A bass player with only one bass...

[Muddslide]

I have been a Marcus Miller fan since I started playing bass and always liked the quote on his website on this subject:
"...the most important thing is to settle on a bass then commit to it. ... Get to know your bass inside and out and play it in every situation you can"

Nice.

I recall reading an interview with Jaco Pastorius many years back in which he said much the same thing. He owned two Jazz basses at the time (one for backup) and he said he knew people who had a lot more gear and possibly better gear, but he knew every molecule and (as he said it) "every drop of sweat and chicken grease" on them. He knew them inside out and spoke of them as extensions of his hands.

I am definitely of the school of centering on a modicum of gear and making the most of it rather than hopping around between a dozen instruments.

That, of course, doesn't mean the "hopping between 12 basses" school is wrong. It's just not the school I'm enrolled in.

 

[JimmyM]

Nice.

I recall reading an interview with Jaco Pastorius many years back in which he said much the same thing. He owned two Jazz basses at the time (one for backup) and he said he knew people who had a lot more gear and possibly better gear, but he knew every molecule and (as he said it) "every drop of sweat and chicken grease" on them. He knew them inside out and spoke of them as extensions of his hands.

I am definitely of the school of centering on a modicum of gear and making the most of it rather than hopping around between a dozen instruments.

That, of course, doesn't mean the "hopping between 12 basses" school is wrong. It's just not the school I'm enrolled in.

i was in that modicum of gear school for a long time because it was forced on me through not making any money now that i'm firmly in the hopping between 12 basses (9, actually) school, i think the other way is superior. i actually envy guys like linley marthe, who owns one bass that he's had since was 16 and sticks doggedly with it.

i do love the variety, i'm not going to lie. but i think variety should come later after you've learned to successfully navigate one bass.

 

[osuok88]

You don't need to own more than 1 or 2 (backup) basses to "playing bass", but I have no problem if someone own more than 10 basses. Owning basses is just like car, coint collection, nothing wrong that you own many basses.

 

[thmsjordan]

Me - I try to only own the basses I need. I have two electrics and one upright.

One electric (Am Std. Precision) is fretted for general gigging. The other (Warmoth p/j) is fretless and used in more Jazz/fusion type settings where I need to solo more. The Upright doubles as both a jazz and a classical bass.

I think they are the bare minimum for me. They each cover very different ground.

 

[SteveC]

After years of going through a ton of basses, I am trying to stick with one - the one I've had for a few years now even through all the buying and selling. Yamaha BB605 with Bartolini electronics. I also have a NXT EUB for my jazz gigs.

I enjoy the "limitations" of the 4 strings on my upright. I sometimes think I "overplay" my 5 string and have debated getting a passive 20 fret 4 string. As was said, I think I should maybe learn to play a "lesser" instrument really well before I try to "overplay" my 5 string.

 

[maritimer]

I recently acquired an F-Bass and before then I had a number of basses. Well I am down to two and I will be selling/trading my Jazz Deluxe FMT V. My BN5 does everything I need, has the tone I always wanted and the playability is unreal. If I get back into a regular gig situation where I need a backup, then I MAY consider a second bass for the backup slot but it would end up being something cheap and very playable or another flavour of an F-Bass.

I used to be the worst for GAS. Now I have 1 acoustic, 1 electric guitar and will be 1 bass. Now granted, each of these are either top of the line or custom pieces but after playing for 25 years I know what I want. That's the part that is hard about buying gear. Simply trying out for an hour in a shop doesn't cut it. It takes time and exposure to figure out what you really like and this may change as each individual's playing style and musical direction evolve.

 

[SteveC]

That's the part that is hard about buying gear. Simply trying out for an hour in a shop doesn't cut it. It takes time and exposure to figure out what you really like and this may change as each individual's playing style and musical direction evolve.

There is a reason for changing gear, and it doesn't necessarily have to be labeled as GAS. I am finding after years of GAS and mostly active 5 string basses, I am liking the sound of a simple, 4 string passive J or sometimes even a P.

 

[klejst]

I currently use my 1998 Fender Precision for everything and it has been my main bass for awhile. Now as far as just one bass, I do have a backup that I use when gig'ing in case something happens. The only thing different is the backup has a maple neck, other than that the two guitars are exactly identical.

 

[plankspanker13]

As it so happens, yesterday (the 15th) was the 28th anniversary of my first NBD. There have been close to 40 such days since then. Presently, the collection is at 5, the highest number that it has ever been, but one is sale/trade bait. The Squier CV 50's P was bought to play in a Green Day tribute band, and has already paid for itself; I am simply not a fan of the neck, and no-longer in that band. The Squier VM Jaguar is the designated beater; the pair of G&L JB2s are mainstays, although I treat the honey QMT like my limited edition Warwick; they only come out rarely.

4 seems to be the right number of basses for me, although it could just as easily be 3. If I had to narrow it down to 1, the honey QMT would be the clear winner (no offense to the 'wick).

