Who is a truly awful bassist?

[chris_b]

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1070748' date='Dec 28 2010, 08:46 AM']....I bet most of us can come up with a better bass line playing it on the fly, but because Clayton recorded it and its down on record some think its the best thing for that band....[/quote]
I bet you can't!

James Jamerson could play anything but listen to him on Boom Boom, Higher and Higher and Can I get A Witness. Anyone could play more notes but just because you can you won't be playing "better" lines. I could play more notes than Dusty Hill but that would not be right either.

[steverickwood]

[quote name='chris_b' post='1070864' date='Dec 28 2010, 11:52 AM']I bet you can't!

James Jamerson could play anything but listen to him on Boom Boom, Higher and Higher and Can I get A Witness. Anyone could play more notes but just because you can you won't be playing "better" lines. I could play more notes than Dusty Hill but that would not be right either.[/quote]

True indeed. We should be playing because we love to play and not expect to be slated if we are not virtuosos. Have fun and try to play within context; lets face it, if we all followed some 'how to do bass that will please everyone' guide we would be dull and similar. Some people play lots of notes and some play few, but ultimately I reckon we are better off practicing right now to improve our craft, as opposed to talking about it and how we could do better. (guitarist and lightbulb joke?)

[skej21]

[quote name='steverickwood' post='1070879' date='Dec 28 2010, 12:15 PM']True indeed. We should be playing because we love to play and not expect to be slated if we are not virtuosos. Have fun and try to play within context; lets face it, if we all followed some 'how to do bass that will please everyone' guide we would be dull and similar. Some people play lots of notes and some play few, but ultimately I reckon we are better off practicing right now to improve our craft, as opposed to talking about it and how we could do better. (guitarist and lightbulb joke?)[/quote]

Or the "million notes to four people, or four notes to a million people" jazz versus rock joke lol.

At the end of the day, the truly awful bass players are the morons who think they know best.

Making comments about how you could "play something better on the fly" or putting other bassists down because they play something "simple/easy" (such as Clayton) is just a mixture of jealousy, sheer arrogance and naivety.

Being a great bassist is not about how many notes you can/cannot play or the standard of your playing.
It's about being humble, respectful to fellow players and setting yourself challenges to improve your playing.
There will always be someone out there who has achieved more than you (regardless of how "easy" there playing appears) and who is a more complete player than you and similarly, you will always be better than someone else.

A truly great bass player realises this and uses his acquired skills to help players who are behind them and respectfully seeks similar help from players who are ahead of them.

[greyparrot]

[quote name='skej21' post='1070895' date='Dec 28 2010, 12:35 PM']Or the "million notes to four people, or four notes to a million people" jazz versus rock joke lol.

At the end of the day, the truly awful bass players are the morons who think they know best.

Making comments about how you could "play something better on the fly" or putting other bassists down because they play something "simple/easy" (such as Clayton) is just a mixture of jealousy, sheer arrogance and naivety.

Being a great bassist is not about how many notes you can/cannot play or the standard of your playing.
It's about being humble, respectful to fellow players and setting yourself challenges to improve your playing.
There will always be someone out there who has achieved more than you (regardless of how "easy" there playing appears) and who is a more complete player than you and similarly, you will always be better than someone else.

A truly great bass player realises this and uses his acquired skills to help players who are behind them and respectfully seeks similar help from players who are ahead of them.[/quote]


its got nothing to do with that, its also got nothing to do with clayton being bad, but personally i think the bass lines he comes up with are boring! thats why i dont play u2 stuff. and as a member of the public, i have a right to say me bit :-) I would sooner hear something i enjoy then something i dont. You are almost saying people must like what others do. Well they dont, im not knocking him, good luck to him, he pulled it off and i have respect for him there. ;-)

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1070731' date='Dec 28 2010, 07:32 AM']
Go to 1:30 for his views on bass guitar and guitarists.[/quote]

I bloody love Devin.

[gizmo6789]

Im gonna go with GLEN BENTON. he isnt very good. just a whole lot of open notes, thrashed strings and the like.

[Hobbayne]

Sometimes the most boring bass lines are most suited to the song. Status Quo are a case in point. how many Quo songs have the standard dum-de-dum-dum-de-dum line where nothing elese will do??

[Sibob]

[quote name='skej21' post='1070895' date='Dec 28 2010, 12:35 PM']Or the "million notes to four people, or four notes to a million people" jazz versus rock joke lol.

At the end of the day, the truly awful bass players are the morons who think they know best.

Making comments about how you could "play something better on the fly" or putting other bassists down because they play something "simple/easy" (such as Clayton) is just a mixture of jealousy, sheer arrogance and naivety.

