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Are bassists underrated?

Bassists are underrated?

  • yes

  • no

Results are only viewable after voting.
#48
Picton said:
You’re asking this on TalkBass, so I’d imagine you’ll get a number of “yes” responses.

Just saying it’s not exactly a random sample.
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Depends on who you ask.

If you ask the general public, most wouldn’t know a decent bass line if they were locked in a room with Jaco Pastorious for a month. Pretty much the answer from them would be “What’s a bass, and why does it need to be played?”

If you ask non bass playing members of a band, the answer would be they are overrated “playing stuff stomping all over my “MY parts”

As any self respecting bassist the response would likely be, we are the bottom feeders of the musical world and get no respect. Woe is us.
 
#51
DiMarco said:
Ask any Guitarist to grab a bass and play a Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller or Jaco Pastorius tune. Easy? LOL. They won't even know where to start.
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Amusingly though, I am a far better guitarist than most guitarists I play with. IMHO of course. I just prefer playing bass (which was my first instrument of choice).
 
#54
DiMarco said:
Ask any Guitarist to grab a bass and play a Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller or Jaco Pastorius tune. Easy? LOL. They won't even know where to start.
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those guys hardly play what people consider bass lines. it's like asking a bass player to pick up a guitar and play some steve vai songs. any guitarist can play bass and make it relatively acceptable.
 
#56
DavetheDude said:
I have no idea who that is.
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Dave,

That is Chris Squire, the bassist for the band "Yes." Sadly, he died in 2015 from leukemia at age 67.

If you ever have a spare 40 minutes, have a listen to an album called "Close to the Edge" by Yes. It sure opened up my mind when I first heard it back in the early 70's. Same with "The Yes Album" and also "Fragile." Those three albums, all recorded in the early 70's, are what turned me into a Yes fan from that point forward! :)
 
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#57
I'll never forget that time when, after a gig, I walked off-stage with some band-mates and this guy from the audience told to my gutiar player "hey man, great show, you play fantastic", then, when I walked by him, he looked at me and told me "I will not tell you anything because, you know, nobody notices the bass".
So, here you have it. We, bass players, are, apparently, totally useless when it comes to making music for an audience. Nobody notices us. So yes, bass players ARE underrated. We are rated = 0. Impossible being overrated.
 
#58
SactoBass said:
Dave,

That is Chris Squire, the bassist for the band "Yes." Sadly, he died in 2015 from leukemia at age 67.

If you ever have a spare 40 minutes, have a listen to an album called "Close to the Edge" by Yes. It sure opened up my mind when I first heard it back in the early 70's. Same with "The Yes Album" and also "Fragile." Those three albums, all recorded in the early 70's, are what turned me into a Yes fan from that point forward! :)
Click to expand...

I guess I should check them out. I play in a band with people who have always listened to music from that era, and I know that some people, including my band mates, refer to Yes, but either being influenced or inspired by bands such as Yes. I am way younger than the rest of the Band (age is ranging from 28 to over 60),and I grew up listening to other bands, and only not too long ago i started to get into modern prog rock/prog Metal, so i have nö clue about Mostly Anything lol
 
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