I've been trying to get a band together for a long time now, but I've always been hit with the same problem: I don't know any musicians that aren't bassists. I know 6 bass players, one drummer that I haven't spoken to in 2 years, and 2 really crappy guitar players.

So I was thinking about an alternative. I could get in touch with that drummer, who was insanely good by the way, and try to get together with him. Then try to incorporate 2 basses into the mix instead of a guitar. One of the bassists I know (the best of the bunch, by far) has a 6 string, and a 12-string (with the alternating guitar strings and bass strings), so he could cover the melody/guitar parts and keep the high-end sounding good while I keep the rhythm going underneath.

I know it would be pretty hard to pull of and sound good, but I think it's a great idea, at least to mess around with. So does anyone have any thoughts or experience with something like this?

haa, that woudl be pretty kool, if the on guy kept the melody/high pitched, and you kept the bottom down, as long as it dint get too boomy, it might be interesting

-jake

hey mikey. the only band that comes to mind is 'elastica' a britpop band who have on occasion used 2 basses along with guitar.
personally i think its a good idea having a 2 bass band if you can write the music well.
in my band (razorbladesmile (http://www.freewebs.com/razorbladesmile)) i tend to write the songs bass heavy anyway using the guitar for punctuation of lines and heavy choruses.
also think of quartets of other instruments like violin/cello players. or heavy metal cellists apocalyptica. if the violin family can do it whey cant bass players?
id say if you can go for it dude see what you can make of it.
good luck
-s

i think a 2 bass band is a kick ass idea. Dependin on the music you gotta have some form of seperation between the basses tho. I think stuff where there would be a slap bass and a fingered/picked bass .. or one with distortion one clean... 2 different distortions... one person playing high on the fretboard, the other playiing low. or even playing the same lines, with an octave difference might sound cool?... Check out the band Death From Above 1979 for an idea.

I've done three bassists in one band. Different tunings (or number of strings) and different sounds (clean/distorted, fretted/fretless, bowed/plucked etc) do help things naturally fall into place. Though you don't necessarily have to play different things all the time - everybody playing down low in unison sounds HUGE for the occasional really big chorus or finale. Bowed double bass and distorted bass guitar in unison sounds HEAVY!

cop shoot cop, ned's atomic dustbin...

If Victor Wooten can do it, anyone can.



heh

cop shoot cop, ned's atomic dustbin...

Yes! NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN! My thought exactly. I used to be waaaaaaaay into this band. My taste has changed a little, but they still kick A55.

Joe

Sounds like Aussie band Pre Shrunk - two bassists and a drummer. Interesting stuff (mucho Deep Impact usage).

It can work!

What about only one bass player and drums?

Death From Above 1979 & Lightning Bolt are two that come to mind.

Im about to start one called Locusta.

Mutliple basses, eh?
You might want to check this (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive1.flv) and this. (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive2.flv)

If you do this, you have got to cover "Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap.

Juan Alderete from Racer X and The Mars Volta had a two bass band with Tim C. from Rage and Audioslave. Timmy C dropped out early though, so the two bass fretless/fretted band didn't work there. :hmm:

Early Sadhappy was just Bass and Drum (first album)
Then it was Bass, Drum, and Sax
Then the Sax player quit and it became a 2 Bass and Drum band
You might want to check them out too
A lot of fun, Punk/Jazz type of thing

Sadhappy is cool, very unique sound.

Aarghh!
Why is it that I feel physically sick whenever I see Victor wooten near an instrument?

Think Spinal Tap "Big Bottom". :bassist:

Molotov: two basses, guitar, drums.

Toupé (http://www.toupe.co.uk/)

very primus influenced, really good live.

Aarghh!
Why is it that I feel physically sick whenever I see Victor wooten near an instrument?
No idea. You realize how much he rules?

