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Singing bassist roll call


ChunkyMunky
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Yep I'm the main singer. Three of us can sing. One guitarist sings lead on about a third of the set, I do the rest. Can manage most songs. Struggled with a couple and so those never made the set. This charming man caused me problems playing and singing together. Can do both separately. Soz Moz

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BVs only here. I've done a lot more in my current band than ever before and the noise I make has improved. On it's own my voice is not that good, but it blends in well with my singer, somehow.
Small problem is intonation, I play fretless, and there isn't a fixed frame of reference... :)

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[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1440417672' post='2850442']
If you don't sing you are not a musician - just a bass player!
[/quote]

That's a silly thing to say.

I would love to do a bit of BV here and there but I am blessed with an unpleasant nasal voice so I could have all the vocal training in the world and still not sound good. I once had to speak over the PA at a gig and nearly passed out with embarrassment.

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I was the lead singer in my last band, and I think I'll be doing some BVs & some lead in my new band. I'll say that doing BVs is trickier because it can be harder harmonising with someone else's vocals. So practice, don't forget to drink water and-if necessary-get singing lessons too(Don't take this the wrong way either, as I reckon I'll need to take some in order to fine tune my technique and work on my range TBH!).

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In setting up my previous band it was known from the outset I was going to have to do BVs, and I dreaded it. In a recording situation I was OK, but just didn’t fancy the idea of delivering accurate BVs while playing live.
Almost out of desperation I bought a Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer to provide live auto-tuning. And I don’t even know if it really worked. However, I believed it did and that was a massive confidence booster.
After a year or so I stopped using it because I no longer felt nervous about singing.

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Started off in choirs as a kid, so always knew the technique, but in say year 8 at high school, it's not the cool thing to do, so (foolishly in hindsight) stopped. Always played bass without BVs of any kind until April last year, and it just goes up and up. With that band it was a case of put in what I can when I can. With the band I'm currently working with as my main earner, my BVs are integral to the band (as they are from all members), and around 90% of the gigs I do, I end up singing BVs. I'm also doing more duo gigs too.

It's amazing what can change in a year and a bit!

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[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1440418732' post='2850465']
That's a silly thing to say.

I would love to do a bit of BV here and there but I am blessed with an unpleasant nasal voice so I could have all the vocal training in the world and still not sound good. I once had to speak over the PA at a gig and nearly passed out with embarrassment.
[/quote]

Which needs to recognised... the bigger problem would be that you didn't know that or care ...and carried on, obliviously

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[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1440418610' post='2850462']
BVs only here. I've done a lot more in my current band than ever before and the noise I make has improved. On it's own my voice is not that good, but it blends in well with my singer, somehow.
[b]Small problem is intonation, I play fretless, and there isn't a fixed frame of reference..[/b]. :)
[/quote]

?????? don't get that at all... can you sing in harmony or not..?? you pitch to the main vocal??

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BVs in my current band & shared lead vocals in a couple of previous projects. I am afflicted with a bland voice (which is ideal for BVs) so for lead vocals overcame that by judicious application of ranting, snarling & shouting. :)

I've never really compromised what I play when singing, with enough practice I've manage to nail everything I need to.

Jon.

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I can't sing at all any more. I've sung harmony for as long as I can remember - I find it difficult to sing a melody. I've never been able to sing and play together though.

Recently my bandmates have pushed me to sing lead on a couple of songs (knowing they'd have to do without the bass), because I have the best voice of the three of us. Net result, I can't sing either.

:(

Edited by alyctes
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Been playing bass since the early 80s and I can honestly say that I have never had any urge to do vocals - not even BVs.

I'm only a "weekend warrior" bassist and these days my bass literally stays in its case Monday - Friday unless I'm taking time off work. So playing bass is my escape and is a pure pleasure that would be heavily diluted by having to do vocals as well.

Also, because my practice time is so restricted, I need to make every moment I spend with my bass as productive as possible and having to learn/practice vocals too would compromise that.

Also, I've seen too many covers bands where the bassist doubles on vocals, but to do so is simplifying the original bass-line of the song - having to do that would really irritate me.

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I remember the keyboard player in an old band refusing to entertain the idea of me singing lead, by saying "when you sing, you go from a sh*t hot (his words) bass player to a mediocre bass player and mediocre singer...."

To think I was only offering to cover until we got a proper singer :rolleyes:

To be honest, I have done my best to work on it since (that comment was a bit of a motivator!) I still occasionally sing lead on something at rehearsals but happy not to have to do it live. Lots of backing vocals though - and to the point of in the latest band - a lot of really close harmony stuff. Pitching that for a whole song and playing bass is hard for me!

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Singing BV's was a must in my current band The ELO Experience, as you will probably imagine!
Thinking back, I've collared gigs where there have been better bassists available who could n't sing, so
would recommend anyone to give it a try. Same as other posts, I have a fairly bland voice solo, but
seems to suit singing harmonies without overpowering the lead vocal. Works for me.

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BVs only here, tend to cover songs where our main BVer - the lead guitarist - finds a melody throws his playing out then I'll pick it up. If neither of us can get it the drummer does them. We're pretty luck that we can all do a decent job and have a couple of songs where the three of us add to the mix.

Takes me a while to nail the vox though - if bass and vox are simple no problem but I really have to have the playing close to unconscious for more complex work as I have to concentrate on the singing.

Absolutely love the interacting with our singer on Basket Case.

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