Playing bass is "like a vacation"?!?!

[Marcus Willett]

Perhaps more than most other instruments, bass is easy to "get away with" being ignorant. I can't tell you how many working pro bassists I've seen that sound halfway decent playing stuff they know that have no idea about phrasing, harmonic construction or just the simple building blocks of music. I've seen guys like that make chord "charts" for songs and write a chord progression like

G F E F (which where I come from is three root position major triads)

when the actual harmonic structure is something like

D-/G G/F C/E Bb/F

and they will sit and play the entire song, hell they'll spend their whole career completely ignorant of what is actually going on, because "Well, those are the notes I play"

Ridiculous

There is NO reason why the bassist shouldn't be every bit the musician as anyone else. Be a musician first, then a bassist.

I've even had guys do that kinda thing to me when I ask for the changes of a song.

Me: "What's that chord at measure three?"
Keyboardist: " Uh...you play a D"
Me: "OK, but what's the chord?"
Keyboardist: "Well, I'm playing a Gmin7"
Me: "OK, so it's Gm7/D."
Keyboardist: "Well yeah, but you just play the D"
Me: "Thanks, I know what bass note to play but I wanna know what the chord is."
Keyboardist: "Why, you're just playing the D?"

IMPLIED IN ALL OF THIS:
You're just the dumb bass player who needn't concern yourself with loftier things like harmonic construction

Me: "What if I wanna solo? What if I wanna play a fill? Gm7/D is very different than just 'D'"
Keyboardist: (silence)

Just because a bassist can "get away" with playing just the root or bass notes is no excuse for ignorance.

I guess after all this the simple answer is bass can feel like you're "on vacation" if you choose to be ignorant and you choose to be just a bassist instead of a musician who happens to play the bass.

[Johnny Crab]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Question: Has anyone ever had a good high school music teacher, ever? I doubt it.

WHY WHY WHY do you guys get so worked up when someone bashes the bass? If I got mad everytime I heard someone say something stupid, my life would be an endless pile of rage.

We're REAL lucky to have a great HS band teacher now. My children(and I) love it. Concerts now sound like REAL concerts instead of extended tuning sessions and reed-sqeaking ceremonies of many HS bands heard in the past 40 years including two "metropolitan" areas. Boonie-benefit.

+1 on the why get worked up.
Yes, a lot of them can read the paper and play the notes....BUT without a LOT of time on ANY instrument all that other little big stuff most of you know about tone, timing, etc. and HOW to get it...goes missing from their playing. There was a fairly good interview with the Stones bassist who slipped in the comment "a lot of bands play our music but they don't sound like us. That's because the drummer follows the guitar player and I follow the drummer. So I'm always just a little behind and not exactly on the beat." Another one of those "little big" things.

My 16 year old has been on bass(piano, clarinet training) for 2 years. I try to make it a point to show him in a Dad-to-son way the HOW's every once in a while without jumping into his practice sessions. Another form of timing....

[Sneckumhaw]

Wait a minute. If you usually play a different instrument, sure bass will be "like a vacation". Why not? Guitar is like a vacation for me, don't get so worked up.

You said yourself he played well and had good tone, so your only complaint is that he finds bass pleasurable and perhaps (gasp!) easy to play?

Big deal.

[Josh Ryan]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Question: Has anyone ever had a good high school music teacher, ever? I doubt it.


WHY WHY WHY do you guys get so worked up when someone bashes the bass? If I got mad everytime I heard someone say something stupid, my life would be an endless pile of rage.

I am an endless pile of rage.

Actually, I could not care less about some dorks random generalizations; whether they involve bass, cheeseburgers, or flaming donuts. No matter.