Here is just such a 3 piece band from Chiago fronted by a guy I know. Two bassists, one drummer, nothing else. One bass is tuned standard, the other is a 5 stringer with a high c, they are not my cup o' tea (I like pop rock) but they are very good and quite agressive. They just got signed, and they have been at it a few years, so it is possible to do it.

http://www.bearclawrock.com/

I'm pretty sure that they have samples of thier stuff at thier site. It really is the logical extension of things. With so many agressive bands are getting 7 string guitars and barritones, that the logical end is bands made of just bassists.

Probably the best known use of multiple basses is The Beach Boys. On many of their classic tunes Brian used 2 and sometimes 3 bassists. An upright, a Fender ,and a Dano 6-string bass.

Ive done this before with a mate and a guitarist

Gonna have to have a dual bass jam with "Microbass" sometime tho

Italian composer Ennio Morricone experimented with two basses playing a walking bassline in "Sinfonia D'Unna Città, Part II", from the soundtrack of a 1982 movie called "Copkiller" (a.k.a. "Corrupt"). Interesting result.

Mutliple basses, eh?
You might want to check this (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive1.flv) and this. (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive2.flv)


:bassist:


Bailey just kills me with the stuff he pulls off on a 6 string fretless.

PLEASE EQ your sounds properly so that you don't get in each others way frequency wise. Could turn out very bad for you and any audiences.

Mutliple basses, eh?
You might want to check this (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive1.flv) and this. (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive2.flv)

I have some of that DVD, I downloaded the first 30 minutes of it a long time ago. It's amazing. I love the song A Chick From Corea (and this clip you have starts right at the funky part!). Their version of Donna Lee is pretty cool too, but I prefer Jaco's.
Bailey's technique is freakin ridiculous. The way he uses his thumb on the fretboard and his artificial harmonics, it's just insane the way he plays that bass.
BTW-Am I the only one who thinks they both look really stoned during the instructional parts?

I guess I might as well mention Floor and Torche since most of their songs are played with the guitars tunned Aadgbe where the low A is in the same octave as the bass. They're pretty much playing all their parts as chords on the A string of their guitar while also playing the bass parts along with the bass player.

Molotov: two basses, guitar, drums.

These guy's kick major arse. Saw them last month. WOW.


I played in a band years ago in Hollyweird with two basses. I De-tuned a four string low and the other guy played an 8 string. He played melodic stuff above the 7th fret and I played grooves below the 7th fret. It was tres cool.
The other guy was Roger Capps of Pat Benetar fame (1st 6 records). We were called "Speaking Lamp", silly name for a T.V.

Dianogah. 2 bassists and 1 drummer. Same with Enemymine.

My new project will have 2 and maybe three bassists as well as one drummer.
http://grasstain.com/images/Rabbitinacanoewithroastedredpeppereyes.jpg

Fear The Rabbit!

Hey how about mid-90's King Crimson ...

Two Bass; Tony Levin ... Trey Gunn
Two Drums; Bill Bruford ... Pat Mastelotto
Two Guitar; Bob Fripp ... Adrian Belew

Check them out on VROOOM ... one of KC's best. :hyper:

Band with 2 basses :

Deverova Chyba : (Formed from the rhythmic section of the Czech band Hodouskova Vina) ****ing great band

here some examples :

1. schovat se (http://www.freedimension.cz/audio/deverova_chyba-schovat.mp3)

2. Speje (http://www.freedimension.cz/audio/deverova_chyba-speje.mp3)

Bands wit only bas and drums :

Rats of the capital (my band :) = from belgium ) (http://www.purevolume.com/ratsofthecapital)

Ruins (on mike pattons ipecac label) (http://www.ipecac.com/audio/035.mp3)

Sabot (american band) (http://www.cesta.cz/mp3/deadline.mp3)
The new jersey idiots (belgian band)
Donderpröt (belgian band)

I've been trying to get a band together for a long time now, but I've always been hit with the same problem: I don't know any musicians that aren't bassists. I know 6 bass players, one drummer that I haven't spoken to in 2 years, and 2 really crappy guitar players.

