Lost the Plot????

[thebigyin]

Hello, Forgive my Rant just a personal view......but what's your opinion on the roll of the Bass Player.....to me it was always and still is to keep it all together??? So why is it the need with so many Bassists today to 'Be so Flash' Just an example watched a clip of Rhonda Smith don't get me wrong she's amazing....but the clip shows her with the band.....another Bass Player doing the Roll of Bass Player....while she's out front playing Bass like a 'Lead Guitarist' loads of effects and so on.....not just her but so many out there....why this need to 'Push the Boundaries' eh Rant over.......Just 'Keep the Groove'.....Cheers.

[Adrenochrome]

The bass guitar is an instrument that can 'hold it together' or do so much more. Neither is wrong. I personally love the fact that I get a few decent intros and runs etc as well as my main backing role.

[artisan]

Quite agree with you there matey,i hate it too.
I guess they are just frustrated lead guitarists.

[Earbrass]

[quote name='thebigyin' timestamp='1382093727' post='2247778']
....but what's your opinion on the roll of the Bass Player.
[/quote]

It should contain bacon. That is all.

[Hobbayne]

I agree with you. Thats why I dont wet my knickers at all these idolised bassists a la Jaco, Wooten etc.

[chris_b]

But bass players DO keep the groove, where they need to, but if you're the "name" and band leader AND you happen to be the bass player you'll play the stuff that focuses on you. It's not new. Stanley Clarke was doing this 25 years ago.


Some of these lead bass players are great but RS only gets 5 out of 10 from me.

[Acebassmusic]

Interesting rant you have there....especially as one of your "fave bassists" could easily be tagged with the title of "a bassist that pushed boundries"....a certain Mr James Jamerson. His bass lines were (and still are) revered as something that made others take notice of the bass as an instrument in its own right. An instrument that could have its own voice and could play melodies within a song.....just like a lead guitarist and other instruments do.

One of the many bass roles is to keep it all together. Sometimes this requires leading from the front, sometimes more of an accompanying role. I'm lucky that in my band I play a wide range of music that encompasses root / fifth lines along with busy, fast lines that define a track. I think its great that we still have people who are trying to push the boundries, just like Jamerson, Jaco etc. Not all of it is going to work, but maybe something interesting might come out of it.

If Jamerson hadn't "pushed" then we all would have missed out

Edited October 18, 2013 by Acebassmusic

[Happy Jack]

We play [i][b]Maggie's Farm[/b][/i] in the Dogs. There's a bit near the end where the bass player gets to do a simple 30-second call & response with one of the guitars, playing the same simple riff four times ... it's the closest I get to a solo in the whole three hours on stage, so we make a HUGE feature out of it.

I come to the front of the stage and stand between the two guitarists, MacDaddy (our lead guitarist) stops playing and points at my playing, and after each repetition he counts them off .... ONE .... TWO ... etc.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Acebassmusic' timestamp='1382095036' post='2247808']
...a certain Mr James Jameson.
[/quote]

JameRson.

[BassBus]

[quote name='thebigyin' timestamp='1382093727' post='2247778']
Hello, Forgive my Rant just a personal view......but what's your opinion on the roll of the Bass Player.....to me it was always and still is to keep it all together??? So why is it the need with so many Bassists today to 'Be so Flash' Just an example watched a clip of Rhonda Smith don't get me wrong she's amazing....but the clip shows her with the band.....another Bass Player doing the Roll of Bass Player....while she's out front playing Bass like a 'Lead Guitarist' loads of effects and so on.....not just her but so many out there....why this need to 'Push the Boundaries' eh Rant over.......Just 'Keep the Groove'.....Cheers.
[/quote]

There is a simple answer to this problem.

STOP WATCHING YOUTUBE! [size=4] [/size]

[size=4]What you see there is only the tip of the iceberg. For every flash Harry you see on YT there are probably another hundred holding the groove. [/size]

[Coilte]

The electric bass is still a comparatively young instrument and is still evolving. If people accepted the "norm" then we would never move from a given point. While the whole "bass as lead" thing does nothing for me personally, I dont see why people should be getting upset about others experimenting. After all, did not Jaco experiment by ripping the frets off of his bass. What did that bring us ?

[Spike Vincent]

[quote name='thebigyin' timestamp='1382093727' post='2247778']
Hello, Forgive my Rant just a personal view......but what's your opinion on the roll of the Bass Player.....to me it was always and still is to keep it all together??? So why is it the need with so many Bassists today to 'Be so Flash' Just an example watched a clip of Rhonda Smith don't get me wrong she's amazing....but the clip shows her with the band.....another Bass Player doing the Roll of Bass Player....while she's out front playing Bass like a 'Lead Guitarist' loads of effects and so on.....not just her but so many out there....why this need to 'Push the Boundaries' eh Rant over.......Just 'Keep the Groove'.....Cheers.
[/quote]


Agreed, but it is nice to show off every now and again.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1382095132' post='2247813']


JameRson.
[/quote]

It's enough to turn you to drink;)

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1382094466' post='2247801']


It should contain bacon. That is all.
[/quote]

Here here

[Mcgiver69]

I've always said that the bass guitar and any other instrument shouldn't be restricted to a single role. Hey I'm a groove player myself but I don't begrudge players pushing the boundaries. Look at Seth Horan, he's a bass player but at the same time a singer songwriter who uses the bass as his companion instrument (is this the correct way of saying it? sorry if I got it wrong), are you going to tell him that he should just drop the bass and pick up a guitar? I think not, he's doing fantastic music and showing the world that bass guitar is not only boom boom boom bah doom or just root and fifth.

I'm quite grateful that there was a Jaco or Jamerson and that we have Seth Horan and Zander Zon showing a different take on bass playing.

[flyfisher]

I guess there are musical conventions but no actual musical rules.

[ras52]

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1382097831' post='2247876']
Here here
[/quote]

And hear.

And over their, too.

[SlapbassSteve]

IMHO, [i]so long as it serves the song in question[/i], anything goes! I really don't mind the idea of bass as a lead guitar at all either, partly because I can just about pull it off, and partly because if memory serves, the main reason the electric bass was invented(apart from the obvious portability/output jack stuff) was so that any guitarist could pick up an electric bass and play it at a session- it's a bass [i]guitar[/i] after all

Only time I have a problem with this sort of stuff is when it fails to serve the song in question and descends into what I see as (but isn't necessarily... it's all subjective...) mindless fretw*nkery...(that bass solo Billy Sheehan does all over YouTube springs to mind) and I can imagine a lot of guitarists feel the same about a lot of the 'shredding' that goes on with metal and jazz guitarists.

[thebigyin]

Thanks Guyz probably this is an individuals issue.....Jamerson was great but his lines were to me tastefull and melodic not just a blear of notes, bends and trickery.....each to there own on this one........but thanks for the comments.....I agree that sometimes 'Boundaries need to be pushed' but not playing it like a Lead Guitar......just a no, no for me....Cheers.