One Bass Only: A short treatise

[HolmeBass]

I'm with other posters who have noted: at least two that work for the gig, so I can have a back-up. Right now I own 5 basses, but really only three of them get played much, and only two get used for gigs, so I could probably sell the others- a MIM P-bass and a bottom-of-the-line student Yamaha fretless. I just harbor dreams of fixing them up some day, putting some flats and a nice medium set-up on the P, probably need a new pup & electronics on the Yamaha, but both could be useful for gigs I might get in the future, and certainly for recording.

[rtslinger]

I have 8 each has it's own feel and voice not to mention I use two per show one with flats everything else strung with round wounds. I could with only two? yes do I want to? no! So reasoning for using or having more than one isn't a black and white issue. Some of us love to play bass and love to use different ones that have there own something that made us lay out the $ in the first place.

[Commreman]

Originally Posted by tbassist4

In the overall tonal spectrum, an electric bass is an electric bass. A P-bass can do what a J-bass can do and vice versa - and this carries over for every electric bass. We think that basses sound so different from one another because we're so used to listening to them and picking apart every element of their sound. To a guitarist or to an average listener, they probably wouldn't be able to tell which you were playing unless they saw it, or had experience with basses. Even bass players often can't tell them apart, as has been demonstrated here on TB with several blind tests including a J vs. P bass in a recording.

Consider it this way: In the world of classical double bass, you soon realize that every bass you pick up has a vastly different character, but to a cello/violin/viola player, they might only notice huge differences (like a 4k instrument vs. a 25k instrument). In addition - despite these apparent vast differences, there is no consistency forced in double bass sections - except perhaps that an instrument be of a certain quality level. There's so much tonal overlap between DBs that the nuances are actually quite small in comparison. Much more has to do with your playing and technique than the instrument itself. The same goes for electric bass.

Really the only reason to own more than one bass is for yourself. It's not as if you picked up a music man and it was all of a sudden incapable of doing pop, or you picked up a P-bass and all of a sudden it refused to be played in a jazz trio. In the objective musical world if you have one nice bass that plays well, is comfortable, and your technique is up to snuff, you'll be able to do everything out there and sound really good.

Truth. I'm down to a P bass and two Jazz basses. My P does all my recording, and one of my Jazz basses is for gigs. I can cover ANY gig this way.

[OUT51D3R]

I remember going to a friend's show about a year ago. About halfway through, his guitarist broke a string. He starts changing it, and the crowd got restless really quickly. Started heckling. The rest of the band was getting visibly impatient. The sound guy walked down to the stage and asked the guitarist if he wanted him to string it for him. The guitarist finished up as quickly as he could, and played the rest of the show out of tune. It wasn't pretty.

That was a small show, not many in the audience. But I would -never- want that to happen to me. When I bought my bass, I told myself I will always have a second on hand if I ever start gigging. Other than that, I get the minimalist approach. I'll probably have 2 at max, ever.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by OUT51D3R

I remember going to a friend's show about a year ago. About halfway through, his guitarist broke a string. He starts changing it, and the crowd got restless really quickly. Started heckling. The rest of the band was getting visibly impatient. The sound guy walked down to the stage and asked the guitarist if he wanted him to string it for him. The guitarist finished up as quickly as he could, and played the rest of the show out of tune. It wasn't pretty.

That was a small show, not many in the audience. But I would -never- want that to happen to me. When I bought my bass, I told myself I will always have a second on hand if I ever start gigging. Other than that, I get the minimalist approach. I'll probably have 2 at max, ever.

Yeah, I definitely believe in having a backup instrument if you gig, although guitar strings are more prone to breakage than bass strings. It certainly happens though.

However, ANYTHING can crap out during a gig. A string can break, a pot or some other electronic component could go dead, a cable could short out, a jack could come loose and cut in and out.

Beyond that, anything can also go wrong with an amp rig, or an effect pedal.

It kind of gets to the point where...do you bring a backup for everything?

[OUT51D3R]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

It kind of gets to the point where...do you bring a backup for everything?

I'd be tempted to bring a backup for everything that is both required to perform and practical to haul around a spare of.

