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01-22-2015, 03:23 AM
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#41
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Stratford upon Avon UK
Posts: 1,291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
Barry - you bought the wrong strings mate.
My Precision bass had Rotop Ks chrome tape flats on it and I still got a great, ballsy sound out of it.
Somewhere I have a scratchy old EP I recorded in 1962 using that bass.
The guitar players were relegated to Black Diamond and a banjo G string though....
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Ivan I suspect the ballsy sound was more a combination of your playing, the bass
and the amp than the strings!
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01-22-2015, 03:56 PM
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#42
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 2,779
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I remember an old story, but I'm not too sure how well I remember and I might have the characters mixed-up...
I think it was Johnny Cash who asked Waylon Jennings to come on tour with him and play the bass. (Maybe his bass player was unable to come at the last minute, or something.) Waylon said, "I don't play the bass." Johnny Cash said, "It's just the top-four strings on a guitar." Waylon came-along on tour as the bass player!
I'm not trying to make a point or anything... This thread just reminded me of that story.
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01-22-2015, 05:59 PM
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#43
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 2,694
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
(boring anecdote time again)
I knew Vic Wooten fairly well when I lived in Nashville.
Most of his thang comes from being born into a musical family. Was the bass player in the Wooten Brothers family Band from shortly after he could walk, as far a I can gather!
That and deciding to learn banjo rolls on the bass!
No, seriously!
I watched him do a showcase for a girl singer in town and he played cello on one song. He had bought the cello the week before. *sigh*
And what is even worse is that he is a really nice unassuming bloke.
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For me this is the precise opposite of a boring anecdote and is a quite wonderful (if slightly giddying) example of degrees of separation I guess. Only through Reaper could this happen???
I think he is way more than simply a bass player emulating guitar leads - yes he does that but is also well funky (see this eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-MPQqJOUg for examples of both.)
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01-23-2015, 03:14 AM
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#44
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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01-23-2015, 08:33 AM
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#45
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,384
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
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i've watched this guys bass lesson before i think
isn't he this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-N54p2YlQg
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01-23-2015, 10:48 AM
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#46
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Thats him.
Interesting player. Just wish I had ultra bendy thumbs like him.
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01-23-2015, 12:53 PM
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#47
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: 'straya
Posts: 9,409
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Should be straightforward enough process to play Bass-:
Step 1. Become an accomplished lead guitarist.
Step 2. Play all those lead guitar notes on the thickest two strings of the Bass guitar but play the tonic note of whatever chord the song happens to be on at that moment, more than the other notes.
Step 3. Reap accolades from fellow Bass players.
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01-23-2015, 04:37 PM
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#49
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 5,465
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
A bass player pretty much HAS to deal with each note as it comes along. At least until he has learned enough to know when to hold on and when to let go.
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This. Trying to program, then getting a bass and try playing it, brought a tremendous lesson in groove. I probably wouldn't have got it, without that bass experience... meaning: where a note ends, is as important as where it starts. That may seem like elementa and, uhm, is that. Like.
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01-23-2015, 04:38 PM
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#50
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 22,567
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Quote:
Originally Posted by for
If we take out techniques such as slap bass
if i know to play guitar, do i know to play bass as well theoretically?
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yes, you know where the notes are.
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01-23-2015, 10:11 PM
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#51
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: 'straya
Posts: 9,409
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grinder
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Just because somethings not the truth doesnt mean theres not some truth in it, but i must admit i was trolling trawling for more afa the interplay between lead insts, the Bass being one as well as being part of the rhythm section.
Classical music seems to *always* keep a reference to relative intervals between say bassline and lead inst, eg guitar, so for example a bass section of 3 notes could be arranged to avoid parallel 5ths with the gtr and *possibly* be more sonorous, but really the post was just a joke of sorts...
however
I do acknowledge your expertise grinder, nice soundcloud songs there, all good plus I really was taken by your acoustic strum method in 'Kicking About' Cheers
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01-23-2015, 10:55 PM
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#52
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2,905
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No offense taken here Morgon
Lot's of fakes and faked out there for sure.
