Are BASS players today developing at a faster rate?

[CelinderMotoMan]

This is based off of a debate in another thread. I decided to open it's own thread out of respest to the OP so the derailing of his thread would stop. Two questions:

1.Are players today developing at a faster rate and at a younger age? I have seen alot of teenagers on Youtube.com blowing through Jaco and Wooten songs, it that how things used to be 40 years ago? 20 years ago?
2.In what ways do you feel bass playing advanced since the introduction of the Electric Bass?

Discuss

[AdlerAugen]

In any instrument, people have to start at younger and younger ages to stay competitive.

[owensea777]

Originally Posted by CelinderMotoMan

2. Has bass playing advanced since the introduction of the Electric Bass?

Discuss

Eh?

[Visirale]

Most of the kids who have wankfests on youtube can't hold their own in a real band. These kids get obsessed with the solo style of playing and completely overlook groove oriented playing.

[CelinderMotoMan]

Originally Posted by owensea777

Eh?

I rephrased the question.

[DrayMiles]

Originally Posted by CelinderMotoMan

This is based off of a debate in another thread. I decided to open it's own thread out of respest to the OP so the derailing of his thread would stop. Two questions:

1.Are players today developing at a faster rate and at a younger age? I have seen alot of teenagers on Youtube.com blowing through Jaco and Wooten songs, it that how things used to be 40 years ago? 20 years ago?
2.In what ways do you feel bass playing advanced since the introduction of the Electric Bass?

Discuss

From what I've been seeing for at least 13 years..

1. NO... i seem to run into two phenomena consistently..
They either have "some" technique and no "interesting" basslines

or

2. Abysmal technique and good ideas poorly executed.

Bass playing isn't being revolutionized at the same rate it was in the 70's and 80's, and yes I'm aware of Wooten! IMO..

[Digo]

Originally Posted by Visirale

Most of the kids who have wankfests on youtube can't hold their own in a real band. These kids get obsessed with the solo style of playing and completely overlook groove oriented playing.

and dont forget these kids are just playing cover songs on youtube that are already tabbed out for them, lets see them write something of similar valu themselves, you will have a pile of junk

[Jona-s]

Youtube wasn't there 20 years ago. There was no way to hear about these players, even when/if they were somewhere (unless they, of course, joined a band or went solo to get their name out there)

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by Jona-s

Youtube wasn't there 20 years ago. There was no way to hear about these players, even when/if they were somewhere (unless they, of course, joined a band or went solo to get their name out there)

^What he said. There have always been teenagers who sit and practice obsessively until they can blow through *insert technically difficult and flashy song here, though it's usually Classical Thump*, but thanks to the intarweb we now have a way to see/hear it!

[CelinderMotoMan]

Thanks for your input guys although I have noticed something. Most of the people who are commenting in this thread weren't old enough to be playing 20 years ago, heck, some weren't even around 20 years ago.
Superduck is 25, AlderAuger & Visirale are only 18, Digo is only 17.
So while I respect your opinion, how can you really comment on how things were 20-40 years ago.
I was playing professionally 20 years ago and I know that there are way more bands out today than 20 years ago, so there has to be more bassist.
Thanks to the internet and from what I see on Youtube, I believe that kids are developing at a faster rate than when I was growing up.
When I was a teen it was a real accomplishment to learn "The Trooper" or "YYZ", nowadays teens are learning "Classical Thump". Theyt may not be able to lay it down in a band but they still have the techniqe down to play stuff that I would have never dreamed of playing at their age.
That is what the thread is about.

[Ripper]

ok... yes they can play this... but its just coping someone else! yes... i'm 16... I can do a decent version of wooten's amazing grace and Hamm's flow my tears... but thats not very impresive to me, or to anyone i've ever gigged with (i do random, show up with a bass gigs)... what is impressive is being able to play any song imaginable without even having to know the song or even have heard it.

these guys on youtube are just learning to play a song... yes its impressive, and they can probably go and solo their balls off in a complete wankfest dual... but tell them to play Hank williams or stevie ray and they'll f&#@ up so fast that it will amaze you...

THATS where true talent is: versatility

[CelinderMotoMan]

Originally Posted by Ripper

ok... yes they can play this... but its just coping someone else! yes... i'm 16... I can do a decent version of wooten's amazing grace and Hamm's flow my tears... but thats not very impresive to me, or to anyone i've ever gigged with (i do random, show up with a bass gigs)... what is impressive is being able to play any song imaginable without even having to know the song or even have heard it.

these guys on youtube are just learning to play a song... yes its impressive, and they can probably go and solo their balls off in a complete wankfest dual... but tell them to play Hank williams or stevie ray and they'll f&#@ up so fast that it will amaze you...

THATS where true talent is: versatility

From my post above.....
"So while I respect your opinion, how can you really comment on how things were 20-40 years ago."

You are exactly what I am talking about. When I was 16, I couldn't even play a simple 2/4/5 blues and you kids today are playing "Amazing Grace" and "Flow my Tears".LOL

Any people over 35 and older care to comment on this topic?

[Jona-s]

Thanks for your input guys although I have noticed something. Most of the people who are commenting in this thread weren't old enough to be playing 20 years ago, heck, some weren't even around 20 years ago.
Superduck is 25, AlderAuger & Visirale are only 18, Digo is only 17.
So while I respect your opinion, how can you really comment on how things were 20-40 years ago.
I was playing professionally 20 years ago and I know that there are way more bands out today than 20 years ago, so there has to be more bassist.
Thanks to the internet and from what I see on Youtube, I believe that kids are developing at a faster rate than when I was growing up.
When I was a teen it was a real accomplishment to learn "The Trooper" or "YYZ", nowadays teens are learning "Classical Thump". Theyt may not be able to lay it down in a band but they still have the techniqe down to play stuff that I would have never dreamed of playing at their age.
That is what the thread is about.

