Is being a good bass player a dying art?

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by Clef_de_fa

Also ... I think that a young bass player should be encouraged to play the music he listens to, because it will be the style he will be best at.

That's why I'm so glad I was a young bass player in the 60s & 70s.

Blue

[Joedog]

There are a LOT of musicians around these parts. Yeah some bass players leave a lot to be desired. Weren't we all there at some point? But for a small secondary market, I'm impressed with the number of really good bass players. Mostly really nice folks as well.

[PluckyThump]

Most of the young bands ask for bass players to ride the root notes and stay simple. They don't want "good" bass players. What they usually want is a backing vocalist who can do a passable bass line. This might be partly due to there being players out there who get busy and then fall out of the pocket. A bass player who gets busy but stays in the pocket can do okay but get out of the pocket and it destroys the groove.

[ishkabibble]

In response to the OP and the title, I don't think so.
The issue lies more in your own standards and rose tinted glasses.
With the availability of cheap, good quality instruments and the internet as a teaching tool yes, there are probably more bass players and more musicians than before, and yes, there are probably a fair few terrible ones who aren't up to snuff.
But,

To clarify, my original post meant something like I don't see many bass players around today that could for example *really* pull off Jamerson's bass line to Marvin Gaye's Heard It Through The Grapevine.

Tell me how many players back then could *really* pull off any of Jamerson's lines?
Or how many bland root-only players there were chugging through some of the major pop hits of the day, just like now, with none of the *core fundamentals* that you talk about?
Now admittedly I'm just a young cat who was born in the 90s, I can't say that I was there. But even just looking at the Top 40 charts or whatever you can see it clear as day!
Music hasn't changed, it's just you who's changed.

[AuntieBeeb]

I don't think it's a dying art, I just the instrument has had its credibility compromised. (Ever noticed a change in the way some people look at you between "yeah, I'm in a band" and "I'm the bassist"?) I think it's fair to assume that most of us are on a forum like this because we play the bass guitar, and we take it seriously enough to want to discuss it with other players on the interweb.

HOWEVER, how many friends/colleagues/acquaintances can you number who have told you, "Oh, yeah, I bought a bass a few years ago. Never really learnt to play it properly. But I was in a band for a while..."

There's a huge number of bands who are cobbled together by young hipster types who are more concerned with the tightness of their jeans than the quality of their music. They tend to comprise lazy guitarists, someone who can just about hold a beat on a drumkit...and their friend who couldn't play anything, but they asked him if he'd be the bassist 'cause it's "easy."

Unfortunately, it's easy to become disillusioned if you end up sharing a bill with two or three bands of this ilk. (To be honest, I could swear I've had some nights where I've almost lost faith in music altogether...) But on the other hand, you have the advantage of being a big fish in a very small pond, and maybe giving the lazy twats something to aspire to.

[dvh]

Originally Posted by Clef_de_fa

How it is possible to make 8th note sound bad when you are playing the right note ... no matter the style of music, 8th note are the same ... they don't magically change because you do 8th in a samba compared to rock. If you are playing note that fit the key/chords I don't see/hear how it could go wrong ...

Two reasons:

- The feel. It may be the right note. It may be a perfect eighth of a beat. But there are still nuances into where on that beat it’s played and intensity
- The poster you quoted was not talking about a single eighth note. He was talking about eight note lines. And he’s right. It’s hugely challenging to play a moving eighth note line and make it sound good.

[MrCincinnati]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Eris

One major problem with a lot of originals bands is they want to put all that STUFF in, which is fine, but they don't do it with a musical end in mind, they just do it to impress people, and then they don't understand why only musicians are impressed.

I really despise having to learn music like this. You sit back and listen and realize the only reason a sequence exists is to impress the musicians listening with the technique or theory involved. Very annoying.

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by MrCincinnati

I really despise having to learn music like this. You sit back and listen and realize the only reason a sequence exists is to impress the musicians listening with the technique or theory involved. Very annoying.

Kind of like Rush?

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by bassbully

Well like Victor Wooten told me the world needs more bass players who groove and stay to the role of a bass player. Flashy bass playing has in some ways been an enemy for us.

Maybe the thread title should have been: "Is electric bass playing a dying art?" I'd have a hard time imagining an upright player saying this. While upright bass certainly involves working within the stylistic limits of historical genres, the "role of a bass player" seems to be much less confining.

