What, in your opinion, is the minimum 'gold standard' BPM a bassist needs to sustain in order to be acceptable/respectable?

[Rich]

10 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

 

I see your double and raise you...

 

[Newfoundfreedom]

Custard creams.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Newfoundfreedom

[Guest]

An adult man who can sustain a BPM around 70% of what he achieved in his teenage years can consider himself a proper ****er. 

[Acebassmusic]

34 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

I would say you at least need 312 BPM playing 16th notes for an hour to even be considered to be anything near gold standard imo. Platinum standard, is ridiculous, were talking like in the 1000 BPM.

I would agree with you on this but only as far as playing country (not western) is concerned. If you get into the more technical aspects of the speed polka genres then the baseline minimum would be raised by 50% with some scholars even quoted at up to 57%. To be a true officianado and expert in the execution of speed polka it is also expected that no external aids or stimuli such as chicken grease, sweat or WD40 be used in assisting the exponent.

[M@23]

There’s so much wrong with the title of the thread. 

[Doddy]

I'll give a serious answer..

You need to be able to play fast enough for what the gig requires.

Personally, I don't want to be pushing the limits of my technique when I'm on stage. I want to be able to play something like 'What Is Hip?' or a fast Rhythm Changes comfortably, so ideally I want to be able to play several bpm higher than is usually expected.

[musicbassman]

[LukeFRC]

what a silly question.
We're bass players so generally nice folk who don't really need to divide people into acceptable and unacceptable..... 

Also our instrument is easy to learn, but hard to master. So the level a respectable bassist needs to get to be accepted is fairly low. I've no issue with people at the start of their learning journey.

As for "gold standard" - depends for what where and music style, and I doubt BPM has much to do with it. Turn up at a practice for a regular originals band and 95% of people who bothered to register for a site called basschat will have the skills needed. 
Play in a wedding band, maybe 70% of us, be asked to do recording sessions - maybe under 30% of us would have the skills and ability to do that. 
My mate is a studio engineer in a pretty high end studio... I imagine only 5-6 folk on basschat would be gold standard enough for what he needs. 
None of which has anything to do with BPM

[Newfoundfreedom]

I'd say at least 9.

BPM = Basses per meter, right? 

[Bobthedog]

My bass tutor once told me I sounded better when I did not play! What he meant was leaving a gap occasionally can make the music happen. On that basis I would say playing at 0 bpm was enough. 😊

[Reggaebass]

Just now, Bobthedog said:

My bass tutor once told me I sounded better when I did not play!

Mine too 😂

[Cato]

No idea whether OP is genuine or whether he's just winding people up but just in case he is genuine I'd point out that the BPM of a song and the number of notes you might play in a minute in that song are not the same thing and the relationship between the two is dependent on  other factors.

I can guarantee that almost no bass player or any other intrumentalist for that matter knows how many notes they can play in a minute, because it's never occured to them count.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Cato

[gjones]

2 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

I would say you at least need 312 BPM playing 16th notes for an hour to even be considered to be anything near gold standard imo. Platinum standard, is ridiculous, were talking like in the 1000 BPM.

You have to be careful though, because at 1001 BPM a bassist will spontaneously combust💥💥 💥

[chris_b]

I once tried to play along with What Is Hip and nearly caused myself an injury.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Cato said:

No idea whether OP is genuine or whether he's just winding people up

Go on, have a guess

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

 

[LukeFRC]

8 minutes ago, gjones said:

You have to be careful though, because at 1001 BPM a bassist will spontaneously combust💥💥 💥

I once set up a delay that sounded like I doubled my speed- I was going at 500bpm and it was getting to the point where it felt like my insides were getting really hot - very strange - I’m not sure what would have happened if I went 1/2bpm faster - would I have combusted or the pedal? Maybe the pedal would have acted as a fuse and I would have escaped with major burns?

[fleabag]

3 hours ago, Maude said:

Is that just playing 16th notes or more? 

 

Not really.  Rather, its playing Brussel Sprouts at 250 BPM

The next brilliant question will be what kind of dust gets stuck in your bridge mechanism.

 

[TheLowDown]

I didn't know that talent is equated with speed.

[Raymondo]

1 minute ago, TheLowDown said:

I didn't know that talent is equated with speed.

At @Skinnyman's Club it is...

The faster they get through the punters the more money they make. 😉

Allegedly. 

[fleabag]

Talent is required for Brussel Sprouts,  i will have you know

[Raymondo]

2 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Talent is required for Brussel Sprouts,  i will have you know

Yeah.

I avoid them as speedily as possible too!

[Sercet]

136

Uh, it's either 136 or 142.

[fleabag]

2 minutes ago, Raymondo said:

Yeah.

I avoid them as speedily as possible too!

Likewise

[Maude]

18 minutes ago, fleabag said:

 

The next brilliant question will be what kind of dust gets stuck in your bridge mechanism.

 

Tonefluff.