the future of bass guitar?

[Musicman666]

curious how you guys see this hobby/art form playing out in the future?....  is the electric bass scene growing or in decline? will people still be interested in all of this in fifty years time or will it all slowly fade away as generations pass on? cheery thought i know. 

[Lozz196]

Difficult one, going by current chart music people might assume the bass is history but we could look at the chart music of the early 80s and think synths were pushing guitars out of the way. Music seems to go in cycles so another punk/Brit Pop type genre with guitars must be on its way soon.

[neepheid]

Agree with the music being cyclic point above.

 

Also, it may seem that it's mostly a bunch of old farts on here with a worrying lack of young 'uns getting into bass as seriously as we do here, but that's more because only old farts use web forums these days.  I'm guessing if you mentioned the term "web forum" to most Gen Z'ers (or Millenials for that matter) you'd get a blank face.

[PaulThePlug]

I think Guitars will preety much always be about... as for bass may be repalced by the Devil's Left Hand...

I'm not up with the DAW type stuff, but for studio / bedroom bourne music seems a controller can do most things, then add vocals, mublings, vague attempt at monotone rambling rhyming.. what ever is the latest, then add a bit of real guitar, or sample someone elses if thats what ya want.

As for live... K'bds right paw keeps the numbers down. [Edit: Meant Left...]

So maybe a dying art like a harmonica or saxaphone player... might get to the 'Ohhh come and see this band, they have a real bass player!'

Edited August 11, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[BigRedX]

Does it matter?

 

There are plenty of instruments capable of producing low notes. Bass guitar is just one of them.

[PaulThePlug]

What compressor is best for my susaphone?

[BigRedX]

Just now, PaulThePlug said:

What compressor is best for my susaphone?

 

Surely it's all in the technique? 😉

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

What compressor is best for my susaphone?

 

Lazy git, use your lungs!

[Linus27]

I can't see it changing but as others have said, it will go in cycles. Look at theatres and shows and the popularity of music from other generations. Please love music so it won't matter if its 50's Rock N Roll, 60's Beatles tribute shows, Country and Western or Irish folk. It wasn't long ago we were all talking about Dua Lipa's bass player and how amazing the bass line is. Yes, the original was done on a synth if I remember correctly but live is on an actual bass. The recent Sigrid show at Glasto, she had a full live band behind her. Look also at what Cory Wong/Joe Dart are currently doing as well. It won't change, there will still be bass guitars but there are more options now than before to produce the low stuff.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Linus27

[StingRayBoy42]

32 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

What compressor is best for my susaphone?

It's Sousaphone!

And they're definitely the future, 'cos all the kids are into hundred year old jazz, aren't they?!

[Cato]

About 30 years ago a lad I knew got himself what was at the time a pretty high end keyboard/synth.

 

That was the first time I heard programmed bass patches that sounded pretty much indistinguishable from a real bass gutair and I wondered then if bass guitar had a future.

 

30 years on and we're all still here.

 

I do think playing 'real' stringed instruments in a pop music context has become a lot more niche over the years, a growing number of big box office acts seem happy to play to partial or full backing tracks live rather than taking a full band out.

 

There will always be a place for old fashioned bands though, although they'll probably be more prevalent in some genres rather than others.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Cato

[Barking Spiders]

The bigger picture shows music generally isn't as 'important' for millennials as it's been for old'uns, now that gaming and social media have taken over. For those interested in making music I spose why would they choose to spend many hundreds or even thousands of pounds on a bass +amp+effects or any other instrument when they can produce their own stuff on Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools etc for a fraction the cost?  In time, the guitar, bass and drum kit are likely go the way of the lute and the rebec.

[Nicko]

As someone who dabbles in songwriting and have access to DAWs that are capable of doing the low stuff, I find physical instruments are still more versatile and being a reluctant keys player it's easier to compose on a bass than on a sequencer.  

 

A look at last years biggest selling albums also shows a healthy dose of traditional instrumentation.