While I'm also ''only'' 18, I really feel like saying something about this.

1. Since internet is available for most of the people now days, it's a lot easier to get information. If you want to know something about something, you can just go to net and search for information. I imagine that 20-40 years ago there was a lot more to figure all by yourself.

2. It's a lot easier to get your hands to differend kind of music nowdays which really broadens your perspective.

3. It's possible to go and hire a teacher for yourself. That wasn't that usuall 20-40 years ago, was it?

4. E-bass is not really that old instrument, is it? A lot of prework has been done by those older legends.

5. More players out there than 20-40 years ago, so I guess there's also more of these ''monsterplayers''.

Or is this thread about how 2 random people without no earlier experience about bass playing would be given a bass and put to learn a song, other from 70's and other from this time, to see which one would learn that song faster? If that's the case, then I really have no idea. Maybe it's more like, up to that person?

This makes probably no sense, but theheck....

[McHaven]

Well I'm 18 but still feel I can comment on this.

The internet is full of free tablature. Any one can find any song. Therefore, you don't have to sit in front of your stereo with your bass and doing your best to learn it by ear. I tried to learn something by ear on vinyl...I don't know how people used to do it. Its incredibly frustrating.

The accessibility of tab has increased, and the accessibility to see other bassists has also increased.

And because of the internet, word about Jaco, Wooten or Clark can be spread to anyone, therefore more young people will pick up the bass and try to play one of their pieces

[Bayou_Brawler]

Originally Posted by CelinderMotoMan

This is based off of a debate in another thread. I decided to open it's own thread out of respest to the OP so the derailing of his thread would stop. Two questions:

1.Are players today developing at a faster rate and at a younger age? I have seen alot of teenagers on Youtube.com blowing through Jaco and Wooten songs, it that how things used to be 40 years ago? 20 years ago?
2.In what ways do you feel bass playing advanced since the introduction of the Electric Bass?

Discuss

i would say yes because in anything you learn from a collection and a growing pool of info....that keeps getting bigger and more easy to access every year....

[Chipsonfire]

Poeple now don't have to necessarily go through hours of "what works and what doesn't." This forum is a great example of that. You can ask people who were around 20 years ago and see what works and what doesn't, taking a lot of the failure time out of the equation. Just my opinion.

[zuma]

Originally Posted by Jona-s

1. Since internet is available for most of the people now days, it's a lot easier to get information. If you want to know something about something, you can just go to net and search for information. I imagine that 20-40 years ago there was a lot more to figure all by yourself.

I'm 33 and I have to say that this comment really nails it for me. I have a couple of vids on YouTube and I get asked for tabs all the time. It really surprised me actually. I even had a guy jump down my throat for telling somebody to learn it by ear. He also proceeded to tell me that I actually WAS reading tabs (and didn't want to admit it or something?). The real funny part was that he ended his comment by saying "Try playing Portrait of Tracy, that's a real song." ...Shoot...I was playing that 17 years ago!

In my opinion there is way too much reliance on tabs nowadays. I didn't even notice we had a tabs section here on talkbass. It was invisible to me prior to that comment experience I described. What ever happened to READING MUSIC?

Originally Posted by Ripper

ok... yes they can play this... but its just coping someone else! yes...what is impressive is being able to play any song imaginable without even having to know the song or even have heard it.

these guys on youtube are just learning to play a song... yes its impressive, ... but tell them to play Hank williams or stevie ray and they'll f&#@ up so fast that it will amaze you...

THATS where true talent is: versatility

EXACTLY...and this is where relying on tabs is going to bite you in the ass. I could see the value in tabs for little things here and there but to habitually make it your first stop for learning a song is a very sad decision indeed.

Are players developing younger? I think so. The general amount of tools and help out there (particularly from the Internet) is just phenomenal now. It's bound to happen. Will they all develop the skills they really need and use those tools properly? Only time will tell.

[CelinderMotoMan]

Originally Posted by zuma

Are players developing younger? I think so. The general amount of tools and help out there (particularly from the Internet) is just phenomenal now. It's bound to happen. Will they all develop the skills they really need and use those tools properly? Only time will tell.

I think so as well

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by CelinderMotoMan

Any people over 35 and older care to comment on this topic?

I grew up playing guitar, taking lessons and practicing. My son at 13 has already surpassed any ability I had for the guitar. I give all the credit to the internet and wish I had it avaialble to me at 13!! Consider what it brings......He can download any song he wants and can break it down into sections. Then you have the tab sites. In most cases he can watch the actual artist or other people playing the song with the ability to replay certain sections over and over again. I hate to say it but all I've done for my son is provided him the gear and showed him a few chords and scales. Everything else he's learned himself. He refuses to take lessons other than what he picks up from some of the older kids. He's already playing with a band formed at school and did well in their battle of the bands last year At 13 I was listening to albums and cursing at music books

My Son at 12 playing my Moser Genesis. He's since adopted it

[Mojo-Man]

There are much more tools to learn.
30 yrs. ago.
There was no.
Talkbass.
Instructional vids.
Myspace
Youtube
Music schools. that teach electric bass. as major.

And kids now are just smarter at an earlier age.
I wish I as 16 again?