What went wrong with BASS??

[fe11atio]

Every time i go to youtube.com to check some bass stuff; like 90 percent of videos i come across with are from people playing ear aching solos either with the mid knob all cranked up and/or some sort of of cheap sounding distortion. What is worse is the comments that people leaves to those guys praising them for their "amazing bass playing".
My question is: Are any of those guys really able to lay down a real grove?? I mean what the hell was wrong with the main porpouse of the bass as a supportive instrument???. It seems like nowdays bass players are more obssesed about guys like Wooten or Jaco than players like Jamerson or Louis Johnson.
The sad thing about it is that even manufacturers are jumping on this wagon offering basses that offer almost no low end but pure midrange. Everytime I pick up a music catalog the phrase i found the most is "cutting throught the mix". how about the low end??.
Now speaking of high rated bass players:

Tim Commerford: Great skills, but his tone OMG . I pick up the last RATM album. The live concert. Some of you guys may have it. My poor ears blood stained my headphones after an hour of listening. Is that a bass?? It sounds so hight pitch sounding that doesnt fill the music nor holds the band. Is just this farty sounding jazz bass that sounds like a horn instrument played throught a broken amp.

Cliff Burton: A guitarist on bass. I dont understand the whole hype about this guy. Just because he could play a million notes per minute doesnt mean he was one of the greatest. His tone was horrible and just thinking about all those guys around the planet trying to emulate that noise just makes my head spin. i wish I could get a penny every time i came across a Anasthesia pulling teeth video. i'd be able to to buy sex from Jenna Jameson. And lets face it, Metallica were a gifted band from the beginning but the overall sound from the band was really crappy before hiring Jason

Jaco Pastorious: zzzzzzzzzzzz......... OOps sorry i fall asleep listening to that music box. .......OH was it a bass???!!

Maybe I'm going to get flamed its just my opinion.

[MammaryVest]

The only thing I can really think of to say is to stop worrying about who everyone else is listening to, and stop worrying what everyone else is playing. Just listen to the stuff you like. What did you expect for an answer?

[jaco666]

you got a point but theres still alot of people out there who dont cut through the mix as much you should lay off the youtube

[bmsrv311]

I don't know, to me, music is all about love and self expression. All this negitivity about how you think people should play and sound is just silly. Play with your heart, and listen with your heart, and you will learn alot.

[*smb]

Originally Posted by jaco666

you should lay off the youtube

+1! But a byproduct of YouTube videos is the terrible audio compression that loses all the bass anyway, not to mention the fact that they're recording the videos on a digital camera which will only have a microphone built in as an afterthought. There are still plenty of bassists out there who like to shake the room!

Also it was a mistake to pick up the last Rage album. The first one was good but each one got progressively worse. Battle of Los Angeles is borderline and anything afterwards is unlistenable, IMO.

[bmsrv311]

Originally Posted by *smb

Also it was a mistake to pick up the last Rage album. The first one was good but each one got progressively worse. Battle of Los Angeles is borderline and anything afterwards is unlistenable, IMO.

"Renegades" is dope! I love hearing them cover the songs that got them rocking in the first place!

[Redhot6]

Dude. If you haven't already been flamed, you truly deserve it, but im not the kind of person or in the kind of mood to be a real you know what

Tim Commerford does not have anything close to a hi-fi or high end sound from all the rage albums ive heard.

Louis Johnson is more of a slap fiend than most the people on you tube, why do you think they call him thunder thumb?

Vic and Jaco are truly innovators and invented some of the most copped and immitated techniques out there, heck jaco is the only one person to truly define a style, whether you dont have the attention span or dont like jazz to listen to him, thats fact. Nobody picks up a bass and says can i get that steve bailey or michael manring tone out of this? sorry steve and michael, you guys are some of the most talented guys out there and manring is another innovator, but it all came from Jaco. you ever used harmonics? OH and can they lay down a groove? you havent heard come on come over or barbary coast apparently, and you cant hold no groove, more love, bass tribute or victa, or his stuff by bela fleck if you dont think he can hold down a groove, look past the flashy stuff for once

anyways i do think the world has gone downhill as far as bass goes, but you picked all the wrong guys except Cliff. All the poppy-emo-pop rock stuff is just terrible. disco was way better and so was grunge. at least grunge was a real feeling and disco is musical. and death metal is the worst.

[jzucker]

So post some of your wonderful and amazing grooves...

