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Bass is 'easy'
- Thread starter Patrick Spence-Lewis
- Start date
Vlad is right. Bass is the easiest of the instruments to replace with a synth of some type. Someone doing home studio stuff is less likely to need a bassist than a guitarist or vocalist. The proper bass line to many songs really is pretty simple (root notes echoing gtr / drum rhythm). Yes an interesting moving bass line can be great but it can also ruin a song by standing out too much. Bass players love it, regular people, not so much.
Sorry TB, but like it or not, bass is just not THAT important. I know of at least one top level pro band that doesn't even have a bassist while on tour. I saw their show they were great. Nobody missed the bass.
We bass players should not lose our cool when ignorant people make stupid remarks about the bass. I have met people who just do not understand, probably because their musicality is lacking. Some quotes:
- why does it matter that you're sick; does the band really need a bass?
- sorry, but which sound is the bass?
- why do you play bass? Isn't guitar much more fun? And you can stand in front!
- can't you play a nice tune for me?
- why do you need more than one bass?
I could go on for a while longer, but the point is: it matters not. Don't get upset, but smile and pat them on the head.
- why does it matter that you're sick; does the band really need a bass?
- sorry, but which sound is the bass?
- why do you play bass? Isn't guitar much more fun? And you can stand in front!
- can't you play a nice tune for me?
- why do you need more than one bass?
I could go on for a while longer, but the point is: it matters not. Don't get upset, but smile and pat them on the head.
Film and television scoring does apply here in that it illustrates very well a general trend in the entertainment world, namely that there is no point in spending money where it is not necessary. Most people couldn't care less if a real string section is used on a song, so most producers are not going to employ a string section - even if a real string section would sound better. What's going to determine whether or not a real sample is used versus a re-made sample? Whatever is cheapest (as long as it is still "good enough" to sell the records). Look at pop records from the early 90s and compare them to what is being made today. The credit list of musicians is generally much shorter. Why? Part of it could be changing sonic trends but a big part of it is budget and the fact that listener's expectations have changed to the point where "less" is acceptable. The less the label has to shell out the better. Simple economics.
Bass is easy to learn, easy to be competent, but hard to be really good.
And for all the talk about bass being the easiest to replace, I'd say right now you can replace any instrument with technology. Royal Blood is a short scale bass and drums, nobody knows the difference. It's just less people play the bass rather than drums or guitar so it's more natural for them to replace a bass than themselves. Perhaps the notion that we bassists put out about "keep it simple", "bass is only support", "roots and fifths", and so on actually has convinced everyone else that's all the instrument can do.
Besides, nothing is funnier than a guitarist with a 9 string guitar pretending like he doesn't think bass is important.
Full disclosure, I play roots and fifths. On occasion, I also do fills.
And for all the talk about bass being the easiest to replace, I'd say right now you can replace any instrument with technology. Royal Blood is a short scale bass and drums, nobody knows the difference. It's just less people play the bass rather than drums or guitar so it's more natural for them to replace a bass than themselves. Perhaps the notion that we bassists put out about "keep it simple", "bass is only support", "roots and fifths", and so on actually has convinced everyone else that's all the instrument can do.
Besides, nothing is funnier than a guitarist with a 9 string guitar pretending like he doesn't think bass is important.
Full disclosure, I play roots and fifths. On occasion, I also do fills.
This is not entirely correct..."In The Box", meaning using only plugins and no outboard gear.
Also not relevant to anything else in his reply
In The Box originally meant entirely within a synth like an 808. It meant sequenced vs live.
Now it is ubiquitous for anything that is done entirely within the digital realm. The box is a computer of any kind.
It doesn't mean just mixing or just mastering.
It doesn't even have to mean a purely musical term. Engineers use the term for CAD testing designs.
Vlad was using it to mean he stacks synthesized sounds in a DAW/sequencer and doesn't track live instruments for his productions.
madbass6
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- Jan 13, 2009
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BASS IS EASY ? wrong title for this thread ?
Heres my opinion..
after reading a bunch of replies of TBs
(myself included) defending there instruments or fellow bass players I came to the conclusion that maybe if the titled was something like
"HOME RECORDING BASS IS EASEAR" instead of BASS IS EASY there would be way less confusing replies!
*On another note: ouch? I doubt very much nobody misses the Bass player(s) I'm sure some one out there when they see a band with out a Bass player at some point or another would say something like,
that band is very good !! but something is missing! Bands don't even look rite with out a Bass player! Hope that eased the blow patrick..
