Do bassists want to hear bass solos?

[chris_b]

Good playing is a good thing, on any instrument.

I'd love to play clever, intelligent and impressive solo's. Unfortunately my brain isn't wired for soloing, so I don't.

[Rich]

It is obvious to me that there will [u]never[/u] be any sort of agreement in the "basses are not suitable instruments for solos / yes they are / no they aren't / yes they are / etc" argument, so can we steer clear of the whole suitability chestnut? Otherwise I can see it getting personal and/or ending in tears. I think there's plenty of room for debate on this subject without that specific facet.

[Geddys nose]

Depends on who you watch, If the bassist is a Stu Hamm or the late J Entwistle why not, But if its a Pub rock band its a bit cheesy.

[ambient]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1438779978' post='2837186']
Those who are dead against bass solos - are you just thinking about the context of the music that you play? Is it just that you can't imagine a good bass solo in this context?

I find it very strange for any musician to write off an almost infinite amount of musical possibilities just because it's called a "bass solo", but it would make sense if you were talking about your pub-rock-covers band.
[/quote]

That's what I'm thinking too. I can't believe a musician would object to their particular instrument solo'd.

[40hz]

I don't usually like to hear them, pretty much the usual slappity slap slap I've heard 1000 times before. Switch off instantly at any gig if someone does. Like Lozz however, in a bizarre way, I like hearing the drums and bass continuing the song while other instruments drop out. Kim Deal and Mike Dirnt style.

Edited August 5, 2015 by 40hz

[Sub_Drop]

If the solo is melodic and not just a thousand notes a second then yes but once the technical side takes over and it's just bass or slap shred then I switch off.

[Bassman Steve]

I have no doubt that the instrument is capable of beautiful solos, I just haven't heard one.

Having said that, I adore melodic, lyrical playing underneath songs etc. Similarly, I love the opportunity to play complementary stuff underneath other solos. I just wouldn't want to be the lead instrument myself.

[Slipperydick]

Nope. I always refused to play them myself, and dont want to hear anybody else do it either.
Not if its longer than a few bars anyway, like in my generation for example.
But Then I dont like drum solos either :-)

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Speaking on a hard rock/ metal angle;
When I started going to gigs back on the nwobhm guitar and drum solos were the norm. Especially big / outdoor gigs . I remember angelwich frontman doing a guitar solo at their gigs and he was dreadful ( probably the only person at ghe gigs who thought so). Ted nugent on the other hand, played entertaining guitar without excessive noodling . The power is in the song.
Go forward to Metallica'live sh@t binge. & purge, all the band did a solo of some sort . Seek and destroy lasted ages so everyone gets a rest because of a 3 hour set. They could've done us all a favour and cut the set to 90 mins and saved us from the solos.
With joe satrini , if stu Hamm is with him , then it's probably the best time to see a bass solo .
Sheehan as mentioned also.
When I saw scorpions on the crazy world tour, there was a solo there too. Unexpected and uninteresting . It reminded me of slap ( a trend that everyone is doing a bass solo for the sake of it).
At dream theatre , it's expected but it's mainly inaudible and cr@p.
Rammstein are my fave live band , probably ever and just put on a fantastic live show .
Maiden don't bother either..
Kiss and Crüe do it , just for tackiness .

I would expect to see bass solos at Jazz gigs , and would welcome it

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1438778019' post='2837138']
I want to hear good music. If a bass solo sounds good then by all means! I don't care at all what instruments are used to make nice sounds. I care about the nice sounds.
[/quote]
+1 from me also

[anaxcrosswords]

Not a fan of solos myself, although I do admire some of the stand-alone bass compositions of Victor W. Don’t know why I feel that way (when I was learning to play, I dreamed of being able to pull off an amazing solo) but these days I think it’s down to appreciating musical subtlety.
You’d never think of All Time Low’s Zack Merrick as being a seriously talented bassist, but I think he gets the balance right. 90% of the time his playing is almost featureless, but then he’ll put in a little run that fits perfectly into the context of a song and it reminds you that he can actually play very well. To me that’s more impressive.
Maybe it’s a personal, selfish thing. When I hear a long flashy solo it reminds me of what I can’t do, so I don’t connect with it.

[Norris]

No

[TimR]

There is an awful lot of good bass solo work out there. You just have to look for it.

Jaco's wise words: before you even look at the bass line, learn and understand the melody.