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by fe11atio

Maybe I'm going to get flamed its just my opinion.

I hear you on some points... part of the reason I went back to tubes and 18" speakers. But at the same time that I keep a fretted 5 strung with flats, I also play a 7 string through an effects pedal board. I can lay down... but as much as I love guitar, my lead voice is the bass.

[j-bass-kreep]

Not this topic again ... Come on it all depends on the context you're playing if I'm playing a sabbath song or a deep purple song I'm not going to groove. But if I play a song of Los fabulosos cadillacs or a reggae tune well I will have to groove.

Besides who wants to see a guy on youtube playing boring 8th notes ? They are necessary if your playing a pop tune, but by yourself ?

Where did you read that bass is only a supportive instrument? Does your bass come with a little tag that says "you must not play above the 5th fret" ? Electric bass is a new instrument and its up to us the bass players to decide its place in music.

[BassSurfer]

[Mod Edit]I'm not retitling this thread... seriously. If you can't handle the opinions, go elsewhere.
[/Mod Edit]



seriously..

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by j-bass-kreep

Not this topic again ... Come on it all depends on the context you're playing if I'm playing a sabbath song or a deep purple song I'm not going to groove.

Geezer and Roger Glover definitely have groove.

[Psychicpet]

my Boss BassSynth is what went wrong with my bass in this track

motion

[Sneckumhaw]

Originally Posted by James Hart

Geezer and Roger Glover definitely have groove.

Just what I was going to post. If I heard Electric Funeral played in a non-groovy way, I'd head for the door in a hurry.

[j-bass-kreep]

We all have different opinions on what groove is. To me NIB grooves but paranoid doesn't. However the point of my post wasn't to discuss what groove is and what is not. It was to point out that there are no rules to bass playing.And we should not limit ourselves.

[the_fonz]

it isn't a what, it's a who
and i'll tell you exactly who ruined it
it was joe
JOE MOMMA!

[ricdiculous5487]

I always liked Timmy C.'s tone(never heard their live albums, though), but i agree with you on bass players not having a lot of bottom anymore.

but whatever fits your style of music or your personal preference is entirely up to you and you shouldn't criticize others for what they like.

[ALiP BoB]

Originally Posted by fe11atio

how about the low end??

I agree with you on this part. Bass is supposed to lay down the bottom end, not trying to cut through the walls of guitar and end up being some random burping sound.

But wouldn't it be nice if you could BOTH be bassy AND cut through? Yes, ask around TB.

Originally Posted by fe11atio

Cliff Burton: A guitarist on bass. I dont understand the whole hype about this guy. Just because he could play a million notes per minute doesnt mean he was one of the greatest. His tone was horrible and just thinking about all those guys around the planet trying to emulate that noise just makes my head spin. i wish I could get a penny every time i came across a Anasthesia pulling teeth video. i'd be able to to buy sex from Jenna Jameson. And lets face it, Metallica were a gifted band from the beginning but the overall sound from the band was really crappy before hiring Jason

Well, many people including myself like the first 3 albums best.
Cliff thought Metallica more about music and brought a whole new influence to the songs. Maybe you're right about the bass not being too strong.
(Although Cliff is VERY talented)
But then, if you say that Jason sounds bassy, remember, he does heavy downstrokes. Not exactly the bassiest (Is this even a word?) sound in the world

Originally Posted by fe11atio

Jaco Pastorious: zzzzzzzzzzzz......... OOps sorry i fall asleep listening to that music box. .......OH was it a bass???!!

Well, that guy could make a bass SING. Well, yea, his purpose of bass is to be the lead instrument, not just the low end. Then again, remember, he is a solo artist. So yea, he innovated the way of playing bass. Like 'em or Hate 'em is all up to you.

Originally Posted by fe11atio

Maybe I'm going to get flamed its just my opinion.

Well, it's time for we internet users to learn and keep our cool and look things in a whole new prespective.

[jim primate]

Originally Posted by fe11atio

valid points.

consider yourself seconded.

[JeffSki]

Originally Posted by fe11atio

And lets face it, Metallica were a gifted band from the beginning but the overall sound from the band was really crappy before hiring Jason

Actually, the more correct statement would be that their sound wasn't as radio friendly until they hired Bob Rock to produce their albums starting with the black album. In their first original album with Jason, ...And Justice for All, James and Lars had the bass mixed so low that it was barely audible.

IMO their first three albums were their best.