One of the most wonderful things about the Reaper fraternity is that you can "Ask a question" no matter how intelligent or not it seems to be.
So many boffins on this forum never needing to "be right" either.
Thank you for listening to my music and your comments on it.
Yes I am primarily a ad lib lead guitarist that dabbles in bass.....
So I agree with you in principle.
Changing from the vibe of one instrument to another can be taxing not only on the mind but on the body and nervous system as well.
The thing is getting people around you who play drums and bass that are good or willing to learn and also stick with you in your musical life is probably the better way to develop music long term.
Bluzcat alluded to this in one other precious post.
There is so much good stuff in this forum just keep asking the questions.
Oh like many I come from acoustic guitars both classical and folk/Blues type that helps the rhythm and feel heaps.
Best
Grinder
https://soundcloud.com/steve-maitland-1
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01-24-2015, 04:01 AM
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#53
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jorgen
where a note ends, is as important as where it starts. .
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Exactly!
A much wiser man than I also said that the groove is in the holes you leave....
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01-24-2015, 04:15 AM
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#54
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 2,694
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I was just thinking about this- I know "where the notes are" on a piano (probably could play a simple piece with both hands if I had lots of time to work it out say) but no way would I say I am a piano player.
Similarly I know where the notes are on a bass. I am just wondering if playing rhythm guitar all these years should not have given me more insights into the role of the bass than it seems to? (Only two songs I am allowed to play with our band are "Love Letters" and "I will survive" both with simple bass lines but I really love doing it however badly if only cos I get to play a Fender Bass while our normal bassist does his keyboard thing (he is actually a very excellent keyboard player that came to the bass later... go figure!))
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01-24-2015, 04:44 AM
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#55
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Banned
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 985
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If you need some inspiration maybe listen to these bass players (there are of course many more), I try to cover a wide range of music styles:
Prince
Scott LaFaro
Stanley Clarke
John Entwistle
Larry Graham
Stuart Hamm
Steve Harris
Tom Fowler
Max Bennett
Hellmut Hattler
Jonas Hellborg
James Jamerson
Mark King
John Paul Jones
Marcus Miller
Pino Palladino
Flea
Jaco Pastorious
John Patitucci
Robbie Shakespeare
Bootsy Collins
Billy Sheehan
Chris Squire
Rusty Allen
Carles Benavent
any more ? ;-)
It´s better to learn from inspiration than to imitate / copy !
and how could I forget to mention there is a (wannabe) bassist called Riff (forget his prename ?)
maybe this could inspire you to play better haha
https://soundcloud.com/giano-riff/dancewithreplika
Last edited by Giano; 01-24-2015 at 05:28 AM.
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01-24-2015, 10:59 AM
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#56
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Stratford upon Avon UK
Posts: 1,291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
Exactly!
A much wiser man than I also said that the groove is in the holes you leave....
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When I was starting out I developed a busy bass style and got quite a lot of praise for my playing. One night my band was supporting the Spencer Davis Group who, with a 17 year old Steve Winwood played great blues. Muff Winwood played a crappy old Harmony bass through a cheap Linear Concord amp and had the full but uninteresting woody tone of the day. However what astonished me was how little he played. I've never heard a bass player before or since who left so many gaps. The effect it had was to give the utmost importance to the few notes he did play and it sat so well in the music they were playing. Certainly gave me food for thought. Horses for courses as they say...
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01-24-2015, 12:09 PM
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#57
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Seattle
Posts: 5,635
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msore
Jam? Is that what good bassists do? Ten minutes to learn a new instrument, eh?
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It's not a new instrument. It's a guitar. It's tuned like a guitar, and you play it in a similar fashion as a guitar.
So if you're a competent guitar player, you can pick up a bass and figure it out enough to play with other people in about 10 minutes.
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01-24-2015, 01:01 PM
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#58
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 22,567
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pretty much.
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01-24-2015, 01:10 PM
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#59
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,290
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I always thought all of the bass players who played with Jethro Tull were some very talented people.
I also like the guys from XTC (Colin Moulding) and The Knack (Prescott Niles), when it comes to "Pop Rock" bass playing.
