Showboating.

[NancyJohnson]

The video below was delivered to my Instagram feed earlier.  I've honestly no idea why.  It's just some bloke doing tricks with a football.

 

It struck me that these (cough) skills (cough) have little or no relevance in real world football, where the opposition are more interested in kicking lumps out of you rather than how good you are at keepy-up.

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkfPgCDAXzV/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

To a degree something clearly short-circuited in my head at such an early hour and I was reminded of some videos I got from a client one time of a bloke slapping and popping a bass that had D-tuners on every machine head.  It was frankly unlistenable.  They asked, 'Can you do something like this?'. 

 

My answer was, 'No, and why would I, this is unusable in the real world and frankly it's a bit sh*t.' 

 

The response from them was, 'Wot, are wuu a likkle bit jealoush?' (this was the actual spelling).

 

That was the last I heard and I never got paid for the rest of my work.  

 

There's the real world at work for you.

 

 

 

 

[SteveXFR]

Was the bass video Charles Bertrand (something like that)? 

His speciality seems to be videos with a title like "When you have 20 seconds to audition for Green Day" and then plays some million note a second tap and slap fest which is far as possible from their actual bass style.

[cetera]

Sounds like your client may have been the showboating bassist in the vid  lol!

[Barking Spiders]

It's odd and also fkin annoying when you might express a lack of interest in so and so's display of fretw@nkery and the immediate retort is that you must be jealous because you can't do it. Thing is I bet many people can do all this flashy shyt3 but choose not to because they have the good manners not to.

[petebassist]

Glen Matlock walking on stage at the Bass Guitar Show in London a couple of years back,  "I don't do any of that fancy stinky poo".

He was coming on after someone finished a six-string shredding, two finger tapping, playing upside down and backwards set. Impressive, but I think it sounds better on a guitar.

[NancyJohnson]

[mr4stringz]

It brings to mind a Tom Waits quote…

 

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.

 

 

[mcnach]

It tends to go down better if you nod, smile and say "that's impressive". Just like when a mate shows you his new car all proud and you don't particularly care... "oh, nice colour!" or something is better than an essay on why you don't rate that car...

 

Humans are funny.

[chris_b]

11 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

It brings to mind a Tom Waits quote…

 

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.

 

I was once thanked by a band leader for not slapping. I smiled at the compliment, but didn't tell him I didn't slap because I couldn't!

 

I wish I could showboat on bass. That would mean I had more technique that I could use to be a better player when not showboating.

[NancyJohnson]

I've never been remotely interested in playing like Flea/Claypool any more than I've been interested in bands that sound like RHCP/Primus, so have never even tried emulating what these guys (and a zillion of other players) do.  Oddly, its getting to the point where I feel marginally embarrassed to say that I'm 'just' a rock/indie/punky/post-hardcore player.

[Barking Spiders]

I think it's good to look at musicianship from a perspective of someone who doesn't play any or such and such an instrument, i.e. being able to see the wood for the trees. Problem with playing bass or guitar is if you're too close to the instrument you praps don't hear what the punters want to hear. I don't play the violin, trumpet or piano but want to hear something melodic and memorable. I have eff all  interest in listening to a load of high speed runs up and down the scales however expertly done.  I enjoy quite a bit of bass slappage - when its Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson - but outside of funk or other dance music it mostly sounds utterly shyt3 particularly when done at NAMM type shows by members of the public.

[Barking Spiders]

5 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I've never been remotely interested in playing like Flea/Claypool any more than I've been interested in bands that sound like RHCP/Primus, so have never even tried emulating what these guys (and a zillion of other players) do.  Oddly, its getting to the point where I feel marginally embarrassed to say that I'm 'just' a rock/indie/punky/post-hardcore player.

 Kind of ditto for me viz guitar playing.  Dare I say it but I'm actually pretty proficient at double handed tapping and sweep picking. I choose NOT to do it outside of practice as I particularly dislike the music that features such techniques.  I have no wish to emulate Eddie van Halen or Yngiwe Malmsteen. I'd much rather cop ideas from Keith Levene and Andy Gill.

[petebassist]

At the same bass show as Glen M, Stu Hamm did his Going To California solo piece - now that's something to behold I think. I'd love to have just one performance piece like that up my sleeve. Just for personal private enjoyment of course...bass porn!

[Grimalkin]

It depends on how you use the techniques, but I'd rather have them than not.

 

 

[SteveXFR]

On a similar subject, a lot of people seem to assume that a professional bassist who plays a very simple part in all their songs has no talent. It may be that they have the ability to play something far more technical but the songs are better without it. 

