Electric bass: The best invention of all time!

[jonster]

The ever outspoken Chris Dale explains how the bass guitar outdoes anything made by Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and IBM!

http://www.forbassplayersonly.com/Fe...on-of-All-Time

[greggster59]

Convincing article.

[MoeGJBeener]

Neat!

[bigcatJC]

Don't get me wrong: I loves my bass guitar. But I'll take the flush toilet/plumbing as top invention any day.

[Clef_de_fa]

euh ... that guy is a d**k ... the bass changed so much in so few times ... 6+ strings, fretless/fretted, active, various design and many outside of the dreaded Fender 20 frets with 90degree angle edge and plastic finish in solid color ...

So in all ... the electric bass changed as much as any other invention ...

Also all the musician in the picture ... yeah they paved the road but since then, the virtuosity increased 300% especially in metal ... that guy lives in the past.

[MoeGJBeener]

Originally Posted by Clef_de_fa

euh ... that guy is a d**k ... the bass changed so much in so few times ... 6+ strings, fretless/fretted, active, various design and many outside of the dreaded Fender 20 frets with 90degree angle edge and plastic finish in solid color ...

So in all ... the electric bass changed as much as any other invention ...

Also all the musician in the picture ... yeah they paved the road but since then, the virtuosity increased 300% especially in metal ... that guy lives in the past.

I wouldn't say he's a d**k. I'd say he makes a good point. Basses may have gained more strings, some active electronics, ergo designs, ect, BUT originals are still used. That's what he's trying to get across. No one drives a model T to their desk job then uses their giant IBM65 computer to book a flight on a wright flyer. But millions of people will play a 1950's style P-bass today and tomorrow.

[Orangeclawhamme]

Originally Posted by bigcatJC

Don't get me wrong: I loves my bass guitar. But I'll take the flush toilet/plumbing as top invention any day.

Couldn't have said it better.

[jobo4]

I love my bass, but I'll keep my fridge if it came down to it. Or perhaps I would develop an appreciation for dried meat.

[Clef_de_fa]

Originally Posted by MoeGJBeener

I wouldn't say he's a d**k. I'd say he makes a good point. Basses may have gained more strings, some active electronics, ergo designs, ect, BUT originals are still used. That's what he's trying to get across. No one drives a model T to their desk job then uses their giant IBM65 computer to book a flight on a wright flyer. But millions of people will play a 1950's style P-bass today and tomorrow.

But there a lot of mod since then even in the model that "recreate the style". Every car on the road share many similitude with the Ford T, many car enthousiast still have very old car that they restore and use during summer.

There is a part of DOS in every computer running a version of Windows.

Same thing with someone going to a music store buying a 2013 Fender P bass. It shares a lot with the first model but there is also modern design in it.

[khutch]

Well, if we were to use his criteria, which are very restrictive but useful for discussion purposes, the bicycle wins over the bass guitar even though he dismisses it. You can find modern bicycles that are virtual clones of early "safety" bicycles and there are plenty of people who ride original penny farthings as well as exact replicas of them. When it comes to musical instruments there are plenty in use today that are made exactly as they were hundreds of years ago and quite a few still that were actually made over a hundred years ago. The electric bass guitar was a replacement for the double bass which is far older, still made today as it originally was, and used daily by thousands. Every time we take our pack to the local dog park I carry a device called a "Chuck-It". It allows you to throw a tennis ball many times as far as you could throw it by hand, much to the delight of your dog. The same device has been found in caves dating back tens of thousands of years when it was used to throw spears. And there are still human tribes today leading a primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyle using these same spear throwers and perhaps even flint tips on the spears. Certainly a hundred years or so ago their ancestors would have been unaware of modern metal technology.

So I don't think the electric bass guitar comes even close to best invention ever, even by these criteria. However, I love it and it certainly is one of the best inventions of the 20th century in my book!

Ken

[Clef_de_fa]

Originally Posted by khutch

Well, if we were to use his criteria, which are very restrictive but useful for discussion purposes, the bicycle wins over the bass guitar even though he dismisses it. You can find modern bicycles that are virtual clones of early "safety" bicycles and there are plenty of people who ride original penny farthings as well as exact replicas of them. When it comes to musical instruments there are plenty in use today that are made exactly as they were hundreds of years ago and quite a few still that were actually made over a hundred years ago. The electric bass guitar was a replacement for the double bass which is far older, still made today as it originally was, and used daily by thousands. Every time we take our pack to the local dog park I carry a device called a "Chuck-It". It allows you to throw a tennis ball many times as far as you could throw it by hand, much to the delight of your dog. The same device has been found in caves dating back tens of thousands of years when it was used to throw spears. And there are still human tribes today leading a primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyle using these same spear throwers and perhaps even flint tips on the spears. Certainly a hundred years or so ago their ancestors would have been unaware of modern metal technology.

So I don't think the electric bass guitar comes even close to best invention ever, even by these criteria. However, I love it and it certainly is one of the best inventions of the 20th century in my book!

Ken

Yes you are right ... a piano is still made the same way a few century ago ...

So in all ... it is like I said, his resonning is very flawed

[Templar]

lol

Geez, run down to the dime store and buy youselves a sense of humor. The whole article is tounge-in-cheek.

[Roy Vogt]

Here's a good book I'm enjoying these days:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Fender-Bas...nged+the+world
There was some comedian on Marketplace (NPR) this last week that did an entire routine on how you can find bad investments by going to a pawn shop and seeing what is the most plentiful item there. In his neighborhood in LA it was Apple products and bass guitars. He was sharing this information with his 14-year old daughter when her eyes lit up. You see, there was this really cute guy in her class who needed a bass guitar to play in a Rock Band.....

[khutch]

Originally Posted by Templar

The whole article is tounge-in-cheek.

Maybe, maybe not. I have a fine sense of humor but the first time I read the article I confess that my sense of boredom kicked in about half way through and I just skipped the rest. Now that you have made me read the rest I can see that you have a point but in this case a sense of humor would be better served by someone who can swing the sword of logic with more skill and precision. In any event, whether the intent was humor or not, successful or not, it is still an interesting intellectual premise that can be considered seriously, as some of us have done. The life blood of this and all internet forums, written language, has a far better claim to best invention of all time by the author's criteria. It would be hard to come up with a better candidate by any criteria actually.

Ken

[4StringsEnough]

At the risk of being flamed, I think this is a case of the Americans not getting British humour/irony/sarcasm. Chris is a very talented bass player with a great sense of humour (see one of his bands, Sack Trick, as an example!). No, he's not being serious. :-)

[Sleeq]

Try to live in Kuwait, and soon you will realize that air conditioning is the best invention of all time.

[Dr Goggles]

I love my MIM P Bass. I've gone through fancy basses and I'm back to this. However. At the risk of getting lynched, I'm going to say it was another Fender invention that gets my vote. The Fender Telecaster. The first mass-produced solid-body electric, and still going strong and more in demand than ever. Just don't tell the guitarists

[nukes_da_bass]

I'll take Penicillin as the greatest invention of all time.
Life expectancy BEFORE penicillin: 48 years.
After? 59 years if I recall.
One little compound stretched life expectancy over 10 years on average.
Or I might take anesthesia as the greatest invention...
Ever have surgery biting on a leather strap?
Me neither!

[lowendrv]

I would have to say divorce was the best invention ever.

[azzyrazzy]

LOL, great read and some funny replies here.
On a side note, Khutch has a very good candidate, the bicycle.