You know who doesn't get enough mention, but who's a monster on the bass nonetheless, is the guy from Genesis, Mike Rutherford. Very melodic and lyrical, whilst still holding everything together with Phil Collins' intuitive and emotive drumming.
__________________
"F" off.
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01-24-2015, 01:16 PM
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#60
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Banned
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 985
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not forget to mention that there are special bass playing styles / techniques,
e.g. funky bass with slap technique,
jazz- walking bass or
the unquie style of James Jamerson (Motown)
you usually do not play this way a guitar !
But as a guitar player you might learn it faster than a piano player.
and I would not play a bass with my teeth !
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01-24-2015, 04:11 PM
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#61
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Rafael
Posts: 11,594
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil
...you play it in a similar fashion as a guitar.
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Well, according to some guitar players, maybe.
Just not according to bass players.
__________________
My religion is all or none.
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01-24-2015, 07:01 PM
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#62
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Seattle
Posts: 5,635
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msore
Well, according to some guitar players, maybe.
Just not according to bass players.
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Well, they would be wrong. You vibrate a string over a resonating board or an electrical pickup. It is fretted in half steps, and tuned generally to E A D and G. You can initialize that vibrating string with your fingers - just like a guitar, or a pick - just like a guitar, or slap it - just like a guitar. Because it's not "a bass." It's a "bass guitar." There is no magic to it, and there is very little new to learn technique wise if you're a halfway decent guitar player. If you can work out a pentatonic scale on a guitar, you can be playing bass in about 10 minutes.
If you play alto sax, you can also play tenor. Because it's a saxophone. If you play trumpet, you can also play fluegelhorn. Unless you are you, apparently.
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01-24-2015, 07:09 PM
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#63
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Rafael
Posts: 11,594
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Jerome. If you speak spanish, you might be able to speak some french, and vice versa. But they are not the same. To move from one language to another requires a lot of work and learning, more than ten minutes. And the differences between playing a bass and playing a guitar are a lot greater (in technique, theory, thinking, hearing, fingering, etc) than the difference in hardware.
__________________
My religion is all or none.
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01-25-2015, 04:01 AM
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#64
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Stratford upon Avon UK
Posts: 1,291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil
If you can work out a pentatonic scale on a guitar, you can be playing bass in about 10 minutes.
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But you wouldn't be a bass player.......
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01-25-2015, 05:25 AM
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#65
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Mount Colah, Sydney, Australia
Posts: 435
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I've played guitar for over 25 years, and have had a bass guitar for 15 of those but never had lessons other than an occasion book/CD.
I play some bass to my recordings, mainly trying to find interesting supporting backdrops to my guitars, rather than follow the basic bass lines. Sometimes i am quite happy with my results.
Then a bass player comes along and plays something to one of my tunes, and....
So yes, you can get away with it, but don't kid yourself.
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01-25-2015, 12:03 PM
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#66
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: 'straya
Posts: 9,409
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msore
Jerome. If you speak spanish, you might be able to speak some french, and vice versa. But they are not the same. To move from one language to another requires a lot of work and learning, more than ten minutes. And the differences between playing a bass and playing a guitar are a lot greater (in technique, theory, thinking, hearing, fingering, etc) than the difference in hardware.
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Taking the techniques of one inst and applying to another could lead to a fresh approach no? Theres infinite possibility with music, the notes are transferable inst to inst, genre to genre.
A good instrumentalist should be able to apply their stuff, aka techniques, wherever and make it work fine. Eddie Van Halen applied his keyboard training to gtr and revolutionized modern rock gtr. Others took percussion training/pov combined with jazz/blues etc and produced funk. No reason you cant tranfer good gtr method to bass as long as the role of the bass is understood imo
If you play gtr chords with 3rds and 5ths in the bass of those chords and know where to apply them that they sound good, it informs your bass knowledge.
For years I played in an R&B band, lots of gtr boogie riffs, on gtr you often would play much the same kind of notes in the bass of the RG as the Bass gtr, but with ah...er...less responsibility [Im simply acknowledging the important role of the Bass here in its foundational role]
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01-25-2015, 12:35 PM
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#67
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Hands up all those wanting to hire Jerome to play bass in their next project?
