How Do You Feel about Bassists.

[ch willie]

When I was 20 and playing in a band, my bandmates spat on my request to play some songs on guitar. One said, I never met a bassist who just put more time into learning bass. They were right. After a few decades of playing guitar, I lost none of my love for guitar, but bass is my obsession again. The folks I’ve played with have been pleased with my talents.

I used to see bassists as inferior to guitarists—until I realized that there is no such thing as an inferior instrument—as long as you learn to play properly.

As a guitarist, I played with only one great bassist. The others had no clue about playing their instruments—outside of the pentatonic. . As a bassist, I do my job.

what is your experience with bassists?

[phantomman]

Bass and percussion are like the foundation of a house.

Without them, music is just tinny, unsyncopated noise.

[FrankJohnson]

Bass and percussion are like the foundation of a house.

Without them, music is just tinny, unsyncopated noise.

Its a different part of the music, a different cadence, language feel.

I would likely have to respond to someone who said "a lesser guitarist", in my best and most respectful demener......Blow Me.

[Cogs]

In my experience, the average bass player is far more talented than the average guitar player.
That being said, I'd like to relay a story I heard a long time ago:
Ray Price needed a bass player at the last minute for a tour he was about to embark on. He ran into Willie Nelson in front of a billboard in a Nashville studio, where Ray was frantically writing down phone numbers. He said, "Hey Willie! Do you play bass guitar?" Willie answered, "Well, sure. Doesn't everybody?"

[Laker]

I’ve been a bass guitar player for 58 years who converted from being a sax player so I am an extremely weak guitar player. I can cover Kumbaya on guitar while sipping a beer at the campfire and that probably covers my keyboard abilities as well.

But, many years ago I worked with a fantastic jazz oriented drummer who taught me drum rudiments and it got me to thinking in terms of rhythmic feel, and then, when I worked with the great Bluesman, Bryan Lee, in the many hours I spent on the road with him, we talked chord-theory and I’ve always felt that the combination of those two elements makes for a good bass man and a strong addition to a band.

I do occasionally sit at my drum kit and practice to keep what drumming abilities I have in my head.

[ch willie]

Its a different part of the music, a different cadence, language feel.

I would likely have to respond to someone who said "a lesser guitarist", in my best and most respectful demener......Blow Me.

You would have been right to do say it.

You know, it was the prevailing thought when I was a teen playing. Everybody made jokes about the bassists--and then asked me to play because bassists were rare. You kind of start to believe it too after a while. I always locked in with the drummer, but my playing got better after I obsessed on guitar and keys for two decades. That and playing my AmPro parts JB, which has also unlocked something vital to me as a player.

Now, I'd say "Blow me" too and then play them a bit of John Entwistle and ask them to compare it to bass lines written by Beethoven (cos he was f'in boss). BTW, if Beethoven had had electric guitars and basses and modern drums, he'd have out-rocked everyone, including Lemmy.

[phantomman]

Now, I'd say "Blow me" too and then play them a bit of John Entwistle and ask them to compare it to bass lines written by Beethoven (cos he was f'in boss).

+1

And consider Jack Bruce's phenomenal bass lines in "Politician" from the Live Cream - Vol II album and Felix Pappalardi's melodic bottom end in "Theme From An Imaginary Western". Without them those songs would've been rock history's "also-rans" IMO.

[ch willie]

I totally agree.

[OldStrummer]

Whenever I think of bass players, my thoughts immediately go to Jack Casady's work (and intro!) on Jefferson Airplane's live "3/5 Mile in Ten Seconds" on their Bless Its Pointed Little Head album.

[phantomman]

+1

Another of rockdom's underrated bassists.

[ch willie]

I don't really dig bass solos that aren't short and sweet, but this is so much fun to listen to. Well, Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna were so lucky to have Casady. Here's a video that I found today. Jack is locked in sometimes and out in space at others. Great great great.

[OldStrummer]

I don't really dig bass solos that aren't short and sweet, but this is so much fun to listen to. Well, Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna were so lucky to have Casady. Here's a video that I found today. Jack is locked in sometimes and out in space at others. Great great great.

My God, would you look at that bass! It's hard to find data on Casady's basses once he put his name to an Epiphone bass (I have one). But Bass Magazine has a pretty good article on the man that notes he started with Fender basses and then went to a Guild Starfire bass that was heavily modified by Augustus Owsley Stanley (Bear) of the Grateful Dead. After it was stolen, he got another and had it enhanced, too. The image you posted shows it was likely the second, as this image shows.



(the above is from an article on Casady and Guild basses in Fly Guitars)

Now you've got me started! Here's Hot Tuna from 1970:

[phantomman]

One thing about Jack at live venues. He was like Entwistle -- surrounded by a backline of amps and speaker enclosures. Usually Fender Dual Showman's but often Sunn 200S's and/or Kustom K200's. A virtual LF sonic wall that could (and did) shake the ceiling tiles down in the Avalon Ball Room, the Fillmore, and Winterland.

