To Judge a Bassist

[tea]

I need to write an article explaining the basics and fundamentals of understanding the bass, and how to judge the quality of playing or composition....mostly how to demystify techniques and gain a rudimentary understanding of the varying difficulty in certain sounds and techniques. It would be great if you guys had some ideas on how to break down a bass tune. Thanks.

[chips]

to judge the quality... its gotta have soul. a peice can be musically correct and such, but its gotta have soul baby. thats all i can say really, srry for being no help

[SnoMan]

This is related to your post, but not really on the same point your making.

It's really easy to get lost in the direction of your art as a bassist. Example: I recently have been on a big kick on learning more technical techniques......that sure does sound redundant....but you know what I mean..advanced slapping, tapping and just learned pinch harmonics. I've been hell bent on seeing how....spiffy I can play (can't think of a proper word for what i'm going for there).

I took a nice step back yesterday. I was sitting outside enjoying the nice weather and listening to the birds. After doing that I decided to go in and mimic some of the birds I heard and turn some of them into melodies and grooves. Nothing spectacular, just fun and it felt like very natural music. Then yesterday evening I heard that halarious EJ song that Smash posted. I just was digging the groove.

Basically, I think sometimes you just have to step back and try and look what being a bassist is from different points of view.

Ok, I'm done rambling...I apologize if this has nothing to do with your thread.