her show me what she was playing, that only took about 2 years !

Check this out, I put an extender on the E string and dropped it to Eb for those thumping songs and the Eb traditional songs but kept A,D G natural. So now I was using all parts of my brain to play 4 string Bass with an Eb low note ! That was pretty much crazy but fun.

So, I don't know about the rest of you but I was a Bass owner for most of my life, which is different than a Bass player.

Here's the good news, when I came off Bass and returned not just to Guitar but back to Steel, I was a different player , I'm not saying I'm better than others, I'm saying that my approach to playing vamps , rhythms or solo's is not the same as what it was before I did 6 years behind a Grand Piano on Bass.

I've also started playing across the neck on the guitar (again) rather than up the neck. I seem to recall Frank Falcone , my first and only Orchestral Chord teacher when I was like 15, telling me to play across the neck, not up and down. Uhmm. odd, how did he know this ?

Happy Bassing
t

ps, it also took a bout 2 years to find the gear that I liked best which fit my style
1962RI Fender JBass ( still on the rack)
Hartke 4x10, 350 watt half stack.
.45 to .100 stainless strings

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 14 May 2009 11:56 am

Tony Prior wrote: I found that all of the above the 5th fret playing I was doing was no longer applicable. Above the 5th fret, that's what a Guitar player does when they play Bass. A Bass player plays as much as they can under the 5th fret, and, this is where Jazz basses and P Basses come alive. This is where they growl at you.

"Ain't no money above the 7th fret." -- Donald "Duck" Dunn

Ben Elder · Post by **Ben Elder** » 14 May 2009 7:48 pm

Can't play bass. Can't play lead.

(Wow, come to think of it, can't play pedal steel.)

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 15 May 2009 1:00 am

I should have qualified my post above to add..

If you are playing Bass , this is great, listen to some of the great players like Nathan East, especially the Clapton years, Lee Sklar , especially with James Taylor and Michael Rhodes ( Players) who plays on just about every stinkin' Country record coming out of NVille, ( Jackson, Strait etc) to get a feel for fundamentals. These are three players who in my opinion have set the standard for playing a groove while not stepping on the song.

Work your way towards playing across the neck under the 5th( or 7th) fret rather than up the fretboard. One of the first things that will happen is the fretboard will open up dramatically and then the "tone" will follow. Don't forget to add half tones and whole tones to your arsenal of phrases. Guitar players, Vocalists and Steel players will love you to death for the space you have created.!

Each of us have had to start somewhere, may as well be on a bandstand right now !

t

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 15 May 2009 7:08 am

I, like most Austin area steel players, work with a lot of different bands, usually 3 or 4 different bands in a given month. Much of the time you're 'on your toes' with these guys, playing songs that you're only vaguely familiar with, or in some cases not familiar with at all.

I've learned which bass players are really players. These guys play so well, with leading phrases or whatever, that they are a roadmap of the tune. With few exceptions you can hear the changes coming a mile away. I'm not even sure I always know how they do it, but you can sure tell. I always ask who's playing bass to get a heads up on the 'degree of difficulty' that can be expected.

As stated before, there are guys that play bass and then there are bass players... not necessarily the same.

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