[ch willie]

What a great party this has turned into. I'm listening to Jeff Airplane's Crown of Creation now. I swear, I don't know how I've not listened to them a lot in the last few decades. I think I prefer Crown of Creation to Surrealistic Pillow.

I saw Jefferson Starship with Paul Kanter back in 81, and I think Pete Seers was with them. He wasn't shabby, but yeah, wish I'd seen them when they were the Airplane.

And OS, they make the Casady bass in a lefty. I remembered yours, and if I didn't already have a good hollow body bass (my Hofner), I'd be sorely tempted.

The bass has saved my love for playing. Just exactly re-discovering bassists like Casady--this gives me more fire in my gut to play. I was burned out bad a few years ago and needed something to open music up to me again, and the bass did it. I rediscovered my love for playing and learning. Now, it's spilled over to the guitar, and I love any minutes I can play without overwhelming pain.

[DanTheBluesMan]

I was sorely tempted to pull the trigger on a Casady bass (Epiphone) very recently. If I didn't have a bass in parts waiting to be assembled (and because I might have been short of cash), I did not do it.

I haven't listened to much Airplane in a very long time. They weren't one of the groups on my radar aka playlist but I was aware of them. I've probably seen Jorma a bunch of times but never with the core band of Jefferson et al.

[DanTheBluesMan]

and thanks to those who posted the videos. I especially like the Hot Tuna "Hesitation Blues" one.

[phantomman]

I enjoyed all the iterations of Jefferson Airplane from their early days with Marty Balin and Signe Toly Anderson through their "poppish" Starship days. Of course Jack was no longer with them at that point but they created some fine tuneage nonetheless. I think most of the original founding JA members are gone now.

[OldStrummer]

I enjoyed all the iterations of Jefferson Airplane from their early days with Marty Balin and Signe Toly Anderson through their "poppish" Starship days. Of course Jack was no longer with them at that point but they created some fine tuneage nonetheless. I think most of the original founding JA members are gone now.

That makes two of us. In fact, I separate my musical genre influences into two camps: "The San Fransisco Sound" of the 1960s (Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band, etc.) and the "British Invasion" of the same time (Yardbirds, Ten Years After, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, etc.). Those still make up the majority of my music collection.

[phantomman]

My concept of "the British Invasion" comprises the earlier acts from GB......Peter & Gordon, Gerry And The Pacemakers, Them, The Hollies, etc. The music may have not been as complex or blues-based but it was still a fine sound.

[OldStrummer]

We could probably start a whole new thread on this topic, but I think we'd be in 100% agreement. Petula Clark, The Dave Clark Five, Freddie and the Dreamers (one of my faves) et al, all laid the groundwork for the "next wave."

Parenthetically, I was on a tour of New Orleans a number of years ago, and the local guide made the point that it was the British who revived the blues.

[phantomman]

No argument there. While the masters like Dixon, Hooker, the Kings, etc may have invented the blues it was the Brits who popularized and (to some extent) commercialized the genre.

[ch willie]

My concept of "the British Invasion" comprises the earlier acts from GB......Peter & Gordon, Gerry And The Pacemakers, Them, The Hollies, etc. The music may have not been as complex or blues-based but it was still a fine sound.

Incredibly overlooked bands. I could listen to Peter & Gordon all night. The Hollies--Bus Stop is one of my favorite songs ever. Carrie Anne.

I'm getting obsessed with Airplane. I am so happy we talked about them. The album Crown of Creation has quickly become one of my favorite albums ever. A rare occurrence for an album to hit me like this at this stage of my musical life, but man man man is this album great in so many ways.

[S. Cane]

We are a 4 piece, singer, bassist, drummer and yours truly on the guitar.

Our bassist not only is seen as an equal musician, he also is one HELL of a bass player and we arrange most songs so that he can solo for as long as I do. Btw his solos in Sympathy for the devil and Born to be wild are a lot more complex and thrilling than mine.

[ch willie]

Bass solos, like drum solos, can be horrible experiences for the audience, unless one has something interesting to say on their instruments.

I remember Pete Sears playing a long solo during the Starship show I saw. My friend turned to me and said, do you think you can do that on a bass? I answered, OF COURSE. Which is the way a 20 year old dude might answer. Pete had a lot to say in that solo.

Another great solo occurs on the long version of Toto's song 99. I don't listen to them much, but I've always liked that and a few songs. Great musicians, the lot of them.

[phantomman]

For some sturdy bass work check out the late Paul Goddard's efforts on Atlanta Rhythm Section's "Red Tape" album. It sounds like he doused his Jazz Bass with Sunoco 260 then flicked a Zippo. Raw and visceral but polished to perfection.