 

[mcapote]

i'm constantly changing basses around on my neverending quest for that "tone". but i gig with the same bass every time. however i bring 2 to every gig because what happens if you have a failure? I realistically cant see a giging player only having 1 bass, thats kinda like your drummer not having extra sticks. but i can see playing the same bass every time.

 

[basswalker2004]

I've been a one bass man almost my entire playing life which so far is 43 years and still going strong. I had a couple different basses to start out with but I got my first long term bass in 1970.. that was a 1964 Fender Precision. gigged on that full time (5 or 6 nights a week) all the way up till 1984 when I met the folks at Fodera. I bought a 4 string Monarch, sold the p-bass, and have been playing it for 26 years. Just got a new 5 string Fodera but will be keeping both of those.
Being a full time bassist I never had a problem owning only one bass. The P-bass and later the Monarch cut every gig perfectly..
cheers

 

[basswalker2004]

i was in that modicum of gear school for a long time because it was forced on me through not making any money now that i'm firmly in the hopping between 12 basses (9, actually) school, i think the other way is superior. i actually envy guys like linley marthe, who owns one bass that he's had since was 16 and sticks doggedly with it.

i do love the variety, i'm not going to lie. but i think variety should come later after you've learned to successfully navigate one bass.

Yea Jimmy.. I love my old bass.. It's taken me years to find one that I would even consider owning along side it. After 26 years on my Monarch it is a part of my body. The new Matt Garrison is a perfect match for the 4 string Monarch.. these should take me to the end..

 

[basswalker2004]

i'm constantly changing basses around on my neverending quest for that "tone". but i gig with the same bass every time. however i bring 2 to every gig because what happens if you have a failure? I realistically cant see a giging player only having 1 bass, thats kinda like your drummer not having extra sticks. but i can see playing the same bass every time.

I can see that.. however in 43 years.. never had a failure.
Just a guitar cable or string here or there.. oh, and a tube or two.
LOL

 

[Fran Diaz]

Me - I try to only own the basses I need. I have two electrics and one upright.

One electric (Am Std. Precision) is fretted for general gigging. The other (Warmoth p/j) is fretless and used in more Jazz/fusion type settings where I need to solo more. The Upright doubles as both a jazz and a classical bass.

I think they are the bare minimum for me. They each cover very different ground.

I'm more or less in the same bandwagon than you:
- 1 fretted PJ with flats.
- 1 fretted J with rounds.
- 1 DB primarily for classical.

My question: What strings do you use for your DB that give you a good arco sound but are also good for pizz. work?

TIA

 

[shirojiro]

I struggle with this issue a lot.
I used to be a "one bass to rule them all" kind of guy, I found myself wanting to be able to play fretted and fretless, so I ended up with 2 basses. then, in the pursuit of different tones and variety, I slowly added different basses.

Most are inexpensive, but good players, and now, I flip back and forth about the balance between the value that bass gives me by giving variety vs the small amount of money I'd get back from selling it.

I suppose there's the philosophy of being a minimalist that appeals to bassists in general that drives me to want to downsize, but when I think about selling off one of the herd, I play it for a while and I realize that there indeed was a reason that I purchased that bass in the first place.

It's different as I've gotten older too. when I was younger, I was short on cash, so I really could only have one nice fretted bass and beater fretless. Now, I have more extra cash, so having extra basses around isn't such a big deal, especially if they're not so expensive.

The problem is, I've got 12 now. It seems ridiculous. I basically play 3 or 4 at the most, and the others are part of a sonic palette in my head that really only gets used for recording, since live, really very few can tell the difference between basses IMHO.

It gets even more complicated for me when I hear the sound samples that people post here on TB comparing the Pbass tone with a Jbass neck pickup soloed, and it's indeed difficult to discern a major difference, and this is soloed with headphones! In a band contect, I suspect a small minority of us could really tell the difference.

I just made a list of the basses I own. Maybe some of you can help me decide which one(s) to sell...

1. Fender Heartfield DR5. This is the save-from-a-house-fire bass.
2. Fender MIM Jazz 5. Great neck, passive Jazz tones for days.
3. Brice V2 5 string fretless. No lines. Bought it to work on fretless, great tone, great player, no resale value.
4. OLP Tony Levin Signature bass. Cheap stand in for a Stingray 5. Love the tones. Strung with Chromes right now. Strings are a little close together though.
5. Fender MIJ '75 Reissue Jazz. The number 1 4 string for me. Love it, tone, neck, blocks, binding. Awesome
6. FrankenFender/Squire. Parts bass that I love. tobacco suburst with Squier VM Jazz neck and '62 reissue pickups and Gotoh brodge. Made it to look just like the Kent Jazz bass I started with back in '82. Also has Chromes on it.
7. FrankenFender Jazz. this one is redundant but I had the body from the Squier VM Jazz, and found a nice MIM Jazz neck for cheap. Maybe this one I should sell.
8. Squier VM Jazz Fretless bass. Jaco clone for cheap. Plays and sounds better than it deserves to. I got this when I realized that I needed the fretlines for fretless... :-/
9.Fender MIM Pbass with Mighty Mite neck. Regular Pbass, black with rosewood board, black pickguard, black knobs. Simple and kinda cool. Got it for cheap, thought everyone needed a Pbass.
10. Ibanez RKB900. Awesome passive bass. SD quarter pounders, Badass II, Hipshot tuners. Great PJ bass.
11. Ibanez ATK300. Older one from 1990. Phenomenal neck and tone. This used to be my #1 4 string.
12. Fender Sting signature bass. Single coil pbass. Don't mind the Stinglay. Sounds suprisingly different from a regular Pbass. Records really well.