Being a great bassist is not about how many notes you can/cannot play or the standard of your playing.
It's about being humble, respectful to fellow players and setting yourself challenges to improve your playing.
There will always be someone out there who has achieved more than you (regardless of how "easy" there playing appears) and who is a more complete player than you and similarly, you will always be better than someone else.

A truly great bass player realises this and uses his acquired skills to help players who are behind them and respectfully seeks similar help from players who are ahead of them.[/quote]

Huge +1
Kinda surprised me that this thread even got started really

Si

[Pete Academy]

The good bassist plays for the song. The bad bassist plays for himself.

[Marvin]

[quote name='skej21' post='1070895' date='Dec 28 2010, 12:35 PM']Or the "million notes to four people, or four notes to a million people" jazz versus rock joke lol.

At the end of the day, the truly awful bass players are the morons who think they know best.

Making comments about how you could "play something better on the fly" or putting other bassists down because they play something "simple/easy" (such as Clayton) is just a mixture of jealousy, sheer arrogance and naivety.

Being a great bassist is not about how many notes you can/cannot play or the standard of your playing.
It's about being humble, respectful to fellow players and setting yourself challenges to improve your playing.
There will always be someone out there who has achieved more than you (regardless of how "easy" there playing appears) and who is a more complete player than you and similarly, you will always be better than someone else.

A truly great bass player realises this and uses his acquired skills to help players who are behind them and respectfully seeks similar help from players who are ahead of them.[/quote]

This
[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1073062' date='Dec 30 2010, 07:48 PM']The good bassist plays for the song. The bad bassist plays for himself.[/quote]
and this. Both good points


A casual reader may be appalled at some of the snobbery and latent jealously of some of the posts on this subject.

With regard to the subject of U2 I've never understood the moaning about Clayton's playing. Most of the whinging seems to emanate from people who don't even like U2. It's not bass driven music so it doesn't require 'look at me' lines. Anything more 'colourful' wouldn't fit in, there's no space for it - the focus of U2 are Bono's lyrics/voice and Edge's guitar playing. Arguing that one could play a better line is a mute point, and somewhat irrelevant as only the 0.0000x% of nerdy bass players in the general populous would be listening to it anyway.

If the bass fits the song the player is doing their job.

Edited December 30, 2010 by Marvin

[Schnozzalee]

Van Halen's Michael Anthony - they only have him because he's a nice guy, Wolfgang Van Halen is worse still.

[steve-soar]

Not an awful bassist but a truly awful piece of music.

[Marvin]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1073163' date='Dec 30 2010, 09:09 PM']Not an awful bassist but a truly awful piece of music.

[/quote]
Crikey! I hope silddx doesn't see that, it'll send him all strange

[essexbasscat]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1073163' date='Dec 30 2010, 09:09 PM']Not an awful bassist but a truly awful piece of music.

[/quote]


Some interesting stuff going on there from some very able players . Who are they ?

[hostilesteve]

the bassist from Virus was pretty gash apparently

[hostilesteve]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNU6XHUptc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkNU6XHUptc[/url]

[tauzero]

[quote name='Marvin' post='1073135' date='Dec 30 2010, 08:45 PM']With regard to the subject of U2 I've never understood the moaning about Clayton's playing. Most of the whinging seems to emanate from people who don't even like U2. It's not bass driven music so it doesn't require 'look at me' lines. Anything more 'colourful' wouldn't fit in, there's no space for it - the focus of U2 are Bono's lyrics/voice and Edge's guitar playing. Arguing that one could play a better line is a mute point, and somewhat irrelevant as only the 0.0000x% of nerdy bass players in the general populous would be listening to it anyway.[/quote]
With U2, there's also quite a bit of difference between songs where the bass and drums are simply providing a platform for Bono and the Edge (eg. "With or without you") and those where the bass is providing a melodic glue (eg. "One"). I'm not much of one for playing the chugging note but I enjoy playing "With or without you" far more than the dreary "Dakota".

[4000]

[quote name='Marvin' post='1073135' date='Dec 30 2010, 08:45 PM']This

and this. Both good points


A casual reader may be appalled at some of the snobbery and latent jealously of some of the posts on this subject.

With regard to the subject of U2 I've never understood the moaning about Clayton's playing. Most of the whinging seems to emanate from people who don't even like U2. It's not bass driven music so it doesn't require 'look at me' lines. Anything more 'colourful' wouldn't fit in, there's no space for it - the focus of U2 are Bono's lyrics/voice and Edge's guitar playing. Arguing that one could play a better line is a mute point, and somewhat irrelevant as only the 0.0000x% of nerdy bass players in the general populous would be listening to it anyway.

If the bass fits the song the player is doing their job.[/quote]

+1 to all of it, and the points it was +1-ing...