[ch willie]

For some sturdy bass work check out the late Paul Goddard's efforts on Atlanta Rhythm Section's "Red Tape" album. It sounds like he doused his Jazz Bass with Sunoco 260 then flicked a Zippo. Raw and visceral but polished to perfection.

I'd forgotten about him. I remember seeing them in the 70s, and they gave Goddard a lead. He absolutely killed it. Band has"Rhythm Section" in the name--you'd better have a good bass and battery. ARS deserve a lot more respect than they get.

[Laker]

I didn’t realize this was a thread about individuals, thought it was bass playing in general.

For bass I always looked to players like James Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Richard Evans, or Rocco Prestia, bassists that play in the pocket. Guys like Entwistle have always struck me more as solo players and not so much groove players so not really my “cup of tea”.

[OldStrummer]

I didn’t realize this was a thread about individuals, thought it was bass playing in general.

For bass I always looked to players like James Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Richard Evans, or Rocco Prestia, bassists that play in the pocket. Guys like Entwistle have always struck me more as solo players and not so much groove players so not really my “cup of tea”.

I won't argue this point, because I think by-and-large it's true. Still, I give a lot of credit to the likes of Casady, Entwistle and kind because they brought the bass more onto center stage. Pete Townshend once called Entwistle the Who's "lead guitarist."

Nathan East to me typifies the kind of bass player you're referring to. I was listening to the new Eric Clapton release ("The Lady In The Balcony") and East plays bass. The whole album is a masterpiece of understatement, and East's playing is the perfect complement to the whole.

[ch willie]

Laker, originally, I was trying to find out about we as guitarists think of our bassists, and how we as bassists think about ourselves,
For me, it boils down to what makes me happiest. Playing bass live is much more satisfying to me than playing guitar, even though I'm not total crop-cakes and still play guitar as much if not a little more than bass. I love being thought of as a bassist. And I find that I've begun to learn things about music again. Greatest feeling ever.

[OldStrummer]

Laker, originally, I was trying to find out about we as guitarists think of our bassists, and how we as bassists think about ourselves,
For me, it boils down to what makes me happiest. Playing bass live is much more satisfying to me than playing guitar, even though I'm not total crop-cakes and still play guitar as much if not a little more than bass. I love being thought of as a bassist. And I find that I've begun to learn things about music again. Greatest feeling ever.

I briefly tried a stint as bassist for the church band. I remember the band leader telling me that it was more important that I keep proper time than play runs and fills. If need be, just play the root note on each beat (as the music called for) but make sure you're on the beat.

[phantomman]

If need be, just play the root note on each beat (as the music called for) but make sure you're on the beat.

The very fundamental of a bass instrument -- the musician who masters that will always be in demand.

[Laker]

Laker, originally, I was trying to find out about we as guitarists think of our bassists, and how we as bassists think about ourselves,
For me, it boils down to what makes me happiest. Playing bass live is much more satisfying to me than playing guitar, even though I'm not total crop-cakes and still play guitar as much if not a little more than bass. I love being thought of as a bassist. And I find that I've begun to learn things about music again. Greatest feeling ever.

When I played bass the first time (had a basic guitar understanding and learned two songs on bass in 1961, first band) I found bass really intrigued me and I felt I’d found my instrument so the sax was eventually dumped. I like the fact that I think in terms of rhythm in addition to chord changes in a song and dancers seem to move to the groove/feel that I play. My years of working with people like bluesman Bryan Lee really drove playing in the pocket into my head/style.

[blackonblack]

While I’ve been playing 1 instrument or another for 5 decades plus, bass was the 1st string instrument. After a couple years I went guitar, but have always dabbled in bass.
Then COVID hit. I have been mad on bass due to needs since then. My skills have multiplied exponentially during that time.

it’s a totally different approach. I think that someone that understands guitar and keys, and has solid bass fundamentals presents the best possible solution. I have heard bassists that were so conformed to root and 5th and the beat they couldn’t walk if their life depended on it. On the other hand, I’ve heard bassists going all Entwistle never bothering to listen to what’s happening sonically or how the song develops.

then again that’s what make a good musician, vs guitarist, bassist, etc. the ability to listen to what’s happening and developing vs showing your chops or merely holding down your section.

[ch willie]

There is NOTHING like playing with a drummer who's able to get tight with the bass. When a drummer and I lock in together, I get chills. It's especially great when you don't even have to read each other; it's instinctive and it's pretty close to magic.

[OldStrummer]

There is NOTHING like playing with a drummer who's able to get tight with the bass. When a drummer and I lock in together, I get chills. It's especially great when you don't even have to read each other; it's instinctive and it's pretty close to magic.

And makes the rest of the band so much better.