Open letter to bass shops

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by Fenwick

Is this true are are you exaggerating for effect? I'd love to hear some clips if you have any links!

There are a bunch of clips on Youtube with isolated bass tracks of famous songs. And yes, you'd be surprised at how much fret buzz and just sloppy playing is on them.

Edit: Oops, saw that you've been checking some out.

[Toptube]

What's great about having a player like Phil X demo guitars is that he can play just about anything and he can do it on a whim.

So A. he can demo a lot of sounds, a lot of real music and real riffs. The type of stuff that many people buying guitars are going to want to play.

B. with his very wide range, he can let the guitar inspire him to play things. This is very informative, especially in the context of a youtube video where yeah, no kidding you aren't getting the full aural effect of that guitar. But by nature of the types of songs he chooses to demo on each guitar, you can understand the type of tones inherent in the guitar and its pickups. He's also got two amps ready to go, on foot switch. One that is very clean and one that is very dirty. So again, he can quickly and easily put the pickups and features through their paces, as he thinks of it.

I think its a breath of fresh air.

On the bass side of things, I feel like a lot of bass demos are way too technical, too restricted into a template, and too stale Its like everyone is scared they might be yelled at if they play anything other than some simple little bass standard. Or a little 4 note jingle that isn't suitable for anything other than what it literally is. I want to hear that bass opened up, guys. I want to hear some bass music. Not so modestly played that you wrap right back around to stale. and don't wank. You know how to play a bass , so do it!

Also, for as much talk about "the mix" and "cutting through" and "punching through" etc etc, very very few bass demo videos I've seen have included any kind of substantial back track. There is one site/store/youtube channel that actually starts each vid by playing the bass along with a guitar player who is also there, live, with a real guitar. Amazing!----how simple that is and that nobody else does it! The bass is not classically a solo instrument. There's a lot more to it than some conservative, repetitive little jingles.


Yeah, Phil is pretty intense, but his playing speaks volumes about each individual instrument. He's isn't trying to play prefect or show that he's the best ever----he's letting each instrument speak to him and then he's translating that back to the viewer by way of his superior knowledge of guitar music. Again, its so informative and its easy to connect with as a viewer, wanting some knowledge (whatever it may be) from the video.

I'm pretty bummed that Fretted Americana hasn't come up with a bass player that can do regular videos in a similar fashion. You probably aren't going to duplicate Phil X's personality, but get someone that can grab an instrument, feel it, hear it, and then show us the sorts of songs and sounds it inspires them to play in that moment.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by two fingers

So, the guy in the 2nd video was a dork. But the girl was just playing bass. She was playing actual bass lines. Have you ever listened to the isolated tracks on youtube of some of the most famous bass lines ever? They are HORRIBLE. If it weren't for the magic of the studio, people like Sting, Geddy, Entwistle and any other bass legend you can think of would sound like crap. They are nothing but fret buzz and clanking of fret boards.

Now, let's talk money. (I know, music and money aren't supposed to be brought up in the same conversation. But this is, after all, planet Earth. And some of us Earthlings have no problem with money being involved.) Again, I'm mainly talking about the first video, because the 2nd was just an idiot. How much more are you willing to pay for basses than you already do? Because if true expert professional bassists were hired by every shop to either work there in sales and/or demo their gear for videos on line, I would argue they would certainly cost more. And I don't know how much you know about business, but those costs would be passed onto you. And then there would ultimately be a thread here about bass specialty shops being a big ripoff because their prices are too high.

You can't have it both ways. Either you try your best to fill in the blanks of a less than awesome video, or you pay more for killer bassists being hired to demo them. I, for one, can figure out whether or not I want a bass based on the first video.

My last point is this. It's a Fender P bass man! What do you THINK it's going to sound like? A P BASS PERHAPS? Geez. How much of a DEMO do you need to understand that a P bass sounds like a P BASS???? All you really need form the video is a good grip on how the thing looks. Because if you are a bass player and don't know what a P bass sounds like, you probably need to switch to guitar.

Congratulations on having a stress-free life. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why this would bother you so much that it would warrant an online rant about it.

Originally Posted by bostonasphalt2

Except with Ed, if to watch his amp, every single note is clipping. Rather annoying. I find him unwatchable.

LOL. These are two of the silliest posts I've read in a while.

[fuzzychaos]

Originally Posted by mattbass6945

... i usually immediately get g.a.s. after watching ed.

That made me snort Gatorade out of my nose, it just struck me as funny.

[Art Araya]

meh - don't agree. the girl on the video was more than just cute. she knew was she was talking about and she did a decent job of playing Sir Duke. her fingering technique was not classic one finger per fret but she did fine. I think you're nit picking on this one.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by Fenwick

Is this true are are you exaggerating for effect? I'd love to hear some clips if you have any links!

Do a youtube search for isolated tracks of Geddy Lee. I won't even have to answer your question after that. By themselves, the bass tracks are sloppy, fret buzz infested hot messes. The same goes for Chris Squire. Don't get me wrong. In the context of the whole song, they are great! But by themselves they are just awful. If you ever heard someone sounding like that at GC, you would say they need a good setup on their bass.

Rush - Tom Sawyer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlGibhuobrM

[Smart guy]

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

I have seen/heard worse. Far worse. That was hardly the first time she played a bass. If you want annoying and painful, you should have worked in a music store during the early '70s, when slapping and popping first became popular. We had guys coming into the store from the housing project across the street and they would grab a bass, plug in, crank it up and slap like they were on a stage in front of a huge audience. If they had been good, it might have been different but.....

Lmao. I could imagine the torture that must have been.

[mattbass6945]

That made me snort Gatorade out of my nose, it just struck me as funny.

always here to help. i'll be here all week, try the fish.

[Troph]

Originally Posted by One Drop

Yes, you're cute, but you shouldn't be demonstrating an instrument on which you are unable to finger a note properly or keep the strings you are not playing muted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF77PwkesxM

Wow, I've never heard someone make "Sir Duke" sound so un-funky. No groove whatsoever. Yikes.

[SteveC]

IMHO, there is no one that does better product demonstrations than Ed Friedland.

[mjac28]

Originally Posted by Troph

Wow, I've never heard someone make "Sir Duke" sound so un-funky. No groove whatsoever. Yikes.

+1 my goodness but the bass did sound nice I wish I could have heard it through anything but a super expensive vintage Orange and and cab.

[matante]

Originally Posted by two fingers

Do a youtube search for isolated tracks of Geddy Lee. I won't even have to answer your question after that. By themselves, the bass tracks are sloppy, fret buzz infested hot messes. The same goes for Chris Squire. Don't get me wrong. In the context of the whole song, they are great! But by themselves they are just awful. If you ever heard someone sounding like that at GC, you would say they need a good setup on their bass.

Rush - Tom Sawyer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlGibhuobrM

How do you know that track is authentic? Do you need access to the original masters for that or can you isolate a track with simple software?

[cfsporn]

Originally Posted by Nashrakh

Let Ed Friedland demo all your stuff, problem solved.

YES!!!

This needs to happen. Yesterday.

[Troph]

Originally Posted by Art Araya

meh - don't agree. the girl on the video was more than just cute. she knew was she was talking about and she did a decent job of playing Sir Duke.

Hmm, well she sounded good at first, but then she started playing. She completely flubbed the rhythm on the 2nd arpeggio (A flat) both times through the lick... And that was just the intro to the song!

She reminds me of several people I've met who more or less play the right notes, but seem to be missing an internal sense of rhythm when unaccompanied.

[mattbass6945]

yeah, maybe more than anything, it was just poor song selection.