Bill Dickens- bass master?

[MikeBass]

Originally Posted by BassSlave

As for his playing "too fsat" as someone said here, it's not that it's too fast, but the amp can't reproduce what he is doing acurratley sometimes. I did suggest to him to have an amp built for him that will capture his playing since he likes extended range basses and plays in all octave ranges, many times in one phrase or run. AMps these days are "quicker" at responding to fast players, but ridiculously fast players need a multi-speaker setup and maybe even more than one amp, depending on the frequencies that player plays.

Ahh, I'm not buyin' that.
I've heard keyboard players who burn as fast if not faster and all they needed was a 115 keyboard amp.
Every thing came out OK.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

It's sort of the same way I feel about Mark King

I dunno about that. Mark I feel still plays "bass" parts, he is just very unique in how he does them!

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

I dunno about that. Mark I feel still plays "bass" parts, he is just very unique in how he does them!

Indeed. But because of the tone he uses, he normally has synth support to shore up the bottom. Or at least he did in the day.

I thought the video for "Running In The Family" made this point unintentionally. It was a concept video, not a concert clip, and of course a lip-sync to the song, so he could do whatever he wanted. But what he did was play that bassline (on his pink JayDee IIRC) two or three times, then just stop playing it and sing. Until another section came along, at which time he might play a few more notes on it and then stop.

Oh, you've gotta love the internet - here it is.

Still, I do credit Mark King as being the most capable bass player to ever slide uber-cool bass playing into mainstream music. While singing.

[bottomzone]

There is more to Bill Dickens than what you see on YouTube!!! Trust me, Bill can put it down in an ensemble setting! He did some very nice work with Ramsey Lewis (Classic Encounter CD) Walt Whitman and the Soul Children and a group out of chicago known as The Warmers. Hopefully YouTube is not the standard by which musicianship is judged.


A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

Indeed. But because of the tone he uses, he normally has synth support to shore up the bottom. Or at least he did in the day.

Thats fair to say, "Fashion Fever" being a prime example! Mikes play a big bassline with his left hand and Mark slap and pops away-sounds great though!

I love Mark in that his tone has been consistently great too-from Jaydee to Alembic, Status to Wal to Zon. Though I wasn't so wild about the tones he got from Musicman and Fender basses, but hey, after hearing him play boutique basses for years, maybe I have been spoiled!

[BellBottomBlues]

Originally Posted by BassSlave

If you play perfect timing in most (not all) jazz tunes and especially on your solos, you will not sound as musical as you could by "borrowing" time from some of the other notes. What I tell musicians I play with that if you are going to speed up and slow down, or "borrow" time, to PLEASE put the time back, or make it up somewhere in the next phrase.

I'm aware of speeding up playing and slowing down during playing. Its what makes music music. However what Bill Dickens is doing isn't that. He's racing and he's skipping out of his own time signature or he's missing a note every now and then.

[BassSlave]

True, but keyboards have much more even output than an electric bass, wich has more overtones and a more complex sound. I only suggested that to Billy because when he plays the extreme upper range of his 9 and 121 string basses and then jump around to the lower frequencies, much of that information gets lost and distorted when he is playing. Albeit, everyone can and should clean up their act.

Originally Posted by MikeBass

Ahh, I'm not buyin' that.
I've heard keyboard players who burn as fast if not faster and all they needed was a 115 keyboard amp.
Every thing came out OK.

[BassSlave]

I agree that he is playing on top of the beat and pushing the groove ahead, which is somewhat typical in a Latin piece such as the one presented on that video. I never paid attention to any missed notes and I've seen enough great players miss enough to know that it is perfectly normal to miss a note every now and then. I do it and even apologize, but am getting away from doing that because nobody really cares about the missed notes as much as they want the song to groove, or feel good. This being said, Bill Dickens will be performing along with Jauqo XIII's band and a few other cool bassists and their bands, so if you ever get a chance to witness Billy Dickens do a complete set, you will agree with most that he grooves like nobody else when he is not soloing. His groove is very solid and very musical.

Originally Posted by BellBottomBlues

I'm aware of speeding up playing and slowing down during playing. Its what makes music music. However what Bill Dickens is doing isn't that. He's racing and he's skipping out of his own time signature or he's missing a note every now and then.

[JAUQO III-X]

I have played with Billy on several occasions (Just recently this past Tuesday with my trio) Bill really is an incredible groover and soloist as well. As far as his tone goes, the videos do not do him any justice, especially when he's soloing. Bill is constantly having problems with his fast note passages coming across clearly through most amps and cabs because he is in fact and can be an extremely fast player. One of the reasons he has a lot of highs in his tone is an attempt to get the right level of tone with out bringing so much muddiness but from what is captured on video and the sometime tiny mics that come with most you get what you get. We will be performing Nov 13th together and the balance between my standard 4 strings, his 7 string bass and my guitarist 9 string guitar is not muddy or filled with high levels of crazy treble either.