Name your favorite Bass players and why.

I'm surprised I missed this the first time around. I have four favorite rock bass players - not because of any technical proficency, (well maybe Ritchie and Thomas are pretty good) but just because I like their style...

Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes)
Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello)
Paul Simonon (The Clash)
Graham Lewis (Wire)

in Jazz...

Charles Mingus
Ray Brown
Scott LaFaro
Charlie Hayden

No Gene Simmons from anyone. If I was still in elementary school I would be stunned.

jc

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn

Rich, you are going to have such a great time! I'm looking forward to your review after the show.

---

Please do a *no-rain* dance for me. It's an outdoor venue, and I think we're just outside of the covered part of the amphitheatre. Forecast call for rain late Friday.

I'm hoping #1, they open with Armor and Sword, and #B, their playing helps provoke more memories of when I saw them for the first time back in the early 80's. Maybe it's just my age, but I'm recently really into watching old footage of the bands I grew up with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn

That Youtube video

---

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! I knew what the words "All your base are belong to us" were all about but that's honestly the very first time I've seen the video. Good stuff.

Never did like those rolling papers though because you'd have to stick two together.

And yes GM I'm bored here, and that's because my boss is in.... you guessed it... Japan. :eek6:

I too am not terribly interested in busy bass players. The ability I appreciate most in a bass player is the ability to support the song without getting in the way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire

...But the frets are there for a reason. I have nothing against skill. But my feeling is that a performer should be focused on what it is that they're playing, not the hoops they have to jump through to play it. What's the point? It's an unnecessary multitasking exercise that only players are going to truly appreciate in the first place. I noticed a long time ago that people who play such things never seem to make music that I think is any damn good.

---

You don't see frets on any of the instruments in classical music and there are thousands of twelve year-olds doing a great job without them.
I think to say that rock-n-rollers need frets in order to focus on the music is a little insulting.

Lately for me it's gotta be the Sandman with that two-string slide bass guitar. Really gets deep down and nasty sounding when Dana Colley gets cranking on that baritone sax, like in that Sounds Good thread ...

We used to meet every
Thursday Thursday Thursday in the afternoon
For a couple of beers and a game of pool
We used to go to a motel a motel a motel across the street
And the name of the motel
Was the Wagon Wheel

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Davey

Lately for me it's gotta be the Sandman with that two-string slide bass guitar. Really gets deep down and nasty sounding when Dana Colley gets cranking on that baritone sax, like in that Sounds Good thread ...

We used to meet every
Thursday Thursday Thursday in the afternoon
For a couple of beers and a game of pool
We used to go to a motel a motel a motel across the street
And the name of the motel
Was the Wagon Wheel

---

My wife pulls out their cds more often than I do, but it's always pure bliss.

Swish

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brett A

You don't see frets on any of the instruments in classical music and there are thousands of twelve year-olds doing a great job without them.
I think to say that rock-n-rollers need frets in order to focus on the music is a little insulting.

---

Insulting to who? If you train someone younger than 12 on something, it's far more likely they'll be adapt to a more difficult task, as opposed to someone who's older. There's a curve for learning that declines over time. Players are creatures of habit, for the most part, and they're going to be more comfortable with what they know.

If a rock'n'roller gets insulted because I think it'd be more challenging for them to move to a fretless instrument, that's their problem. Any such move requires an adjustment, and, no matter how minor, the better players will work through it easily, the lesser ones, less so. And the ones who'd want to do it, would find a way.

Most rock'n'rollers learn on fretted instruments & fretless ones are, in my experience, used mostly by musicians who, whether 'overplaying' or not, are working with music that is outside most blues-based pop and rock structures. Plenty of examples to the contrary, I'm sure, but it's not the point. Years after this thread began, I still think that frets are a guide that would loom larger if you put a fretless instrument in the hands of a player who's never played one. When faced with that sort of adjustment, I think a lot of players would find it more difficult to focus on the music. In time, of course, they'd get over the hump, if they wanted to.

But it'd be a skill they'd have to develop, and that's what I meant when I referred to jumping through hoops. And I used that term because, in my experience, most pop and rock music (that uses guitars and non-doghouse basses, rockabilly & retro-swing & -Western Swing being significant exceptions) is played by players using fretted instruments. If someone else's experience differs from mine in that they've seen more fretless players in bands that didn't lean towards fusion and/or jazz, then they'd probably have a different perspective. I do think we see far more fretted instruments in pop and rock music for a very good reason. And it has nothing to do with training younger people on far more difficult instruments.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire

Insulting to who? If you train someone younger than 12 on something, it's far more likely they'll be adapt to a more difficult task, as opposed to someone who's older. There's a curve for learning that declines over time. Players are creatures of habit, for the most part, and they're going to be more comfortable with what they know.

---

...take care of it quite nicely. Couldn't agree more.

So, are you going to get me some Echo tickets or what? Heck, you should go too J! Either way, we'll be staying in the city if we're lucky enough to get tickets, so I'll be sure to give you a holler so we can grab a pint or two. That was a blast the last time.

Swish

It would seem easier to get a clean note without frets. I don't see how playing with them would make one focus more. Anyone know what the real difference is between fret or no fret? I really haven't given this much thought. I always assumed it was just something different like the tuning keys by the butt instead of the end of the neck or a style like neck size or traditional versus the arrow shape etc.