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01-25-2015, 12:40 PM
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#68
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
Hands up all those wanting to hire Jerome to play bass in their next project?
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Only if you play the drums Ivan.
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01-25-2015, 02:23 PM
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#69
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Stratford upon Avon UK
Posts: 1,291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by morgon
A good instrumentalist should be able to apply their stuff, aka techniques, wherever and make it work fine.
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And people like Wooten are doing just that - nothing wrong with it at all, they have the technique, talent and virtuosity and naturally explore and develop the potential of their instruments. Just seems to me that the original purpose of the instrument can get lost along the way. Anyway, I'm just jealous, my brain believes I only have four fingers and a thumb on my left hand.
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01-25-2015, 03:44 PM
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#70
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Great Lakes, N. A.
Posts: 1,872
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One must meditate on the verse bass-line in "Knock On Wood" - only then will you see the way, Gwasshoppah.
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01-25-2015, 04:01 PM
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#71
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Stratford upon Avon UK
Posts: 1,291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperMadness
One must meditate on the verse bass-line in "Knock On Wood" - only then will you see the way, Gwasshoppah.
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It's the little slide that does it.
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01-25-2015, 04:57 PM
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#72
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Terra incognita
Posts: 7,670
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01-25-2015, 05:35 PM
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#73
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod
Only if you play the drums Ivan.
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You didnt LIKE my drumming???
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01-25-2015, 05:37 PM
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#74
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xpander
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Carole Kaye is/was a guitarist.
Not just a bassist.
James Jamerson as far as I know never played anything but upright and electric bass.
And he was a bit good.
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01-25-2015, 06:08 PM
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#75
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
You didnt LIKE my drumming???
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What? Aah, come on, I didn't say that did I?
Ivan, your my horse if you never win another race.
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01-25-2015, 06:50 PM
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#76
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 2,694
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In a discussion about bass playing in "popular music" really the name Danny Thompson should be mentioned although he only apparently played bass guitar for one tour - but what a tour!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIgVxfqdzhw
He surely is the most versatile player around and to my ears always seems to play what the particular piece needs. Definition of a fine bass player maybe?
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01-25-2015, 08:22 PM
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#77
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Rafael
Posts: 11,594
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Quote:
Originally Posted by martifingers
In a discussion about bass playing in "popular music" really the name Danny Thompson should be mentioned although he only apparently played bass guitar for one tour - but what a tour!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIgVxfqdzhw
He surely is the most versatile player around and to my ears always seems to play what the particular piece needs. Definition of a fine bass player maybe?
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yah. Love Danny. But I would describe him as a jazz, folk, world music bassist rather than a pop one. Love his music from English to North African.
__________________
My religion is all or none.
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01-25-2015, 08:30 PM
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#78
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by for
If we take out techniques such as slap bass
if i know to play guitar, do i know to play bass as well theoretically?
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The strings of a bass are the same as the bottom four strings on a guitar--but tuned an octave lower. A competent guitar player may provide a serviceable bass line, but a competent bassist will probably take the bass line to a higher level. Despite some commonality between a guitar and a bass, they do perform different and distinctive roles.
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01-26-2015, 01:01 AM
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#79
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Terra incognita
Posts: 7,670
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc
Carole Kaye is/was a guitarist.
Not just a bassist.
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Sure. But she is one of the most prolific bass players in the world, heard by millions on thousands of records yet unknown to many. Which also goes to show the public role bass players often have, pretty low key (pun intended).
Wooten and Bailey are of course great bass players, I was half joking on that one. They take different roles thru the jam, but it is interesting to imagine who would be the bassist if they all had guitars in there.
Last edited by xpander; 01-26-2015 at 01:07 AM.
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01-26-2015, 05:33 AM
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#80
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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Well it sure might be Stanley Clarke if he was there... I love that he hired a bass player in his own band!
Sort of tells you where he is really coming from.
But he is a MUCH better upright player in terms of bassularity of content.
And can we stop all this " a bass is just the lowest four strings of a guitar tuned down" nonsense?
I am finding this thread highly amusing, needless to say.
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