Is Tim Commerford (Rage against the machine/audioslave) a good bass player?

de la mocha · #1 10-04-2005, 12:39 PM

I don't see him mentioned when it comes to great bass players. Is he good to you more experienced players or no?

I think he's a good player. He keeps the song alive when tom morello is doing his techno music like solos. He's one of my favorite bassists......

Mon Rominee · #2 10-04-2005, 01:00 PM

Dude, like this guy is mentionned 50 times a month here.
Alot of people like him. Technical proficiency be damned, I hate that as a qualifier in some people's eyes. Like it makes him any less a bassist if he cannot prattle off every scale there is. Does he hold it down? Does he follow key? Does he groove and does his work fit the song melodically? Them's the important questions.

To ask if he's a good player to "experienced" is kinda silly. Tim IS an experienced player. What definition of "experienced" are you meaning?

You will get all kinds of subjective answers. do YOU think he's a GOOD player? That's all that matters.

jnprather · #3 10-04-2005, 01:00 PM

He's alright. If you're rating him on raw bass playing ability he's pretty low to be honest.

I have an old bootleg of them from 1993 or 1994 (right before they blew up) and his technique was pretty poor back then. I don't think he'd been playing bass very long and he was struggling to play alot of the lines. I have a feeling that Morello wrote alot of the 'signature' bass lines like the "take the power back" slap line and the intro to "bullet in the head".

That being said he was pretty solid by the time they got huge. He did his job and I don't think they were ever 'limited' by him at all, and that's all that really counts.

ApeIsHigh81 · #4 10-04-2005, 01:26 PM

unmasked profanity IS against teh forum rules

He's awesome.

dain bramage · #5 10-04-2005, 01:27 PM

Timmy C. is great.

Kristopher · #6 10-04-2005, 01:28 PM

I know this, he's done what most of us here want to do: he's played solid lines on a bunch of songs that get played on the radio multiple times every day.

MikeyFingers · #7 10-04-2005, 01:29 PM

He's damn good as a bassist/rythm player, but I don't think he'd be much as a "lead bass" player or soloist. What he did for Rage songs was just perfect and filled the song beautifully. He wasn't tryin to be a frontman and hog the spotlight, he was just being a bassist and he did a damn good job of it.

Mon Rominee · #8 10-04-2005, 01:29 PM

ApeIsHigh81 · #9 10-04-2005, 01:34 PM

Unchain · #10 10-04-2005, 01:37 PM

Tim C is a great bass player with massive style and tone. However, that doesn't mean he is the best ever, (or even in the top 50 for that matter). He is technically proficent but his current band situation does not show some of his true talent.

de la mocha · #11 10-04-2005, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mon Rominee

Dude, like this guy is mentionned 50 times a month here.
Alot of people like him. Technical proficiency be damned, I hate that as a qualifier in some people's eyes. Like it makes him any less a bassist if he cannot prattle off every scale there is. Does he hold it down? Does he follow key? Does he groove and does his work fit the song melodically? Them's the important questions.

To ask if he's a good player to "experienced" is kinda silly. Tim IS an experienced player. What definition of "experienced" are you meaning?

You will get all kinds of subjective answers. do YOU think he's a GOOD player? That's all that matters.

Relax, I'm new to this. He sounds good to me but I've only been playing for 5 years. But the more experience players on this forum who've been playing for 10 plus years might see him in a different light because of their experience in playing.

To me, a young buck, he sounds excellent....but to a veteran playing for ten or fifteen years, he may just be average. But one things for sure, he made a lot of money!!!!

Halftooth · #12 10-04-2005, 11:02 PM

Someone just asked me this same question the other day, and my response was that it all depends on the context of what's considerred good playing. I think he's a great fit for both bands, and I actually dig how his playing fits with each song. At the same time, he doesn't seem to be a virtuoso either. There are plenty of other players out there that can play circles around him, so it really depends on what someone considers to be good. To shredders, if you can't do two handed tap arpeggios or simply shred through various scales, then you may consider Tim to be a below average player. But if how tasteful the lines are in a song or simply holding down the groove are important, then you may think Tim is a great player. Personally, I think he's good, but I certainly can see how a lot of players think that he's just average as grits.

JimmyM · #13 10-04-2005, 11:51 PM

I consider Tim Commerford a good bass player. Mostly because he's always on a quest to learn and get better, and does things like learning how to play upright and learning how to make effects and wind pickups. However, I also consider him a tremendous gear weenie who puts the gear ahead of technique in importance. So I have mixed feelings about him. But at least he likes passive Jazz basses and Ampeg amps, so he's got some good qualities

gazman_res · #14 10-05-2005, 12:26 AM

One of my favourite bassplayers... And he has tone to DIE for

superbassman2000 · #15 10-05-2005, 07:25 AM

I like him...i partially learned how to play bass by playing along to RATM CDs, and although many people don't like him because a.) he appears to have a jerk-like personality, or b.) he doesn't play Victor Wooten style riffs, i still think he is a good bass player. he plays what (i believe) the song calls for, and that is what makes a good bass player to me. I remember in an interview Tom said how much better Tim was when he didn't "les Claypool" out on all the songs, so i bet he has chops, but he just uses restraint...

ThumbyAche · #16 10-05-2005, 08:17 AM

I think his bass playing fits the situation he is in very well. Sometimes it's about the "Song" and not so much about the "Player". The new disk has some great groove playing on it and that is probably the most important aspect of the song...the groove. He's on my list of players to listen to..

Alan Vorse · #17 10-05-2005, 12:06 PM

Dosen't suck.

DeadRBassistNJ · #18 10-05-2005, 03:17 PM

Yes. He is a good bass player and if I was a guitarist or something I would be glad to have him in my band.

RHFusillo · #19 10-05-2005, 03:24 PM

I don't know if he's good or not. But I've read one or two interviews with him, and he certainly is good at running his mouth. So, if smack were chops, he'd be Victor Wooten.

The_Ryst · #20 10-06-2005, 05:05 AM

He's a douche bag. His mouth is too big for his skill. "My tones a SECRET! I got S**T in my pedal board to throw you off! You can't EVER steal my WONDERFUL TONE!"