The future of bassists.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='subaudio' timestamp='1507559708' post='3386341']
This is all great stuff folks, thank you all very much
It's for a mini dissertation and I needed other opinions than my own.
You've really helped me out so thanks again
[/quote]

We'll be reporting you to your college/university for plagiarism ;-)

[blue]

Depends on what segment of the bassist market we're talking about.

I think the rock bar band "for profit"segment for bass players is in a rather fast decline everywhere.

Blue

[T-Bay]

Music evolves, the instruments that were popular hundreds of years ago have had varying degrees of longevity. Sometimes due to changes in taste/ fashion and sometimes by being superseded. The key to the survival of any instrument is linked to those two factors. However, even if they are generally out of fashion or superseded they will still be used by a core of enthusiasts of niche groups. So the Bass guitar is likely to survive in some form or other for a long time, it's popularity and mainstream appeal will be determined by factors in the future that are very hard if not impossible to predict.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1507542744' post='3386107']
Yes.
[/quote]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1507546499' post='3386160']
No
[/quote]

Maybe

[Brook_fan]

Sir, your sample is self selecting and utterly biased!!

Robbie

[lojo]

Yes

Modern music evolves and goes in circles , even if it became uncool to play an actual bass for a period , it would soon come round again

Heck , socks and saddles are in now

[discreet]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1507617677' post='3386730']
Heck, socks and saddles are in now
[/quote]

Really? Sounds like a niche market to me.

[Guest subaudio]

[quote name='Brook_fan' timestamp='1507616989' post='3386725']
Sir, your sample is self selecting and utterly biased!!

Robbie
[/quote]
You make a very good point there

Edited October 10, 2017 by subaudio

[Dood]

The Piano hasn't been replaced yet, neither has the Acoustic Drum Kit. Sure we have different ways of making those sounds, but they very much remain. I see no different for all other instruments.. even the violin is still here lol lol

[charic]

I would say that the role of bass guitarist has as long a life-span in it as any other "standard" instrument from a band scenario.

However, the role of bassist may evolve to include basslines played on other instruments as part of "standard" practice (as long as we're discussing music that is played live that is) much as electronic drum kits are slowly becoming more popular

[Dad3353]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1507629761' post='3386826']...much as electronic drum kits are slowly becoming more [s]popular[/s] affordable
[/quote]

Fixed.

[charic]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1507632216' post='3386847']

...much as electronic drum kits are slowly becoming more popular [b]and [/b]affordable

Fixed.
[/quote]

double fixed

[lojo]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1507620587' post='3386750']


Really? Sounds like a niche market to me.
[/quote]

Yep teenagers in sliders and socks

[Dad3353]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1507629761' post='3386826']... much as [b]good [/b]electronic drum kits are slowly becoming more popular and affordable

Fixed
[/quote]

Triple fixed.

[charic]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1507633529' post='3386856']
Triple fixed.
[/quote]

Well played sir

[Dad3353]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1507633712' post='3386858']
Well played sir
[/quote]

So [i]this [/i]is the future (and present..!) of bassists, eh..?

[Krysbass]

Back in the 80s there were people claiming synths would replace the electric guitar.

They didn't.

Similarly; I don't think the bass guitar is in any danger of becoming yesterday's news anytime soon.

[Hellzero]

Human beings pretend to tend to pefection, which is true, but in the same time they hate perfection. What they are looking for is that imperfection that makes it ... real. There is another point where the machines won't beat human beings which is the pitch related to timing. And there goes another debate.

[Skybone]

I think there is life in the bass guitar yet, same with guitars and drums. Their popularity will wane and then grow, but they'll not be going anywhere.

[SimonEdward]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Is the position of bassist secure in the future of contemporary music?[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Yes, because.. for the majority of music genres, with the exception perhaps of 'grime' (?) there is an increasing emphasis/focus on Live performance as a spectacle. There always has been (of course) but even more so now because the bottom has fallen out of selling recorded media. A modern day consequence of the way we consume music. In other words, you ain't going to make any serious money in the music business unless you have some kind of tour, huge venue or on-line contract to hang it off. And even these come with huge overheads and narrow margins. [/font][/color]

[font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]Would I pay £20, £30 or £40 + to watch a DJ play their 'set' ? Actually, I have seen large crowds on-line at these events - and I can only presume they are there to see a 'Live' band, or a vocalist bump n grind to a backing track. I think they're mad, but whatever floats your boat.[/color][/font]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Over the next 10 years or so, I'll be interested to hear and see who my kids end up; a) becoming fans of; if they go and see them play Live shows; c) they have a Bassist in the line up?[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The term "Bassist" is also crucial in the context of the question. Without something adding the Bass part, the composition may have heart ~ but will have no soul.[/font][/color]

[oldbass]

Yes, absolutely.
U can programme a bass line on a computer but I reckon it'll be light years before a computer can play that line with all the nuances of the fingers...scuffing, ghosting..flicking etc etc... which after all are the types of things that make enjoyable music more than just a collection of notes.

