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Bands with more than one bass player
- Thread starter Johnny Fingers
- Start date
The Melvins had Jeff Pinkus and Steve McDonald on a recent lineup.
On Bitches Brew Miles Davis had both Dave Holland on upright and Harvey Brooks on electric bass, along with Bennie Maupin on bass clarinet.
Not sure if it's always the case, but last time I saw Nathan East play live, he had his brother (James East?) play second bass.
Great gig, but much to my surprise, I felt that I much preferred the sound of James' bass go Nathan's (the new white headless Yamaha 6 string).
Great gig, but much to my surprise, I felt that I much preferred the sound of James' bass go Nathan's (the new white headless Yamaha 6 string).
It's a shame to waste all that potential for bass-related noise.
I was going to mention them, but thought I'd read through to see if anyone beat me to the punch. Drum is one of my favourite albums of all time. Mettle, not so much.
Hetch Hetchy. Kind of a Hugo Largo tribute act by the time they released Swollen. It was produced by Tim Sommer and Hahn Rowe of Hugo Largo, I believe. The singer (who is one of the bassists) is Michael Stipe's sister Linda. Her earlier band, Oh-Ok, was just bass and drums and was pretty great.
The Trammps use two basses in Disco Inferno.
The Cure use two basses in Primary. 
The Cure use two basses in Primary.
For the title track of Intronaut’s third album, Valley of Smoke, they got Justin Chancellor to play bass. It’s one of my favourite songs at the moment, the way Justin Chancellor strums chords while the resident Intronaut fretless player Joe Lester just kinda wanders around ( also, he sounds like Chris Squire playing an upright to me, which is an awesome concept ).
Lou Reeds Walk on the Wild Side recording has both double and electric basses.
I am pretty sure there was one of the classic funk bands where one bassist plays slap and the other one fingers, but I forgot which one.
I am pretty sure there was one of the classic funk bands where one bassist plays slap and the other one fingers, but I forgot which one.
Don’t have an example, but Sun Ra in the early 60s used one upright and one bass guitar.
There was this UK group called "Freebass". There were 3 bassists in the band and it somehow worked; not much wankery ala Billy Sheehan. And it also was a "real" band, releasing EP´s, singles and one LP.
Why does your car not have two steering wheels? It just doesn't work, due to the physics involved. Sure there are tons of exceptions, as noted in this thread, but they're exceptions.
Say your band with two bassists has a two hour gig. How many songs do both bassists play on? Probably not all. So what does the extra bassist do during that time? It's totally different than having two drummers.
Say your band with two bassists has a two hour gig. How many songs do both bassists play on? Probably not all. So what does the extra bassist do during that time? It's totally different than having two drummers.
A group with 2 bass players backed up John Lennon in the early 70's called Elephant's Memory on his live album, John Lennon - Live in New York City.
