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Are Bassists becoming antisocial ?

#41
I gave up reading after the first 5 posts because they started becoming pretty long and Im a slow reader.

My 2 cents
Electronics have killed the social medium
Go to a bar and all you see are a bunch of kids and adults with their cells phones out texting
The same pattern can be seen across the board
 
#42
belgabass said:
I watch bass videos to improve my playing in the context of a band. Learning to play with my 3 right fingers or slap better will do nothing for me.
When's the last time you heard slaping on the radio ( and I dont mean classic RnB stations).
It's like jocks have taken over. Bass aint a sport.
Click to expand...

I do not listen to the radio that often, but I hear slap bass in many popular tunes. I hear fingers, picks, thumbs, plucks and I don't begrudge the use of any of them.

I play solo bass, but also gospel, R&B, Jazz and many other genres of music. I just don't understand why anyone has a problem with someone striving to write their own solo work. I have long suspected that people hate soloists because it is more difficult to cover the techniques and music itself. I feel a like parallel in sport. Basketball, Baseball and Football most of us have played on one level or another, therefore we identify with the sport. Hockey, now that becomes tougher because ice skating is hard to identify with for many people. It just does not grab the country (U.S.) the way the other sports do.
I do not ice skate well and hate Hockey.

I could care less if someone does not like solo bass or if they can't do it. There are so many roles for our instrument that someone may not use the instrument in a solo application well, but have an extraordinary feel for the instrument.
 
#43
lawrenbd said:
I gave up reading after the first 5 posts because they started becoming pretty long and Im a slow reader.

My 2 cents
Electronics have killed the social medium
Go to a bar and all you see are a bunch of kids and adults with their cells phones out texting
The same pattern can be seen across the board
Click to expand...

It depends on how you embrace it. For the past few years I was without a cell phone, and I never really got into the social network thing. However lately I've really gotten into it, and I think that the social medium is vibrant right now. It's just changed quite a bit. People just interact in different ways.
 
#45
funy thing mentioning victor wooten. good player so is charles wooten but bass solo's are normally to show the exstent of the bassist ability to show his style. it is not anti social. it just his style he is showcasing.
there is nothing wrong with bass soloing. belgabass if you want to play bass in a band. rememebr they are looking for a good player and how they will know if your good. simple your bass solo. anyone can strum a string make a mono time beat. but the more advanced chase the lead a bit fallow the guitars around the frets. good luck on getting a band .
 
#46
I just play the groove. That's what I really get. If forced to I will solo, in a reasonably musical if not gifted way, but that's not what I enjoy, at all. If you're paying me good money, I'll play it however you want it. Usually I get to write my own part and play what I like, which is the groove. So deceptively simple.

It has curative powers. :)
 
#48
The only thing worse than bass solos are drum solos. Most drum solos put me to sleep. Most bass solos are some dude playing a bunch of notes fast = boring as hell. What I do enjoy is a good drums and bass breakdown where the rest of the band sits out for a minute or two and it is kind of a rhythmn section groove solo, but one or the other by itself gets pretty old, pretty quick. And as far as slapping goes, though there are some applications that it is called for, seems like 90% of the time I see it, it is just some wanker trying to show off. No one cares.
 
#49
Spectrum said:
If guitarists, pianists, and singers can solo, why not bassists? Was Jimi Hendrix anti-social? Isn't this one of the great things about the invention of the electric bass?
Click to expand...

Because when you solo you're not doing your job. Bass and drums are the rythmic fondation on wich the other more melodicly suited instruments (piano, guitar, vocals, sax,...) do their thang. Go ahead and pick up a guitar and wail on it all you want, I assume you can play a six string right. And I dont mean a six string bass where you hit the G and C string once every blue moon :)
 
#50
Silliness.
There is a far greater magnitude of bass players on youtube that are playing bands, than there are bass players putting up solo videos. Solo videos make up a very tiny part of videos with bass players in them. Most modern bands have a bass player.

If you want to see a bass player in a band setting, look up ANY band. Your problem is then solved.
 
#51
belgabass said:
Because when you solo you're not doing your job.
Click to expand...

Unless your job is to solo...depends on what the purpose of your music is. There is no stone tablet in the sky that says you may use your instrument only in its traditional role. Micheal Manring would be wasting his talent if all he did was play in a band and hold a groove; I certainly wouldn't call what he does "wanking" (I hate that word) or "antisocial". Guys like him take advantage of the technological leap that was electric amplification.


younggun said:
Silliness.
There is a far greater magnitude of bass players on youtube that are playing bands, than there are bass players putting up solo videos. Solo videos make up a very tiny part of videos with bass players in them. Most modern bands have a bass player.

If you want to see a bass player in a band setting, look up ANY band. Your problem is then solved.
Click to expand...

+1. Way more bassists playing in bands than solo, so there really is no issue here. This is as dumb as people who feel threatened by the existence of slap bass.
 
#52
Spectrum said:
This is as dumb as people who feel threatened by the existence of slap bass.
Click to expand...

Huh? Why would anyone feel threatened? Many bassists just don't see the point. I am an experienced bassist and love a good slapper when the music calls for it. Love that 70s funk! But these days, I think we see often see it when it just does not fit. The impression that I get when that happens is that a bassist (usually young and/or inexperienced) is just trying to show off his untasty chops. More power to him, but it is often (not always) the sign of a bassist that is more into his own thing, than the band thing. No big deal, to each his own, just gives us something to complain about when we are in the mood to complain!
 
#54
dave price said:
rememebr they are looking for a good player and how they will know if your good. simple your bass solo.
Click to expand...

I disagree. They will know if he is good if/when he can keep a steady groove and drive the band. There are lots of bassists where soloing is not their strong suit, but can groove their asses off, which IMO is much more important. The opposite is also true.
 
#60
Wow, these threads are ridiculous. Time after time, groove vs. shred, groove vs shred...
Who the hell said you can't groove AND shred?! Wow! What a concept! I've heard many bass solos that had me rockin away, and added alot of life to a song, sometime you just need to open your ears and drop all pre-concieved notions and just LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!

I can't stand all this hate against players who use speed as a tool. To discredit something simply because its fast is stupid, and there is alot of SEVERE stupidity goin on here.

If you don't agree, read this to the person nearest to you

I am wee tot Ed,
Sofa king wee tot Ed
 

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