[Josh Ryan]

Originally Posted by Marcus Willett

Perhaps more than most other instruments, bass is easy to "get away with" being ignorant. I can't tell you how many working pro bassists I've seen that sound halfway decent playing stuff they know that have no idea about phrasing, harmonic construction or just the simple building blocks of music. I've seen guys like that make chord "charts" for songs and write a chord progression like

G F E F (which where I come from is three root position major triads)

when the actual harmonic structure is something like

D-/G G/F C/E Bb/F

and they will sit and play the entire song, hell they'll spend their whole career completely ignorant of what is actually going on, because "Well, those are the notes I play"

Ridiculous

There is NO reason why the bassist shouldn't be every bit the musician as anyone else. Be a musician first, then a bassist.

I've even had guys do that kinda thing to me when I ask for the changes of a song.

Me: "What's that chord at measure three?"
Keyboardist: " Uh...you play a D"
Me: "OK, but what's the chord?"
Keyboardist: "Well, I'm playing a Gmin7"
Me: "OK, so it's Gm7/D."
Keyboardist: "Well yeah, but you just play the D"
Me: "Thanks, I know what bass note to play but I wanna know what the chord is."
Keyboardist: "Why, you're just playing the D?"

IMPLIED IN ALL OF THIS:
You're just the dumb bass player who needn't concern yourself with loftier things like harmonic construction

Me: "What if I wanna solo? What if I wanna play a fill? Gm7/D is very different than just 'D'"
Keyboardist: (silence)

Just because a bassist can "get away" with playing just the root or bass notes is no excuse for ignorance.

I guess after all this the simple answer is bass can feel like you're "on vacation" if you choose to be ignorant and you choose to be just a bassist instead of a musician who happens to play the bass.

It's a weird thing, keyboard players seem to have the biggest chip on their shoulders, far more than bassists or even self classified rhythm guitarists.

Agreed on the be a musician first part, that makes the most sense no matter what you play.

[bobalu]

The guy's a music teacher in a middle school, what do you expect? You know, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach...

Seriously, finding it easy to play some notes on an instrument doesn't make it an easy instrument to play. The piano example offered up here was a good one. I came over to bass from guitar and never once experienced the "easy street" syndrome. I have no explanation of why I really like playing the bass, I just absolutely enjoy it. I couldn't always say that about guitar.

[KromaatiKlauun]

We take ourselves waaaaaaaaaaaaay too seriously boys and girls!! For me playing bass is fun, while other instruments bore me; if you think about it, IT IS a vacation!!

[Youngspanion]

There is alot of ignorance in this world. Maybe the guy was a jerk or maybe he was speaking from his poinst of view. Maybe he ment that for the type of music he was playing, it was easy playing the bass. Junior High. I guess the music was pretty easy anyway. Who knows. Probrably spoke like an arrogant sonofa b#%^&!

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by Rune Bivrin

Would anyone argue that Jaco was a lesser musician than Charlie Parker? Or Yngwie Malmsteen? Or Niccolò Paganini?

Unfortunately, you can find a few on this forum who will argue this very way.
They are, of course, wrong.

[jonny 290]

I find it ridiculous that a lot of TB'ers get upset when they find a pragmatic player who does not 'worship at the altar of Bass', to coin a phrase.

He was backing up music for a children's play, not filling in for a jazz trio. The music is simple and strong root notes are the order of the day.

Musicals aren't supposed to focus on the musicians, they're supposed to focus on the vocalists. The musicians by definition lay down the _backing tracks_ for the singers to tell their story. It would be inappropriate and egotistical to have a 'whiz kid soloist' bass player, riffing and filling as they often love to do.

I'm a DJ who respects and admires the creativity and talent involved in professional DJ mixing, but I don't get huffy whenever I meet a DJ that just mixes pop records at the bar. That's his job, and I've got mine.

[xlows]

Originally Posted by Marcus Willett

Perhaps more than most other instruments, bass is easy to "get away with" being ignorant. I can't tell you how many working pro bassists I've seen that sound halfway decent playing stuff they know that have no idea about phrasing, harmonic construction or just the simple building blocks of music. I've seen guys like that make chord "charts" for songs and write a chord progression like

G F E F (which where I come from is three root position major triads)

when the actual harmonic structure is something like

D-/G G/F C/E Bb/F

and they will sit and play the entire song, hell they'll spend their whole career completely ignorant of what is actually going on, because "Well, those are the notes I play"

Ridiculous

There is NO reason why the bassist shouldn't be every bit the musician as anyone else. Be a musician first, then a bassist.