So (just curious) wrong tittle for this thread , anybody agree?
Heres my opinion..
after reading a bunch of replies of TBs
(myself included) defending there instruments or fellow bass players I came to the conclusion that maybe if the titled was something like
"HOME RECORDING BASS IS EASEAR" instead of BASS IS EASY there would be way less confusing replies!
*On another note: ouch? I doubt very much nobody misses the Bass player(s) I'm sure some one out there when they see a band with out a Bass player at some point or another would say something like,
that band is very good !! but something is missing! Bands don't even look rite with out a Bass player! Hope that eased the blow patrick..
So (just curious) wrong tittle for this thread , anybody agree?
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Ignorance will always surround the concept of the bass guitar and the people that think it's "easy". I've experienced far too many "musicians" that think this way and at this point I just give a low muffled "ha.", shake my head and walk away thinking "if they only knew..." Maybe some day they will discover the rest, or maybe not... Their loss.
Try listening to an organ without using the bass pedals ... flat as hell.... When they hit the pedals,, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling all over.... Now that's some good bass.
Funny. I wonder why people feel compelled to stick their noses in where they have no business. In this case, OP asks for session work. He gets a reply from someone who doesn't want/need him for sessions work. Why did that fool reply at all? On the internet people seem to NEED to "correct" or "instruct" or otherwise impose their thoughts, no matter how irrelevant. Oh wait ... did I just do that? ;-)
Another way of looking at it is that it's easier, from an engineering standpoint, to get a good recorded bass sound than to record a drum kit. With the latter, if you don't have a great player + a great-sounding kit + a great-sounding room + an engineer who really knows how to record a drum kit, you can end up with drum tracks that don't sound half as good as what you could have done with something like Steven Slate Drums and some tastefully-employed MIDI drum groove libraries. So if you're working solo and don't play bass, having a really good bassist lay down tracks is a cheaper and easier place to start in breathing a little more life into your arrangements.
As a side note, I remember one example of a bass player who definitely didn't exemplify "bass is easy." I mixed a demo for a cover band I was in way back when, and when I soloed the bass track, oh my God...the guy's playing was sloppy and noisy as hell. Muting technique was basically non-existent. I hadn't noticed it as much when we were all rehearsing at high volume in the context of a full band mix when I was busy playing keyboards, but damn. To play bass in a half-assed garage punk band sort of way, fairly easy. To play bass cleanly and precisely, especially with more complex parts, not so much.
As a side note, I remember one example of a bass player who definitely didn't exemplify "bass is easy." I mixed a demo for a cover band I was in way back when, and when I soloed the bass track, oh my God...the guy's playing was sloppy and noisy as hell. Muting technique was basically non-existent. I hadn't noticed it as much when we were all rehearsing at high volume in the context of a full band mix when I was busy playing keyboards, but damn. To play bass in a half-assed garage punk band sort of way, fairly easy. To play bass cleanly and precisely, especially with more complex parts, not so much.
True, but it's really bad when we hear this ignorance from other bass players. If we don't respect ourselves why should anyone else?
[SoapBox]
A huge part of the problem is that the lack of bass players and the fact that it's probably the easiest instrument to play poorly attracts people that have no business picking up a musical instrument. They have no respect for themselves or the instrument and that reflects poorly on the rest of us. [/SoapBox]
Pat, stay away from Eastern Europeans who claim to be in the music business. They just bought a computer and are sick of putting up aluminum siding.
In some ways bass can be harder than, say, guitar, due to its physical requirements and inherent design.
Due to the fact that you can only get, basically, an octave and a fourth playing across the neck, there is constant shifting required in places where a guitar player can just play across the neck. One reason I've really enjoyed playing the 6-string that I recently bought, which by no means have I mastered, is because of the ease of having longer runs of notes without having to shift.
It's also more physically demanding in many ways than guitar-- longer scale, more hand strength required, and getting touch out of an instrument that involved some pretty hefty physical mechanics is no mean feat.I know many a guitar player who just can't handle the scale of it well; things they can play on guitar, they can't play on a bass. It's a different instrument.
So if you're willing to settle for super-simple bash bass playing, yeah, that's pretty easy. So is playing power chords on a guitar.
Playing any instrument well is a difficult task. John Pattitucci isn't good simply because he plays an "easy" instrument that requires little skill.
