How do you know if a bassist is 'good' or not?

[Mog]

A good bassist is one who can play in the correct key.

How many or few notes he or she plays is determined by the style or genre of the music and is subject to the bassists interpretation of that style. Therefore the totality of the bassline will be appealing to some and not others. Ergo judgements made on personal tastes and preferences are irrelevant.

[tauzero]

[quote name='achknalligewelt' timestamp='1361205793' post='1982751']
Cheers. I find him to be melodic, rhythmic and just endlessly listenable as both an indidivual player and as part of the overall Blur sound. The same goes for Mat Osman (Suede), Mickey Quinn (Supergrass), Colin Greenwood (Radiohead) and Bobby Kildea (Belle and Sebastian). Some of the bassists on the indie scene are superb, but seem to go utterly under the radar on BC. I got called a troll for saying that I didn't like John Entwistle, which seemed a tad harsh.
[/quote]

Seems a little odd to me that you don't like Entwistle when I'd have said that that Tracy Jacks bassline is rather Entwistley.

[xilddx]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1361227035' post='1983278']
Seems a little odd to me that you don't like Entwistle when I'd have said that that Tracy Jacks bassline is rather Entwistley.
[/quote]
Yeah but that's also like saying if you like Rush you'll like Dream Theatre (yes, I have spelled that correctly )

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1361208671' post='1982824']Saw a docu with him once where he complained endlessly about modern sound having no bass; the prog was a kind of oddysey that he was on to perfect his bass tone. You couldn't help but admire his love & obsession with what he did, but his end product didn't seem to show any signs of it.
Right or wrong I put it down to his loss of hearing. With all of his massive backline he said the reason Townsend almost always faced him on stage was because if he (JAE) couldn't see Towensends hands on his fingerboard he was lost & had to wing it until he could again.[/quote]

Yeah I found it odd that he ended up with such a massively complicated bass rig and the more complicated it got the worse he sounded. I suppose there are a lot of players who are always chasing something with gear and he was no different.

[achknalligewelt]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1361208040' post='1982809']
Not only that, but it would require a lot of someone's practise time to maintain those sort of 'chops'. For most players that is going to be a massive waste of time.



I'd agree with most of that, but with 'bass player' replaced with 'musician'. It's not specifically a bass player skill. I think particularly for bass players it's important to bring some variety and colour or you're just going to be another mouth that needs feeding. You need to contribute as much as anyone else, preferably more.

I also rate Alex James BTW. And I think Entwistle's bass often sounded awful, and he often sounded bored.
[/quote]

'Here are some more notes, Pete, I'm off for a ciggy and a lie down.'

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1361273451' post='1983575']
Yeah I found it odd that he ended up with such a massively complicated bass rig and the more complicated it got the worse he sounded. I suppose there are a lot of players who are always chasing something with gear and he was no different.
[/quote]

I wondered if it was technique. It was fairly unique as far as I know, he called it the "typewriter", but with so little contact surely there's little chance of depth or sustain?

[polyrythmmm]

Oh you'll know..

All you need to do is listen.
and if you think: "Eff YES!"... well that's one thing.
and if you think: "I don't know man"... well then that's another.

[xilddx]

[quote name='polyrythmmm' timestamp='1365001293' post='2033946']
Oh you'll know..

All you need to do is listen.
and if you think: "Eff YES!"... well that's one thing.
and if you think: "I don't know man"... well then that's another.
[/quote]

Yes but people on here like some very dodgy sh*t