In between threads I just happened to be reading this article, answers my question pretty well, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A711802

and this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fretless_guitar

What's coo about the Widipedia is the long list of fretless users which include a good showing of Rock musicians. It does take a bit more learning or skill to play a fretless but it seems the main reason is the difference is sound.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire

frets are there for a reason. I have nothing against skill. But my feeling is that a performer should be focused on what it is that they're playing, not the hoops they have to jump through to play it. What's the point? It's an unnecessary multitasking exercise that only players are going to truly appreciate in the first place. .

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brett A

I think to say that rock-n-rollers need frets in order to focus on the music is a little insulting.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire

Insulting to who?...
If a rock'n'roller gets insulted because I think it'd be more challenging for them to move to a fretless instrument, that's their problem.

---

I guess that’s all you needed to say.

I agree with your other points. I feel because we are adaptable creatures, playing without frets is a pretty small deal and I think anyone who is wants to will adapt pretty easily. But I take your original point that a fretless bass is just unnecessary in blues based pop/rock.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire

OH, and anyone who plays a bass with more than 4 strings, or a fretless instrument, should have the damned thing shoved up their rectum.

---

Damn! That would leave likely a mark :crazy:

I think Swish would say that's their problem...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gburglax

VICTOR WOOTEN - can't believe nobody has said this man, absolutely unbelievable whether you see his solo show with his bros or when he performs with one of the most talented groups out there, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Blows Flea out of the water if you want funky slap bass but can perform every style.

---

Yeah, Wooten is at the top of my list after seeing him last month.

Also on my radar is Tal Wilkenfeld who most of you have probably seen playing bass for Jeff Beck on the Crossroads show. Her solo album Transformation is great. Also, I am hoping that Julie Slick from Adrian Belew's Power Trio breaks out on her own and does something original.

Wow! Can't believe that I missed this thread the first time around.

Lot of good choices. For whatever reason, I've always been partial to the jazz bassists. Maybe because they freely switch off between acoustic and electric, and often play more of the lead parts. Clarke, Pattitucci, and Pastorius have been mentioned.

Probably the most phenomenal bass player I've ever seen is Brian Bromberg. His speed and versatility are off-the-chart, and he plays just about every type of bass imaginable -- fretted, fretless, four-string, eight-string, five-string, acoustic, electric, piccolo bass, standup electric, etc.

Too bad he's not nearly as good a songwriter and puts out albums more in the blander smooth jazz vein. His albums feature some nice solos and the like, but it's nothing like the jaw dropping improvising and accompaniment that he does when unleashed in a live performance. He also does a lot of good session work, but there too he's limited by the material.

Another incredible bassist is Charlie Hunter. He's unusual in that he plays both the lead and bass guitar simultaneously using modified 10 and 12-string guitars. Aside from the incredible skill needed to pull this off, he's a great improviser. The interplay between the lead and bass parts in his songs is impressive, no surprise considering that he plays both parts.

Some reviewers have commented that Hunter could become a legend if he would just focus on one instrument -- that playing both parts impedes his potential to excel at one. But, I'm not so sure. His technique is so embedded into his songwriting and playing, but I just don't see him separating out the two parts, since his improvising hinges so heavily on working the lead guitar and bass parts together. He is capable of playing each instrument by themselves, but I'm not sure that he would be better off focusing on one.

Bummer, I checked for Tal on Amazon, no samples, out of stock and if it was in stock it would cost a cool $37.49.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

Bummer, I checked for Tal on Amazon, no samples, out of stock and if it was in stock it would cost a cool $37.49.

---

Send me your addy. I downloaded 396 mp3 versions from some whacky site and burned it to disk. I hooked up bobsticks and would be glad to hook you up too.

After seeing YES more times then I can count. I sticking with Chris Squire.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jjp735i

After seeing YES more times then I can count. I sticking with Chris Squire.

---

Squire and Jon Camp from Rennaisance were the main reasons I bought a Rickenbacker Bass many years ago.

Squire is always a good pick.

Hyfi, did you stick with bass or move on? I play bass, or play at it. I've had one for years but haven't progressed very far. I need to get off my duff and get some lessons to get me over my plateau. I have a Fender Jazz, love the neck. I am a bass and percussion guy. I've never been able to do much with a 6 string. My wife got me a overdrive pedal for Xmas one year and I have a blast with distortion. I also like to try to do the string pop Funk stuff.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

Hyfi, did you stick with bass or move on? I play bass, or play at it. I've had one for years but haven't progressed very far. I need to get off my duff and get some lessons to get me over my plateau. I have a Fender Jazz, love the neck. I am a bass and percussion guy. I've never been able to do much with a 6 string. My wife got me a overdrive pedal for Xmas one year and I have a blast with distortion. I also like to try to do the string pop Funk stuff.

---

Unfortunately I just never ended up with enough time to do much with it besides play along to my favorite tunes. I ended up selling my Fret less Rick about 5 years ago and have been kicking myself in the ass ever since.

Yeah, I've done that. Back in the 80's I sold a nice red Bentley bass and good size Peavey amp to employee purchase a top of the line Kenwood CD player. Although I wasn't a great player I missed it. I eventually bought a used junker to get by and when I had the money I bought my Fender. I don't get time to play it much but I will always hang on to it because I know as sure as I got rid of it I'd miss it.