I'm fairly sure someone like Jay from Bad Religion who has been playing simple root note parts for 42 years has learnt to play a few other things off the clock and is probably extremely competent. 

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Was the bass video Charles Bertrand (something like that)? 

His speciality seems to be videos with a title like "When you have 20 seconds to audition for Green Day" and then plays some million note a second tap and slap fest which is far as possible from their actual bass style.

 

Charles Berthoud, yes.  That's the guy.

 

I mean, there's no doubting the guy can play, but for me it just seems all a bit unnecessary.

[cetera]

3 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Charles Berthoud, yes.  That's the guy.

 

I mean, there's no doubting the guy can play, but for me it just seems all a bit unnecessary.

He was mentioned as an example re: that very point, by professional session/West End bassist Ian King at his 'workshop' at the recent SE Bass Bash.

[SteveXFR]

9 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Charles Berthoud, yes.  That's the guy.

 

I mean, there's no doubting the guy can play, but for me it just seems all a bit unnecessary.

 

I agree. He's incredibly talented but I wonder how he'd actually get on in a band where its not just about him. Would he know where to leave space? Could he hold solid timing and pick every note consistently like Adam Devonshire in Idles? 

I'm fairly certain he'd be better than me in every aspect of playing though.

[JapanAxe]

Maybes an answer along the lines of ‘That’s not my bag, man’ would have annoyed them less.

 

On the slap thing, I slap and/or pop in only 3 songs in my entire extensive repertoire, and in my 22 years of bass playing I have only missed out on one gig opportunity through not being a proficient slapper. I kind of wish I could do it, but mainly I can’t be bothered. Plus I’m jealous obviously.

[EBS_freak]

1 minute ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I agree. He's incredibly talented but I wonder how he'd actually get on in a band where its not just about him. Would he know where to leave space? Could he hold solid timing and pick every note consistently like Adam Devonshire in Idles? 

I'm fairly certain he'd be better than me in every aspect of playing though.

Of course he could - and has - and no doubt still does.

 

His Youtube channel is all about entertainment and generating views. He would get no interaction if he just played run of the mill stuff. There's an episode I think where he even talks about his history.

[Happy Jack]

19 minutes ago, cetera said:

He was mentioned as an example re: that very point, by professional session/West End bassist Ian King at his 'workshop' at the recent SE Bass Bash.

 

Yes, and Ian couldn't remember his name either. 🙄

[Happy Jack]

I don't spend a lot of time watching YouTube bassists, but I've seen enough of Charles Berthoud to get the impression that he's a pretty good guy who certainly doesn't take himself too seriously. Incidentally, the same is true of Davey504, another deliberately over-flashy YouTube player, who I've had the pleasure of meeting.

 

I'd be genuinely surprised if either of them were incapable of replacing me in either of my main bands at the drop of a hat.

 

[Grimalkin]

It's nothing new:

 

"His violin technique, based on that of his works, principally the Capricci, the violin concertos, and the sets of variations, demanded a wide use of harmonics and pizzicato effects, new methods of fingering and even of tuning. In performance he improvised brilliantly. He was also a flamboyant showman who used trick effects such as severing one or two violin strings and continuing the piece on the remaining strings."

 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Niccolo-Paganini

 

"The Devil's Violinist" Paganini, was said to have deliberately composed his pieces to be so technically difficult to play, that he would have a monopoly on performing them. 

 

If you're selling a solo show I suppose you have to keep the attention.

 

 

[mikel]

2 hours ago, petebassist said:

At the same bass show as Glen M, Stu Hamm did his Going To California solo piece - now that's something to behold I think. I'd love to have just one performance piece like that up my sleeve. Just for personal private enjoyment of course...bass porn!

Quite a few people on here have claimed to want to do fret w*nk*ry, but only for their own amusement and never in public. I don't see the point of learning or practicing something I would claim to never use. 

[Lozz196]

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I've never been remotely interested in playing like Flea/Claypool any more than I've been interested in bands that sound like RHCP/Primus, so have never even tried emulating what these guys (and a zillion of other players) do.  Oddly, its getting to the point where I feel marginally embarrassed to say that I'm 'just' a rock/indie/punky/post-hardcore player.

At the London Bass Guitar Show a few years back I tried out a bass and, trusty pick in hand, played Warhead by The UK Subs. I was amazed to have a good few people watching me, couldn’t work out if they appreciated someone who wasn’t slapping or were horrified at such ruffian behaviour though.