[heckraiser]

I currently have 4 basses. I used to feel the same as you and thought that I only could ever use 1 bass so why have more. The 'pro' of that is that you get to know that bass really, really, well. You know what to do and how to do every tweak possible to get just about every sound you want out of it.

Went I started playing way back when, I was a thumper then and played a lot differently than I do now. Now I play a 5-string and use the 4-string as a back-up. The Alvarez 5er bass I use has a really straight neck, a really low action and has to be played with a lighter touch. But it has really hot pickups and sounds really good played lightly, lots of bite and growl.

The back-up that I have is a Fender Power Jazz Special. Nice neck, great tone, but unlike the Alvarez, you can thump on it. I love playing it because of the tone and the fact I can pound the crap out of it and it still sounds good.

Now to be honest, if I made more money I would probably have more basses and I may still acquire 1 more bass. Another 5-string. And if I had too, for financial reasons, I would sell everyone of them except for 1.

__________________________________________________
"And that's all I have say about that." -- Forest Gump

[heckraiser]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

Yeah, I definitely believe in having a backup instrument if you gig, although guitar strings are more prone to breakage than bass strings. It certainly happens though.

However, ANYTHING can crap out during a gig. A string can break, a pot or some other electronic component could go dead, a cable could short out, a jack could come loose and cut in and out.

Beyond that, anything can also go wrong with an amp rig, or an effect pedal.

It kind of gets to the point where...do you bring a backup for everything?

Having a backup has saved my ass on several occasions. Just buy a cheap used bass to get you through till break and then change the string out and your back in business.
I also have a small backup head to be used for amp breakdowns

PS. Having an electric string winder, a 25 dollar product, can cut the time to change out a string or a set of strings dramatically.

[metron]

With only one bass you will be missing out on the huge variety of tones provided by even just having multiple versions of the same bass made out of different tonal woods.

Just kidding. I am totally an internet troll. But can you imagine?!? no seriously though one bass should be enough. Backups sure but how important is it really? I have broken only a few strings in nearly 20 years of playing.

[Marial]

I've broken only two strings in 25+ years of playing (both GHS Boomers, stopped using them, haven't broken a string since), but I don't slap/pop and don't play particularly aggressively. YMMV.

I've had multiple basses in the past, but right now just have one bg (for the sake of the current discussion I'm leaving my upright aside). I'm not a professional either (meaning music isn't how I make my living) so I don't need a variety of sounds for different sessions/styles of music, so one bass works fine for me. That said, I'd like to have two, because some songs would be great with a fretless. That's the one sound/tone I cannot at least distantly approximate with my Jazz.

Simplicity, however, is definitely one of my goals. The less-is-more approach is infinitely applicable in life.

Except for LEGOS. You can never have too many of those.

[HolmeBass]

Originally Posted by metron

With only one bass you will be missing out on the huge variety of tones provided by even just having multiple versions of the same bass made out of different tonal woods.

Just kidding. I am totally an internet troll. But can you imagine?!? no seriously though one bass should be enough. Backups sure but how important is it really? I have broken only a few strings in nearly 20 years of playing.

Yes but the point has already been made it's not just string breakage that's a potential problem. The jack could go, getting glitchy. A strap button could strip out so your bass won't hang on you anymore. I used to break A strings fairly frequently. I'd hate for it to happen at a festival, where you're playing a big stage with only 50 minutes of set time. I don't want to waste 4 or 5 of those precious minutes re-stringing, along with the tonal differences between the new and remaining old strings once you're done.

As for what to back-up: bass and amp. If the speaker cabinet dies, that would be bad, switch to SansAmp and monitors only. A total drag but the show would continue. How often do speakers die though- all of the speakers in your cabinet, at once?

[Extrinsic]

i only have one bass but remember...it's not so bad to support builders of instruments just lend off the basses that sit around, maybe let a kid play it. his/her joy may be worth it to you

[RBetoGT]

Have 3, will be happy with 5.

