Are books on musical instruments biased towards bassists?

Fassa Albrecht · #1 07-30-2007, 08:52 AM

Is it my imagination or do books on musical instruments have a deliberate bias towards bassists?! I read this in a book giving advice on choosing an instrument for your children.

"...if your child is typically shy but still wishes to be in a band then the bass is by far the easiest instrument to play in order to do this..."

Is this completely stupid?? Shouldn't a published music book be stressing the importance of bass as part of the music?
People shouldn't and don't play bass to look cool! They do it for the musical value!

**bassman314** · #2 07-30-2007, 12:07 PM

sounds like it was written by a guitarist who lost a gf to the bass player *nods*

SuperDuck · #3 07-30-2007, 12:14 PM

Bass is a very easy instrument to get started on. Compared to guitar, there are no chords (which are a usual stumbling block), and getting a serviceable bass tone is about as easy as plugging in an instrument - unlike a lot of string, brass or woodwind instruments that take many hours to achieve quality tone and playing technique.

Bass is the Othello (you know, the game) of instruments - easy to pick up but it takes a lifetime to master.

The subtleties of the bass are the beauty of it; they take a long time to nail down. When you hear someone who's truly mastered a bass, you can tell...

...but let's not let our own pride fool ourselves - bass is a pretty easy instrument to start on! It's also normally not in the center of attention, whether we want to think it is or not.

PS - The book would be biased against bassists if it were talking down about them.

pmaraziti · #4 07-30-2007, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

Bass is a very easy instrument to get started on. Compared to guitar, there are no chords (which are a usual stumbling block), and getting a serviceable bass tone is about as easy as plugging in an instrument - unlike a lot of string, brass or woodwind instruments that take many hours to achieve quality tone and playing technique.

Bass is the Othello (you know, the game) of instruments - easy to pick up but it takes a lifetime to master.

The subtleties of the bass are the beauty of it; they take a long time to nail down. When you hear someone who's truly mastered a bass, you can tell...

...but let's not let our own pride fool ourselves - bass is a pretty easy instrument to start on! It's also normally not in the center of attention, whether we want to think it is or not.

PS - The book would be biased against bassists if it were talking down about them.

Well then why not drums ? It's even easier than bass... no ?
And as far as producing a sound, nothing is as easy as piano.
If you take into account rhythm (which I guess for some children is not obvious) and some harmony then it's not so eady, isn't it ?

Anyway I agree that to my eyes looks easier than other instruments as far as hands technique (e.g vs. piano and guitar) is concerned and as far as note reproduction (e.g. vs. violin or trumpet...).

Net, I what I really dislike is the "shy" part and the thing this book seems to generalize which is never a good thing. Make your children express their preferences and pick the instrument that most inspires them. Not being a father, I imagine that is not an obvious suggestion to implement since kids tend to want everything... but I'm sure that there's an underlining inclination that you can spot after a while. The best suggestion I heard about this topic was on a Chriss Botti CD: "when there's some kind of elevated music concert like classical, opera or jazz in town, leave your baby sitter at home and take your kids with you"... they won't think that becoming a musician means winning American Idol...

As always , my 0.02
Paolo

SuperDuck · #5 07-30-2007, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmaraziti

Well then why not drums ? It's even easier than bass... no ?
And as far as producing a sound, nothing is as easy as piano.
If you take into account rhythm (which I guess for some children is not obvious) and some harmony then it's not so eady, isn't it ?

No, I would say that drums are much harder (or at least would be for me!) due to the limb independence that is required. That's a skill that takes time to develop.

I will agree that producing a good sound is probably as easy on a piano, however the difficulty in reading in two clefs simultaneously makes piano slightly more difficult. Playing a melody with your right hand would be pretty easy. Putting that together with left hand parts is where it gets tricky!

theshadow2001 · #6 07-30-2007, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht

Is it my imagination or do books on musical instruments have a deliberate bias towards bassists?!

Not to be pedantic but a bias toward bass is a positive thing (if your a bass player that is). Discriminative against bass is probably what your looking for.

JLW · #7 07-30-2007, 07:04 PM

Bass is very easy to start out on. There's no denying that. Especially compared to guitar.

Getting good at bass is a totally different story.

Yngwie 4String · #8 07-31-2007, 10:49 AM

What do you mean no chords on the bass? I play chords on it, claypool plays chords on it. Theres are definitely chords on a bass. Anyway screw what the book says, let your kid go into a store and play diferent instruments, see what calls to him or her. then support them to make the most out of it.