So I was thinking about an alternative. I could get in touch with that drummer, who was insanely good by the way, and try to get together with him. Then try to incorporate 2 basses into the mix instead of a guitar. One of the bassists I know (the best of the bunch, by far) has a 6 string, and a 12-string (with the alternating guitar strings and bass strings), so he could cover the melody/guitar parts and keep the high-end sounding good while I keep the rhythm going underneath.

I know it would be pretty hard to pull of and sound good, but I think it's a great idea, at least to mess around with. So does anyone have any thoughts or experience with something like this?

There is band in Finland called Barathrum. they have several bassists on gigs. Seven is the most I´ve heard they´ve had.
http://barathrum.poro-tuotanto.org/

-V

George Clinton had several bass players when I saw the P-Funk All Stars. They only played separately, though. That band worked kind of like a hockey team over four hours. One of the best gigs I ever witnessed.

http://www.myspace.com/rageagainstmartinsheen

This is a local band in my scene with two bassists. They are pretty good, though all their songs are about hating hippies.

Ive jammed with another bassist for a few hours, in a band setting. It worked partially because the tones were very different.

Mutliple basses, eh?
You might want to check this (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive1.flv) and this. (http://www.audiophileimports.com/movieclip_broadband.php?id=bassxtremeslive2.flv)

Thanks for posting those links. I had not seen Steve bailey play before. Jaw dropping.

Early Tortoise featured two bass guitars and three percussionists.

My former bass teacher Mike Frost has a band called the Deep thats two bassists and a drummer, works very well. Usually they trade off laying down the groove and playing melodic stuff.

Vicor wooten and steve bailey.. WOW!..I'm speechless.

...
Bands wit only bas and drums :

Rats of the capital (my band :) = from belgium ) (http://www.purevolume.com/ratsofthecapital). . .



Your band's pretty rad.


WHOA IT'S WOOTEN AND BAILEY PLAYING AT THE SAME TIME! good thing their basses are so high up, because if they looked cool while playing that amazingly. . . the Universe just might implode! :cool:

Bailey is freakin ridiculous. I'd like to see some TB bands pop up with multiple TBers and a drummer. I think we'd all learn alot from each other.

I've seen a couple of bands in San Francisco that use two bass players. Usually one acoustic upright, and a 7-string. Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, Bearcult, Realistic Orchestra.

Adam Theis is the 7-string player.

I recently played a show with the Violent Femmes. It was a dual bass assault with me playing my 51 reissue and Brian Ritchie played a wide array of basses including:
Electric Upright (it was my Rob Wave bass)
His Erine Ball Acoustic
Ernie Ball Music Man
Electric Washtub Bass
1 String "Monobass"
Shakuhachi (japanese bamboo flute)
Conch Shell

I think it worked well because our tones are so different and BR is a genius. Here is a picture (you can just barely see me)

Richard Drexler plays upright on some tracks on Jeff Berlin's "Lumpy Jazz". Great stuff. And that's af 21-fret 4-string!

Has anybody else seen the new Les Claypool DVD? (it's called 5 Gallons of Diesel) There is a clip of a performance Les did with a drummer and EUB - I think they were called "3 guys named schmo"… anyway, it's a very impressive show of what can be done with two bass players.

I browsed the the thread and didn't see anything so hopefully someone hasn't already said it...

It came out a while ago that Mani (The Stone Roses), Peter Hook (New Order) and Andy Rourke (The Smiths) are working together on an album called 'Freebass' :rolleyes: would you believe. Yeah, three basses.

If you do a search you'll probably find some stuff out about it.

Andy Rourke IMO is probably one of the all time greats, so i for one can't wait.

Another "band" that comes to mind is spinal tap. For one song they only use basses, I think it's the big bottoms song.

I've seen a couple of bands in San Francisco that use two bass players. Usually one acoustic upright, and a 7-string. Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, Bearcult, Realistic Orchestra.

Adam Theis is the 7-string player.

Is this the same Adam Theis that played Trombone? Petaluma, bay area? If so, I used to be in a band with him (*I played bass) but I heard he was playing bass now....small world?!?

Aloha, Garey