It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
As alluded to above, bass is a foundational role within an ensemble. It requires a different mindset than lead/rhythm guitar. It is also the element in a song to which people dance.
Playing both guitar and bass can bring a cross-fertilisation of ideas. Knowing what a guitarist would prefer to play over (hopefully) encourages one not to overplay on the bass.
My bassist buddy used to watch the drummers foot to absolutely nail the timing.
I also bought a bass for recording, but though I've used them for a few years now, I am not a bassist. If I keep it simple, I can do a good job, but if I try to get clever I usually start playing across the beat again.
What is great fun is to play a simple bass line along to a song, and just feel a bassist's groove. Its utterly different. It feels great.
Thanks to all for contributing to an interesting thread. There’s clearly no right and wrong answer so I will keep thinking....
Can you be bothered explaining it?
Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Bill Wyman, Trevor Bolder, Tina Weymouth and many more played shorties in their heydays, and I’d say they’re proper bassists! I hear the guy from Royal Blood also exclusively plays short scale, but I’m insufficiently down with the kids to know much about that.
I wouldn't say that playing bass has helped my musical understanding per se, but it does something physically that guitar lacks.
Don't know what I am saying other than I have been infatuated with guitar for the last couple of years, and only recently pulled my Precision out of the cupboard, and within ten minutes of playing felt that "ahhhhh, I am home" feeling.
And this isn't because I am a virtuoso on the bass - it was a resonant bond.
Ok, listen to some Chicago style blues. The phrasing of the lead guitar (& vocal usually) is usually 'late'. It's a feel thing. If you count the measures in the bar, the guitar phrasing rarely coincides with those beats. It feeds into most rock guitar also.
I’ve bought a few during lockdown for myself and son to have fun with.
The most recent I just been playing for a hour is a Harley Benton Paul McCartney lookalike fretless Bass.
£155 money well spent.
Its short scale but so much fun.
A friend months ago told me to buy a fretless bass and I should of done it sooner because I’m now a fretless convert and will be buying a long scale version after I bought my sons new Xbox next month when it’s released.
Its a very easy habit to stop.
This classic shows simply how drums bass and guitar work together along with Johns great vocals.
https://youtu.be/rIAZ8unRm2c
Ditto Larry Mullen Jnr and Adam Clayton.
The “on” theory crumbles completely when it comes to Les Claypool and Billy Sheehan. Some times, they play what amounts to two simultaneous parts in the band arrangement.