[arthurhenry]

In the tenth anniversary edition of Bass Player (1999), Karl Coryat predicted that bass guitar would no longer be used ten years from then.

[drTStingray]

The bass has different roles in different music forms but is generally there in one form or another. It is important to understand the history a little to take a view on the future. Take the upright bass - in classical music it is sometimes bowed, sometimes plucked - in jazz it is almost always plucked - and still is - the upright is alive and well!!

The electric bass guitar started off performing a role similar to an upright - and was generally frowned upon in jazz with one or two exceptions, until the 70s. But basically it allowed the bass to be heard better - and was invariably plucked.

Anyone with the mistaken idea that the Fender P appeared on most rock and roll in the 50s and pop in the 60s is sadly deluded. For starters a lot of rock and roll retained upright bass (rockabilly still does) - bass guitar entered the fray in songs like Baby I Don't Care by Elvis (interestingly played by Elvis allegedly because his rather superb (and generally upright) player Bill Black) had problems playing the guitar-like riff. All the early Elvis was on upright, sometimes slapped without a drummer.

The bass guitar was on most pop music from the 60s (much of the U.K. output not on a Fender - pop players like the Beatles were allowed to play their own instruments rather than have studio players do it).

If you look at Bubinga5's post 'All Star Bass Series - Masters of the Bass' you'll see how bass was in the 80s for the players at the front of the game - interesting a lot of those were ex upright players - and the film is a very accurate display of how bass was in that era for many. And synth bass joined in (as early as the early 70s with Superstition, Higher Ground, Boogie on Reggae Woman by Stevie Wonder) but really became prevalent in pop music in the 80s - people were worried that guitar and bass guitar was on the way out, such was the take over of keyboards.

So all these forms of bass, and the bass guitar are still here now. Types of bass instrument change with music styles - so in my opinion there'll always be a place for bass guitar and specifically a bassist. Yes, a computer can emulate it but there is an argument that the feel a good player can introduce is lost. There are lots of bassists around - but I do get concerned that the current fad for very simplistic bass played as a muddy rumble in the background on some pop music does not exploit the range and role the bass has available and worse still, might put off new players in the same way 60s groups sometimes gave the worst guitar player the bass role as being the least challenging instrument. Not everything about the 60s was wonderful and being heard on records or live on the bass was actually quite challenging - a bit like some modern pop music......

As an analogy back in the late 70s and early 80s social club circuit groups started using drum machines - they were perceived as having many benefits but the main ones were not having to share a small stage with a load of stuff and not having to share the fee with a drummer - so it was feasible to play as a duo. I don't see any reduction in the amount of drummers around these days.... we did worry for them back then!!

So I think the bass guitar will always be around and in all genres except classical, jazz and rockabilly is probably the most prevalent bass instrument. Keyboard is quite popular is dance and especially electro music.

Edited October 15, 2017 by drTStingray

[discreet]

[quote name='oldbass' timestamp='1508064799' post='3389510']
U can programme a bass line on a computer but I reckon it'll be light years before a computer can play that line with all the nuances of the fingers...scuffing, ghosting..flicking etc etc... which after all are the types of things that make enjoyable music more than just a collection of notes.
[/quote]

it's not just that... most bass line programming is done on a keyboard, so how the line is addressed is quite different. I've had cause to do both over the years and have programmed lines for recordings that I subsequently played live on a bass - and I inevitably changed the programmed lines to what I considered to be a better line on the bass. Mind you, I am a bass player first and a keyboard player second. Or even third.

[Dad3353]

Of course it's quite reasonable to expect hits from the '70s and such to be played on bass guitars, in the same way as Schubert is still performed using trombones. However, if the question means 'What's the future of bassists in future music hits..?', I'm not so optimistic. I reckon the bass 'sound' will still be a component, but there'll be less and less 'real' instruments of any kind, except maybe as samples. Bassists will still be around (although aging...), still bemoaning the long-gone heady days of 'slap-fests' and 'heft'. The world will move on, despite such acrimony, and 'Any good for metal' will no longer be recognised as a valid, grammatical phrase. 'Wodja mean, metal, innit..?' will be the future response, coupled with scratching the top of the head.