[Santraginus]

I've thinned the herd... went down to three: a fretless, a P/J, and a J/J. All four-stringers. I did it because I also like the idea of simplicity, while I still want to have one back-up. And I am not too sure about keeping the fretless, because I simply don't use it with the band.

However... I am currently thinking about leaving my band, and the reason for it is some lack of focus. I'm unable to lock with the drummer. He does not practice and refuses to learn and internalize song structures. And he does not keep time. But he's got about six complete drum sets (selling and buying at a high pace) and seems to use a new snare drum every other week.

The other reason is the way the lead guitarist, who is Band Leader, prioritizes his time.
After the holidays, he admitted that he did not practice a single measure of our material during three weeks - but he's got three new axes, re-arranged his pedal-board, switched string brand and gauges, and consequentely will spend a couple of band practices just fiddling with controls and setup. B.t.w.: his setup is incredible complicated, so there are about 300 knobs to adjust, re-adjust, pre-amps to program.... His setup upsets me.
His soloing is... well, inconsistent at best. And I wish he'd focus more on music and less on his endless gear-fiddling. But since he's been a pro during his early days in the 60s and 70s, he feels beyond the need to practice music.

Why am I posting this?

Because I think I am confronted with a very instructive example on what might happen if I prioritized gear over practice. Fumbling with more and more gear might be fun - and requires much less focus than practicing, solving 'musical problems', learning to really play difficult and complex and rich music.
But in the long term, I want to be the bassist with one or two or three axes and great musical competence. This requires practice and focus. And to me, focus means to tackle music, instead of gear. I don't want to be that guy with 48 axes and no musical statement...
Of course: kudos to you guys with 50 axes, 30 amps and splendid musicianship. You're simply beyond of what I might achieve.

[dvh]

Originally Posted by Santraginus

Because I think I am confronted with a very instructive example on what might happen if I prioritized gear over practice. Fumbling with more and more gear might be fun - and requires much less focus than practicing, solving 'musical problems', learning to really play difficult and complex and rich music.
But in the long term, I want to be the bassist with one or two or three axes and great musical competence. This requires practice and focus. And to me, focus means to tackle music, instead of gear. I don't want to be that guy with 48 axes and no musical statement...
Of course: kudos to you guys with 50 axes, 30 amps and splendid musicianship. You're simply beyond of what I might achieve.

This is right on. I started on DB five years ago. Aside from four strings and pitched the same it's a totally different beast from EB.

Between that and the fact that it's not practical to continually flip instruments or try new strings, etc, etc, my focus has been on actually practicing and playing; technique, theory.

That's transferred to the way I approach EB.

It's not about the toys. It's what you do with what you've got....

[countrybass007]

My '51 Precision reissue does everything I want or need. I decided owning 23 basses and using just one 95% of the time made no sense.

[kreider204]

I'm pretty much like the OP. For many years, I only had one bass, and it worked fine for what I needed to do. These days, I have four: upright, fretless, and fretted 4-strings, none of which are redundant with one another, and then another fretted - the aforementioned "one bass" - but I only keep that from sentimental value (it doesn't get played anymore, and would need some work anyway). So I think that still puts me in the OP's philosophical range, despite having more than one.

EDIT: Oh, as far as the backup thing. I don't do rock bands anymore. My gigs are all on upright, but I do bring my fretless as a backup on jazz gigs (or just to play on the occasional tune). I can't afford two uprights (and I don't know where I'd put it, anyway ... ), but I'm not particularly worried about it breaking down during gigs.

[Davo-London]

Jaco had a fretted and fretless Jazz BTW.

It's true you only need a fretted and fretless. However, I like an ABG (fretless) and a pre-CBS fretted to show off.

Davo

[inthevelvet]

I have 2, only because I tend to play a lot of blues, so instead of retuning I keep one tuned to Eb. Could definitely live with one if needed though. That being said, I play in a worship band on Sundays, and do some hired gun type work when local bands are in a tight spot. So guys that are pro's/studio musicians probably need more variety than I do.

[john_martin_sai]

I feel the same as the OP.....

Master and become One with one particular instrument before you move on to the next.

And for most of us,....that will keep you busy with Bass #1 indefinitely.