[Barking Spiders]

16 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

The bigger picture shows music generally isn't as 'important' for millennials and Gen Z as it's been for boomers and Gen Xers, now that gaming and social media have taken over. For those interested in making music I spose why would they choose to spend many hundreds or even thousands of pounds on a bass +amp+effects or any other instrument when they can produce their own stuff on Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools etc for a fraction the cost?  In time, the guitar, bass and drum kit are likely go the way of the lute and the rebec.

 

[Boodang]

Musicians care about things like instruments, the listening public however don't give a monkeys how music is produced and are only interested in the final result. 

Will the bass guitar survive? Well, if you can make music with it that people like then yeah.

[Nail Soup]

A lot of musical instruments have a long life cycle - e.g .the violin.

There will always be bass... but the way of delivering bass will chnage over time... e.g .transition from Double bass to bass guitar.

 

I think bass guitar will sit along synth bass etc for a few years yet.

 

[Earbrass]

3 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

What compressor is best for my susaphone?

 

(With apologies to all brass players)

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

4 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

As for live... K'bds right paw keeps the numbers down.

Wouldn't that only be the ones playing a left-handed keyboard?

[itu]

It is a law of nature that some Feo Lender will invent a feasible UI to some shape that has good UX. Then bass - as we know it now - will be an instrument for certain type of music from certain timeline. This has happened to lute, gamba, violin etc. Bass will be no exception.

[Fishfacefour]

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

why would they choose to spend many hundreds or even thousands of pounds on a bass +amp+effects or any other instrument when they can produce their own stuff on Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools etc for a fraction the cost?  In time, the guitar, bass and drum kit are likely go the way of the lute and the rebec.

It's hardly a cheap approach. You need a computer, software, headphones or speakers, a decent interface etc. GAS soon kicks in and before you know it youre spending thousands on outboard, synths or extra plugins and extra controllers. 

 

 

[BigRedX]

26 minutes ago, Fishfacefour said:

It's hardly a cheap approach. You need a computer, software, headphones or speakers, a decent interface etc. GAS soon kicks in and before you know it youre spending thousands on outboard, synths or extra plugins and extra controllers. 

 

Most people already have a computer and some sort of headphones or speakers. GarageBand is free if you have a Mac, and Logic is only £199 which has all the plug-instruments and effects you'll ever need. If you work entirely "in the box" you'll only need the most basic of interfaces in order to record vocals, and if your doing instrumental music you won't even need that.

[Thump]

The cyclic thing is the truth , there are cool people in every generation 

[Barking Spiders]

2 hours ago, Fishfacefour said:

It's hardly a cheap approach. You need a computer, software, headphones or speakers, a decent interface etc. GAS soon kicks in and before you know it youre spending thousands on outboard, synths or extra plugins and extra controllers. 

 

 

Not so, all that's really needed is a laptop with a powerful CPU like Intel Core, a GPU like AMD Radeon, at least 8 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage. Job done. You can run Ableton Live on something like a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro or a Samsung Galaxy Book Pro. IMO it's pretty safe to assume any technophile will have this level of gear plus you can pick up Ableton Live 11 for just over £300

[Franticsmurf]

The future if the bass guitar as an instrument is, of course, the 'iBass 4'. With model variations such as 'iJazz', 'iPrecision' and 'iHeadless'. But as with all such things, the strings will stop working after a year and will not be user replaceable, so you'll have to get the upgrade to the 'iBass 5', slightly larger and with a camera. 😀

[EJWW]

It is more a question of whether LIVE bass guitar has a future. 

 

The rise of live music using backing tracks and sequenced bass is the issue more than the future of bass guitar itself. I've seen several gigs which have not used live bad guitar despite the original records featuring it. 

 

I believe there will always be a constituency of people who will want to see and hear live, real bass guitar just as people will continue to play money to hear an orchestra. 

 

Bass guitarists should promote and celebrate our instrument.