[discreet]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1438779638' post='2837172']
No, sorry but that is wrong.
[/quote]

It is not wrong my friend, it is my opinion.

[cheddatom]

I wouldn't say it's wrong to write off bass solos, but it's definitely close-minded. I don't have a problem with that. A lot of close-minded musicians make some great music. People who've never played anything but blues (or whatever genre people get stuck in) and closed their mind off to other forms of music have become exceptionally good at it.

Edited August 5, 2015 by cheddatom

[Bassman Steve]

Sorry but it's not close minded. I have not heard a bass solo I like. By definition that means I may yet hear one I do (I just won't hold my breath). You could be accused of being a bit provocative there.

Of course, you come from Stoke so ................. (now that's narrow minded).

Edited August 5, 2015 by Bassman Steve

[cheddatom]

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1438785262' post='2837290']
Sorry but it's not close minded. I have not heard a bass solo I like. By definition that means I may yet hear one I do...
[/quote]

If you admit the possibility that you may one day like a bass solo, then you've not closed your mind to it

I was addressing those who say NO TO BASS SOLOS - writing them all off, is close minded. Like I said, it's not necessarily a bad thing and I wouldn't want anyone to take it as a personal insult

[The Funk]

I like good bass solos. But in a cool band in which the bass player isn't a virtuoso, I like little breaks or breakdowns. Eg. Free - All Right Now.

And if they can't have that, some nice fills. John Paul Jones or John Entwistle style.

Or if they can't have that, a nice counter melody line. Duff McKagan style on Sweet Child Of Mine, for instance.

Edited August 5, 2015 by The Funk

[Annoying Twit]

I like to hear good bass solos. E.g. Jack Bruce on Frank Zappa's track "Apostrophe".

There was a youtube video someone posted once of a number of very well known bassist playing what sounded like scales with no real musical payoff (in my subjective opinion). I didn't like that.

[leschirons]

If the song will support it and the player is very good and can offer something melodic, why not?

I can only assume that none of the "no" voters ever go to see any of the big name players for fear of hearing a solo

[Bass Lady]

Easy answer NO! However......I will become violent if they take my 4 bars of Bare Necessities away from me!

[bassace]

I'm ambivalent about bass solos. If I'm playing in the seven piece Dixie band I'll probably get a couple of choruses in the last number when everyone has a feature. But it'll be at a punishingly fast tempo so all I can do is play it for laughs a bit, with no satisfaction at all. But a lot of the time I play with trios and quartets and, especially with the former, I'll have to do my bit of load-sharing. So in almost every number I'll have perhaps a chorus, half a chorus, or a middle eight according to what the tune is doing and all done by eye contact. PS, jazz double bass if you haven't twigged.

[mrtcat]

Not interested in solos on any instrument unless it really adds something to the song. Regarding bass i'd much rather just hear a breakdown where bass and drums groove nicely for a bar or two.

[skankdelvar]

Do bassists want to hear solo bass? Quite evidently, some do.

But more to the point, do punters want to hear solo bass? For elucidation we may turn to the classical canon of [i]published concertos[/i] which include one or more solo performances by a single designated instrument*:

Piano: 432,223
Violin: 350,151
Clarinet: 69,443
Horn: 44,876
Flute: 38,367
Guitar: 37,008
Double Bass: 22

Self-evidently there is no money in bass solos, the reason being that the instrument (in either upright or guitar form) is by reason of its range considered by most legitimate composers to be utterly unsuited to the communication of emotion or meaning[sup]+[/sup].

[size=2]*Source: Great Concertos of the World: H. Gryttpype Thynne (1997) Random House (excludes concertos with solo performances by two or more instruments).[/size]

[size=1]+ The nature of any discussion neither can nor should be circumscribed by the prohibition of certain perfectly reasonable and factually based arguments on the grounds that some participants may get all upset and take it personally. Will we next be told not to discuss scale length? Or flats vs wounds? Or fretless vs fretted? Is this now a bass forum where we can't discuss the suitability of the bass's range for the purposes of soloing? Man alive! Let's all grow a pair ffs.[/size]

Edited August 5, 2015 by skankdelvar

[Adrenochrome]

Generally no - but never say never and all that. My thing is very much little runs, hooks and counter melodies within a song as mentioned above.

FWIW I immensely enjoyed the evening with Michael Manring that Phil organised a while ago (just checked, almost 5 years ago!)