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Bass is 'easy'

#61
ZenG said:
Until you hear a person play, you have no idea what level they're at regardless of what they say about themselves.

The world is full of people with cheap guitars,basses and other musical instruments...people who think that they're the next big thing musically but can't play much of anything.

They're not musicians...they're people who are in love with the idea of being a rockstar. It's more about being being a rockstar than it is about anything musical.

A lot of good bands probably get tired real quick of all the posers that show up for interviews/tryouts.

And these days when you tell someone authentically that they suck on an instrument they can get pretty upset.

So if you just advertise yourself as a bassist for hire....well..there's a million of those around and a good percentage of them aren't very good. Ditto for guitar players and drummers.

Maybe a good way is to have your own website etc etc et or blog with actual sound clips of your work that you can refer employers to....if you are not in a position to actually demonstrate your
skills in person based on their general pre-conceived notions about prospective players....
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I include demos and links to websites but I doubt he checked them out. It reflects on his words!
 
#63
Bass is the back bone of any song new or old. Honestly it saddens me that most kids growing up will know how to play killer bass riffs off some computerized machine rather than picking the actual instrument up and learning. Hell a guy at work brought a fiddle in and gave us a show we werent expecting. Now this fiddle was a ole cheapo he found at a road side boutique but it sounded golden in his hands. I won't lie he had me looking at fiddles the next day wondering if I could play some of the old cool stuff he was laying down. He learned from his father and he passed it down to his children and so on. No matter the instrument its the tradition and know how that always gives me that rush.
 
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#64
Every hellacious guitar player I know brings in a real bass player for the bass parts. It's not that they couldn't learn to play bass, it's that they don't play bass; and they are good enough to know the difference between their own guitar-player-playing-bass sound, and an actual bass player.
 
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#67
Snaxster said:
Hello Patrick. Little did you know you were contacting Vlad the Impaler. At least he's toned it down a bit in the last 500 years. But yeah... there is no pleasing that man.

Our boy Vlad, the inspiration for the novel "Dracula":

vlad_tepes_002-jpg.jpg
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4stringfarley said:
I swear I've seen him playing bass for a band I between 1970 and mid 90s.
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Vlad the Impaler stays active. Probably that's the secret to his longevity. (That plus drinking fresh blood from his victims' necks. No, wait... that's Dracula.) Whether impaling his enemies or playing bass guitar, it's an easy gig for him. That's right, I said "easy"!
 
#68
I think the problem is too many people have a three second attention span... if you're still with me... so anything non-pop with more than three notes/chords two verses and one chorus played adnausium is too complicated to understand.

Edit: I'll play roots for $50, but if you want 5ths as well it's $55.
 
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#69
The best answer to this is the Zoom H4 that records every show we do(habit picked up when I first got drafted into this band to make sure me & the drummer were working together AND to check my backup vocals). The recordings of guitarists sitting in on bass, the few times it has happened, are all the proof one needs. The most unique one is the guy who thinks he can play anything sitting in on Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Texas Flood". The song almost fell apart due to no "feel". I did my best not to smile or chuckle when facing them playing it.

OTOH: Tom did a good job on Boston's basslines.

Easy like Sunday morning.
 
#71
I've been playing music for, well, for a really, really long time. I don't remember anyone ever saying bass was easy other than it being mentioned here on TB. No one has ever told me playing bass is easy. I have never heard anyone say it. I have only seen bass players get respect.
 
#74
yodedude2 said:
i took it to mean not that bass guitar is easy to play, but that it is easy to replace or emulate with a keyboard or computer.
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That is what I got as well... not so much tghat bass is easy to play but it is easy to put bass parts in songs you are writing or playing.. and that is true.. but then again.. it is easy to put down just about any instrument nowadays.. from sax to trumpet.. but that will never mean that there will be no need for trumpeters or saxaphonists.. or in this case bassists..
 
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#75
I am a String Orchestra Teacher and I love it when a student or parent asks which instrument is the easiest to play. My reply is usually "they are all equally easy and hard to play. You can suck on any instrument or you can practice and put forth the effort to be a worthy player people will want to hear."
 
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#76
Music is difficult if you want to be any good at it, regardess of instrument. On top of that, there are the requirements of your chosen instrument, which alone take years to master. All musicians should be held in respect for the effort and dedication they bring to the table.
 
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#77
Joe Nerve said:
I would say that was completely ridiculous, but it pales in comparison to the response I once got. From your picture though, I'd say it's because I've been around a lot longer than you :). Not looking to outdo you, but rather put things in perspective.

Getta Load of this!

Can't wait to hear your guys response, to your response.
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Read some of that older thread, DAMN!!

Anyways to OP, your deal reminds me of this belligerently drunk woman who came up to me in between sets and starts a conversation with me!! Then outta nowhere was telling me "Anybody can do what you do! You guys are just moving yours hands around, my son on the other hand has talent, he plays football!!;)".I just humored her LOL!! This guy doesn't sound like a real musician IMO!!
 
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#78
Pretty soon there will be a plugin that figures out what the root of the guitar chord is and then fires a bass note on the kick or snare based on the drum midi track. Commodities are always a race to the bottom. Frankly most new songs are mediocre enough that they deserve an equally mediocre and synthetic rhythm section.

And then music created by talented musicians with a passion for their instrument will be even further differentiated. The digital age has swung the pendulum away from bands and further toward celebrity producer/songwriters. Luckily people get sick of that pretty fast. Otherwise we'd be eagerly anticipating the 30th consecutive platinum album from Richard Marx.
 
#80
Real talk, the fretted bass guitar has an shallower learning curve than say the sitar, bassoon, or double bass. It's a modern design intended to be a doubling instrument that fixes many of the "problems" associated with the upright. That said, if the person playing the bass guitar is either a garbage musician or doesn't yet understand music it sure as hell won't be easy for them to play well.


Fretless is a whole different can of worms. Unlined fretless is incredibly difficult to get together on a professional level, IMO.
 
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