Role of the Bass Player

[My name is Mudd]

Originally Posted by J-Building

...my band really lets me let loose on whatever I can come up with.

That's cool, and when I'm lucky enough to find a band myself, I hope to have that happen for me also (and be able to back up that trust...).

[NWB]

There's some interesting musical ground between soloing and pedaling roots. Some of the classic rock artists used an arrangement with the bass playing sort of a "song within a song" rhythm/melody where the bass is playing a distinctive line between the rhythm guitar and drums. Examples would include older Heart, Yes, Rush, Styx, Kansas, Elton John, etc.

Listen closely to the bass lines of Heart's "Crazy on You" to really hear what I mean. There is plenty of space in the overall arrangement for the bass to work around in and it really stands out this way.

More modern examples of the approach include RHCP and Rancid although it's much less common in music these days than it used to be.

[My name is Mudd]

Originally Posted by NWB

...RHCP...it's much less common in music these days than it used to be.

Which is one reason why I like RHCP a lot.