All that said, sometimes when somebody tells me they play bass, I do wonder for a moment if that's because they aren't really a musician and figured they could bang away on a bass, or if they are a musician and for whom "I play bass" is a more meaningful statement.
Also, I admit that when I took up the bass it was because I had three friends who had a band (a terrible one) and didn't have a bass player. Since I had played violin for many years, they figured that I, with zero bass experience at all, was their bass player. And I do remember literally thinking, "OK, bass, that's only 4 strings, I will get this down in a couple of weeks and then move on to guitar". I quickly found out that there is no end to challenges playing bass, if you're willing to take them, and to follow a path of development.That was 35 years ago. Still playing, still have not mastered the instrument.
Due to the fact that you can only get, basically, an octave and a fourth playing across the neck, there is constant shifting required in places where a guitar player can just play across the neck. One reason I've really enjoyed playing the 6-string that I recently bought, which by no means have I mastered, is because of the ease of having longer runs of notes without having to shift.
It's also more physically demanding in many ways than guitar-- longer scale, more hand strength required, and getting touch out of an instrument that involved some pretty hefty physical mechanics is no mean feat.I know many a guitar player who just can't handle the scale of it well; things they can play on guitar, they can't play on a bass. It's a different instrument.
So if you're willing to settle for super-simple bash bass playing, yeah, that's pretty easy. So is playing power chords on a guitar.
Playing any instrument well is a difficult task. John Pattitucci isn't good simply because he plays an "easy" instrument that requires little skill.
All that said, sometimes when somebody tells me they play bass, I do wonder for a moment if that's because they aren't really a musician and figured they could bang away on a bass, or if they are a musician and for whom "I play bass" is a more meaningful statement.
Also, I admit that when I took up the bass it was because I had three friends who had a band (a terrible one) and didn't have a bass player. Since I had played violin for many years, they figured that I, with zero bass experience at all, was their bass player. And I do remember literally thinking, "OK, bass, that's only 4 strings, I will get this down in a couple of weeks and then move on to guitar". I quickly found out that there is no end to challenges playing bass, if you're willing to take them, and to follow a path of development.That was 35 years ago. Still playing, still have not mastered the instrument.
What kills me is when people say ..."it has four strings, it is easier,inferior etc".. Okay, then a violin is also an inferior instrument if we are using numbers of strings to demonstrate the validity of a musical instrument. That would mean Paganini isn't as good as Bo Diddley.
It is often said bass is easiest to pick up and get a competence on but wait a minute...I think most people can learn 3 or 4 chords on a guitar even easier. On bass you kind of have to know what the notes are so you can back someone up in a musical way. Most bassists know the neck far better than 6 string players because we have to in order to do our job, and connect the dots. I've also realized that bassists tend to think of harmony more and the overall band and how everything works together.
Finally, the physical stamina required to play bass, especially if you are adventurous is astounding. This is not an easy instrument to master,
It is often said bass is easiest to pick up and get a competence on but wait a minute...I think most people can learn 3 or 4 chords on a guitar even easier. On bass you kind of have to know what the notes are so you can back someone up in a musical way. Most bassists know the neck far better than 6 string players because we have to in order to do our job, and connect the dots. I've also realized that bassists tend to think of harmony more and the overall band and how everything works together.
Finally, the physical stamina required to play bass, especially if you are adventurous is astounding. This is not an easy instrument to master,
The thing I like about bass is that it is the only instrument in the band that has a hand in virtually every sphere of the music-- melody, harmony, rhythm. I can't remember who it was, but I read that remark in an old bass player magazine from some bass god... but it rang true. Might have been Sting, now that I think about it.
Also, if bass playing is so easy, why is it so much easier to sing and play guitar than it is to sing and play bass? I think of Geddy Lee saying, after writing he song, he then has that terrible period where he has to figure out how he can play that bass part and sing those words at the same time, of live performance. It's a helluva lot easier to strum a guitar and sing than to play an monophonic single note line, unless it's an extremely simple line.
Also, if bass playing is so easy, why is it so much easier to sing and play guitar than it is to sing and play bass? I think of Geddy Lee saying, after writing he song, he then has that terrible period where he has to figure out how he can play that bass part and sing those words at the same time, of live performance. It's a helluva lot easier to strum a guitar and sing than to play an monophonic single note line, unless it's an extremely simple line.