I feel like I have a problem or addiction...

 

[fruitlabor]

I struggle with this issue a lot.
I used to be a "one bass to rule them all" kind of guy, I found myself wanting to be able to play fretted and fretless, so I ended up with 2 basses. then, in the pursuit of different tones and variety, I slowly added different basses.

Most are inexpensive, but good players, and now, I flip back and forth about the balance between the value that bass gives me by giving variety vs the small amount of money I'd get back from selling it.

I suppose there's the philosophy of being a minimalist that appeals to bassists in general that drives me to want to downsize, but when I think about selling off one of the herd, I play it for a while and I realize that there indeed was a reason that I purchased that bass in the first place.

It's different as I've gotten older too. when I was younger, I was short on cash, so I really could only have one nice fretted bass and beater fretless. Now, I have more extra cash, so having extra basses around isn't such a big deal, especially if they're not so expensive.

The problem is, I've got 12 now. It seems ridiculous. I basically play 3 or 4 at the most, and the others are part of a sonic palette in my head that really only gets used for recording, since live, really very few can tell the difference between basses IMHO.

It gets even more complicated for me when I hear the sound samples that people post here on TB comparing the Pbass tone with a Jbass neck pickup soloed, and it's indeed difficult to discern a major difference, and this is soloed with headphones! In a band contect, I suspect a small minority of us could really tell the difference.

I just made a list of the basses I own. Maybe some of you can help me decide which one(s) to sell...

1. Fender Heartfield DR5. This is the save-from-a-house-fire bass.
2. Fender MIM Jazz 5. Great neck, passive Jazz tones for days.
3. Brice V2 5 string fretless. No lines. Bought it to work on fretless, great tone, great player, no resale value.
4. OLP Tony Levin Signature bass. Cheap stand in for a Stingray 5. Love the tones. Strung with Chromes right now. Strings are a little close together though.
5. Fender MIJ '75 Reissue Jazz. The number 1 4 string for me. Love it, tone, neck, blocks, binding. Awesome
6. FrankenFender/Squire. Parts bass that I love. tobacco suburst with Squier VM Jazz neck and '62 reissue pickups and Gotoh brodge. Made it to look just like the Kent Jazz bass I started with back in '82. Also has Chromes on it.
7. FrankenFender Jazz. this one is redundant but I had the body from the Squier VM Jazz, and found a nice MIM Jazz neck for cheap. Maybe this one I should sell.
8. Squier VM Jazz Fretless bass. Jaco clone for cheap. Plays and sounds better than it deserves to. I got this when I realized that I needed the fretlines for fretless... :-/
9.Fender MIM Pbass with Mighty Mite neck. Regular Pbass, black with rosewood board, black pickguard, black knobs. Simple and kinda cool. Got it for cheap, thought everyone needed a Pbass.
10. Ibanez RKB900. Awesome passive bass. SD quarter pounders, Badass II, Hipshot tuners. Great PJ bass.
11. Ibanez ATK300. Older one from 1990. Phenomenal neck and tone. This used to be my #1 4 string.
12. Fender Sting signature bass. Single coil pbass. Don't mind the Stinglay. Sounds suprisingly different from a regular Pbass. Records really well.


I feel like I have a problem or addiction...

How much for the heartfield?

 

[KingRazor]

I only have one bass, but only because I can't really afford to buy a bunch of basses.

 

[derridiandrift]

I have been playing for 30 years and ... I only own one bass now and have finally convinced myself to stick with it because I can play it to the best of my ability. Any other bass in my hands and I feel like I struggle and fight it.

Marty

Hmm, I can't say that I find my other basses a struggle to play. I've found other people's basses a struggle to play, but I find that when that happens, it's usually the result of setup problems. I've been able to set up every bass I've owned in the past decade or so to play well enough that I can play them all comfortably. But I do have my favourites.

My Stingray plays unbelievably well, but my old p-bass has the sound that I love. Don't get me wrong, the p-bass plays really well too, but the Stingray takes it up a notch.

The arsenal consists of a Jack Casady, a Warmoth Jazz bass, the Ray, and an old P-bass. All 4 strings. If I had to pick just one to play for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be the one that plays the best. It would be the precision.

 

[groove_druid]

I'm in the "the one" camp also. I frequent shops and try out different basses alot. I like seeing the variety and what sounds I can get out of different basses and different amps, but in the end I always want that perfect fit. I have a Squier Jag SS that is pretty damn close. Only bass I've liked better has been a Fender Mustang.

 

[Mokebass]

one choice? my 75 fender pb with badass bridge II.