I've even had guys do that kinda thing to me when I ask for the changes of a song.

Me: "What's that chord at measure three?"
Keyboardist: " Uh...you play a D"
Me: "OK, but what's the chord?"
Keyboardist: "Well, I'm playing a Gmin7"
Me: "OK, so it's Gm7/D."
Keyboardist: "Well yeah, but you just play the D"
Me: "Thanks, I know what bass note to play but I wanna know what the chord is."
Keyboardist: "Why, you're just playing the D?"

IMPLIED IN ALL OF THIS:
You're just the dumb bass player who needn't concern yourself with loftier things like harmonic construction

Me: "What if I wanna solo? What if I wanna play a fill? Gm7/D is very different than just 'D'"
Keyboardist: (silence)

Just because a bassist can "get away" with playing just the root or bass notes is no excuse for ignorance.

I guess after all this the simple answer is bass can feel like you're "on vacation" if you choose to be ignorant and you choose to be just a bassist instead of a musician who happens to play the bass.

my hero

[ajb]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Question: Has anyone ever had a good high school music teacher, ever? I doubt it.


WHY WHY WHY do you guys get so worked up when someone bashes the bass? If I got mad everytime I heard someone say something stupid, my life would be an endless pile of rage.

My life is an endless pile of rage.

[Achey]

I find bass easier to play than some other instruments.

I think alot of that, though, is the "instant connection" I had with it when I first played one. Some instruments "fit" certain people, some don't. I also play the Eb tenor horn, and while I am alright at it (did grades and all that) I have nowhere near the same connection with it as I do bass. That's just how it is.

[tZer]

Well, on the "treble instrument to bass instrument" discussion - I played contra, upright, double, string bass (however you choose to refer to the big boy in the back of the string section).

There was not a single violin, viola or even cello player in the room who would have claimed playing the bull-fiddle was a vacation compared to their instrument.

Not a one! LOL

For many of them, simply holding it up and trying to draw the bow arcoss the strings provided significant difficulty - and the very idea that they could actually play one for the duration of an entire piece was out of the question.

[A Minor]

just because it's easy for some people doesn't mean they're bashing it, i feel that bass is easy for me simply because i can pick up and groove by myself or with somebody else easily and it'll sound good, maybe none of you can do that....or maybe you're just haters haha

[tZer]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Question: Has anyone ever had a good high school music teacher, ever? I doubt it.

I did - Bob Boedges was my high school music teacher and is an exceptional teacher, musician and band director. He takes music education very seriously and the education that many of us, who cared to pay attention, came out of high school with was a very serious introduction to college level music theory and with playing chops that were "plug and play" ready for most college music programs. We also came away with a work ethic towards what it takes to be a part of a band that I find to be quite rare and really refreshing, when you can find someone else who actually shares it.

I am thrilled to say that I will be attending a jazz show with Mr. B and a number of other Normandy Jazz, Marching, Orchestra, Band grads in Clayton, MO on the 19th to see Roderick Tate - one of the killer Normandy High sax players who is out there today making a go of it!

Originally Posted by Matt Till

WHY WHY WHY do you guys get so worked up when someone bashes the bass? If I got mad everytime I heard someone say something stupid, my life would be an endless pile of rage.

No clue.

[acleex38]

I also had a good high school music teacher - his musical skills were adequate, but his real gift was inspiring students with sometimes-mediocre natural talent to work their butts off and really love the music. One of my best friends started in the band program as a High School Freshman and by the time we were done 9th grade, he knew he wanted to be a music teacher/band director. 14 years later, and not only is my friend a music teacher/band director, in his last job, he competed regularly against his mentor/our old teacher in band competitions.