[Doner Designs]

Its an art? JK

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by bassbully

Well like Victor Wooten told me the world needs more bass players who groove and stay to the role of a bass player. Flashy bass playing has in some ways been an enemy for us.

Honestly, I think the exact OPPOSITE is true.

[jungleheat]

Jive, to some extent, those guys were right back then, and it's only gotten worse since then. Music pretty much peaked sometime around the 70s, in terms of musicianship, technical ability, production quality, and pretty much anything else you can think of. A "weird" band like Yes could have gold records and play to 50,000 plus people. And you look at those guys, and in fact they are still some of the best musicians out there, although they haven't released much great music lately. But what that meant in the 70s, was that you could be rich and famous playing just about whatever kind of music you wanted, as long as it was good.

It's undeniable that making basic music is far easier than it has ever been. Both in terms of recording, and even the playability of instruments (a cheap bass now vs a cheap bass 40 or 50 years ago is like night and day) LITERALLY anyone can make music with a bit of software and some kind of input device (ie controller keyboard, guitar, etc...). It used to be that people had to work at it to get to the point of being heard by anybody, so that would tend to naturally select the people that had some talent for music, because others would give up.

But now, anybody can put their stuff out there. That, combined with the fact that "musical" music (ie stuff that takes more ability than simple rock/pop) is almost completely disregarded by the general public these days, means it's a LOT less common for people to be great players, or even "solid" players, because there's no money in it any more.

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Honestly, I think the exact OPPOSITE is true.

Ok Victor and I disagree.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by two fingers

Part of the problem as well is that so many musicians are one genre players these days as well. And there are so many genres (and sub genres) that fewer players are spread among many more genres. Want proof? Take a look at CL ads these days. You'll see quotes like this.......

"I only play doom/sludge/blood core. Don't even ask me to try any of that stupid death/scream/angry core junk."

"

I watched a guy on a local (Florida) metal forum on Facebook get denied a band because he wanted to do grindcore instead of metalcore.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by fdeck

Maybe the thread title should have been: "Is electric bass playing a dying art?" I'd have a hard time imagining an upright player saying this. While upright bass certainly involves working within the stylistic limits of historical genres, the "role of a bass player" seems to be much less confining.

It's why you might notice I never use the term bassist. I always use bass guitarist.

I'm a bass guitar player.

Blue

[WokenDeer]

So is a guitarist not a guitar player or vice versa?

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by WokenDeer

So is a guitarist not a guitar player or vice versa?

I'm not sure.

My point is, when I hear the term bassist, I immediately think upright bass. But, that's just me.

Blue

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by oniman7

I watched a guy on a local (Florida) metal forum on Facebook get denied a band because he wanted to do grindcore instead of metalcore.

Ha! Truth is better than fiction! Thanks for sharing!

[brianerwin]

I am going to make a generalization here. It all seems to gather around the younger generation and a microwave generation.
You see as a step parent to a 15 year old girl, I see a whole lot of issues.
1. She thinks that everything should come easy... No work ethic.
2. What she wants she feels that she doesn't have to work for, it should happen instantly.
3. No Patience at all.
4. She sees me practice something and says to me that I need to learn something different because I play it too much.
5. She has the ability to be a pretty good guitar player, but never has learned anything all the way through.
6. she is simply lazy and wants everything handed to her.
This generation doesn't have what it takes to really earn its place.
We are kind of at fault though because we want our kids to have what we didn't so we kind of give into the microwave society.
we love our kids and want the best for them.
But things like good musicians sometimes suffer.

[MarkMgibson]

I would answer "yes" to the OP's question. I would say the same of drummers, guitarists and most singers. Musicianship just doesn't seem to be "kewl" these days, "just f*cking play power chords, man".

I made a joke about that 12/12/12 concert the other day - who is going to replace these guys in 15 - 20 years? As far as I can see, nobody. There's not enough music in today's music. Striving for excellence on an instrument is practically frowned upon. Want proof, who are the great bands that came out post 90's? There are none. For God's sake, we're still looking to the British 60's bands to give concerts some real clout. What the hell does that tell you? I'd say Rock & Roll is a dying art, not just bass playing.