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Bassists that "overplay" songs

#61
spade2you said:
+1. If I'd be required to play the same tired songs that every single band in town is also playing, I gotta at least have a little of my own fun. Singers and guitards get to do it almost the entire time, why don't I get a few licks here n' there.
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Well, I think that falls into just embellishing a little bit. I do the same thing. My band plays Mustang Sally and I do groove it up a bit BUT I'm NOT noodling all over the song and adding notes that aren't supposed to be there. I'm not slapping on it nor am I tapping, doing triplets and other nonsense that I hear a lot of bassists do! There's a difference in embellishing and overplaying! Overplaying just destroys whatever groove there is!
 
#62
DWBass said:
Well, I think that falls into just embellishing a little bit. I do the same thing. My band plays Mustang Sally and I do groove it up a bit BUT I'm NOT noodling all over the song and adding notes that aren't supposed to be there. I'm not slapping on it nor am I tapping, doing triplets and other nonsense that I hear a lot of bassists do! There's a difference in embellishing and overplaying! Overplaying just destroys whatever groove there is!
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Bingo!

This is what I meant. Not doing a little bit of embellishing, but CONSTANT, OVERWHELMING, SHOW-OFF OVERPLAYING ON EVERY SONG.
 
#64
spade2you said:
+1. If I'd be required to play the same tired songs that every single band in town is also playing, I gotta at least have a little of my own fun. Singers and guitards get to do it almost the entire time, why don't I get a few licks here n' there.
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Well, you know, appropriate embellishment is not the same thing as overplaying. The difference is that overplaying screws up the groove, and embellishment does not.

Our "very experienced but bored" guy doesn't often overplay. He's just trying stuff out...its a jam, after all. When he's with his band, the overplaying is gone. I can understand that, and the man's just an awesome player, so...forgiven, dude!

Our "showoff" gets so absorbed in stuffing in as many notes as possible that he's not even in the groove anymore. He makes the songs sound like mud.

Cherie :bassist:
 
#65
QORC said:
Yet, he was incredibly overplaying every song. Adding harmonics, slaps and pops (even to classic rock songs), and little parts all over the place, like he was a lead player. I found it distracting. Annoying, in some ways. Thoughts?
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+1 I also find it distracting, although I can appreciate the talent. However if you have a huge ego or you don't know how to lay back if needed.... what good is that talent.

Just because it's called a "pocket", that doesn't mean you have to see how much you can stuff in it ;)

Play LESS notes = play more gigs, make more money :)
 
#68
60bass said:
+1 I also find it distracting, although I can appreciate the talent. However if you have a huge ego or you don't know how to lay back if needed.... what good is that talent.

Just because it's called a "pocket", that doesn't mean you have to see how much you can stuff in it ;)

Play LESS notes = play more gigs, make more money :)
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Prescisely!!!

Having good groove and a good disposition is the way to stay so busy, you have to turn down work!

Cherie :bassist:
 
#70
FWIW some of the sparsest bass lines I've ever heard were put down by John Patitucci, backing Ali Farka Toure (check out Talking Timbuktu - great album). Super hypnotic playing by the same guy who absolutely kills over stuff like Got A Match and Giant Steps. That really opened my eyes.

IME it's a lot easier to be tasty when the rest of the band is dialed-in. With the right drummer, a hip guitarist and a good horn section, I don't get bored at all - not even on Mustang Sally! :D
 
#71
I play in a tribute band, so for the most part I have to nail the original part. The hardest thing for me to do is to put my signature on it without deviating too far from the path.

If this show was advertised as a showcase for this guy, then I guess its okay, but its pretty easy to cross the line into pretentiousness. A few years ago, some friends invited my wife and I to go with them to a famous Christian artist's concert. It was as if this person was determined to make each song have more modulations and a bigger ending than the previous song. It was to the point where it took away the dramatic effect of all of them.

My feeling is: pick your moments. If you're good it will show.
 
#72
Thanks, just reading through this thread has been very helpful. I recently had to let our bass player go because of some chronic overplaying. The feedback here has helped identify some of the frustration that the band was experiencing, though I couldn't always express it as clearly as it's been said here several times. I knew when my drummer, who's rock solid, was getting lost in a simple 1-4-5 blues tune, that something was wrong. Hyper playing for it's on sake, completely breaking down the groove or mojo that we would have otherwise had. The best musician in the band probably, but not 'serving the song'. It's the difference between playing together and playing at the same time.
 
#75
we played a show over the summer with a Pink Floyd tribute band, and their bass player was all over the place...it totally caused them to lose the whole Pink Floyd vibe...later backstage, I heard their guitar player just reading him the riot act, and i don't think he's with them anymore...
 
#76
fishtx said:
we played a show over the summer with a Pink Floyd tribute band, and their bass player was all over the place...it totally caused them to lose the whole Pink Floyd vibe...later backstage, I heard their guitar player just reading him the riot act, and i don't think he's with them anymore...
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I was in a 5 piece band (2 guitars and keys) a few years ago that did a lot of Pink Floyd covers and that was very good practice for me in the area of playing conservatively and finding the mellow groove. In a song like Comfortably Numb, there is lots of interaction between the guitar and keys and the job of the bass is to hold down the root. Busy bass playing = :spit:.

I'm now in a 3 piece band that does lots of Pink Floyd covers and this means that I do tons of noodling on bass because the guitarist and I are both covering the keys for the most part. We're used to receiving complements on how rich and full we sound for a 3 piece and we get comments from other musicians who are impressed that we can pull off Pink Floyd covers with only a guitar and bass. When we play Comfortably Numb I have to essentially be outlining chords and juggling notes all over the place while the guitarist is soloing. Busy bass playing = :cool: I've been with this band for five years and it took awhile to develop the skills necessary to play a lot of notes tastefully and there's no way to pull it off without the guitarist being very skilled at complementing what the bass is doing.
 

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