Can you think off a song....

[vinlander]

Just missing a Rickenbacker for Rush and Yes like me but my right forearm says nope !

A 4003S model is very easy on the forearm

 

[Pings Bass]

As long as the instrument has all the notes available, yeah, why not.

People get way too hung up on "tone," but those (truly subtle) differences are going to be mostly lost on your audience. I'd be more concerned with how it plays.

 

[retslock]

Interesting reply. I used to think that theme was simply slap bass. Research it and you'll find a bass was not involved. It was done electronically - heavily layered and edited.

If I recall it was a played on a Yamaha DX7.

 

[GIBrat51]

I have been a lifelong P-Bass player and recently got into Stingrays. The music I am playing ranges from Elvis to Blackberry Smoke and everything in between. Whatever you want to call all those genres. My theory is that any of the big 3 (P-Bass, Stingray, J-Bass) can produce an at least usable sound for 100% of those songs.

I am sure there are other instruments that sound great and some songs sound better with a P or a stingray or a J, but that is not my question. I’m talking about weekend warrior usable sounds here.

Can you think of a song that cannot be played with either of these 3 basses?

Well...
Yeah; I can think of more than a few, actually. But, they definitely do not fit in the "Elvis to Blackberry Smoke" space. However... If the song has an electric bass guitar in it somewhere? Then, yes; you can play it on some other electric guitar. It might sound noticeably different from the original; but, you can play it...

All joking aside, and this is not trolling, am I missing something? I feel like a total novice when all of these "I need this specific instrument to play these types of songs" posts come up. Can someone explain to me why we need to care about what exact bass guitar should be used to play various songs?

Okay... For most players, for most of the time? No, it's not necessary to play a song on the exact same bass that it was either recorded with, or performed live on stage with. If I wanted to, I could just as easily play "Love Me Do" on my Alembic Epic, as I could on my violin bass. But... where's the fun in that? One of the reasons I have all the basses I do, is so that I can play songs I like, on the bass they were originally played on. Or, a reasonable facsimile thereof. I can't play "We Got To Get Out Of This Place" on the same bass that Chas Chandler used, 'cause they never made it as a lefty. But, my big, hollow-body Gretsch Broadkaster is a pretty suitable substitute... But, the Earth will certainly not stop spinning if I play it on my 4HH Stingray... Another reason that the "exact bass" sometimes matters? Well, if you're the bass player in a Beatles tribute band? Don't expect a warm reception if you show up with a 5-string Dingwall. You better show up with at least a violin bass of some kind (if not a Hofner 500/1) and a Rickenbacker. Preferably left handed, too - like me...
So... bottom line? No, you don't need the exact same bass, to play the songs that they played originally. But, for some people, it's fun to do so. And, sometimes on stage? Yeah, it can mean your job... Otherwise? Just play what you want to play on the bass you have - and have fun. In the long run, that's what really counts...

 

[devnulljp]

Rite of Spring by Stravinsky

Pino played it on a Stingray

 

[devnulljp]

Just missing a Rickenbacker for Rush and Yes like me but my right forearm says nope !

Geddy has used a Jazz now for a long time, and recreated those yes parts on a Jazz.

 

[shojii]

John cage, 4'33

"I look forward to a work of major length from this composer" Igor Stravinsky

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I have been a lifelong P-Bass player and recently got into Stingrays. The music I am playing ranges from Elvis to Blackberry Smoke and everything in between. Whatever you want to call all those genres. My theory is that any of the big 3 (P-Bass, Stingray, J-Bass) can produce an at least usable sound for 100% of those songs.

I am sure there are other instruments that sound great and some songs sound better with a P or a stingray or a J, but that is not my question. I’m talking about weekend warrior usable sounds here.

Can you think of a song that cannot be played with either of these 3 basses?

No I can’t. Nobody in the audience is going to give a rats, and your band mate aren’t likely to give you a bunch of crap either. Odds are the band as a whole isn’t going to sound exactly like the record either. Just play what you like.

 

[Snert]

That's my point. It really doesn't matter, just make it your own.

Yes, play with the feel and vibe of the original, or however you've reimagined it for your band, enjoy yourselves and get people's butts shaking.

People get way too hung up on "tone," but those (truly subtle) differences are going to be mostly lost on your audience. I'd be more concerned with how it plays.

Yep, when I used the one bass I used different technique, pickup selection and some simple preset EQs to give me R&R, funk, country type tones, but nothing specific, just general flavours. No one ever came up and told me my tone on Mustang Sally was a perfect clone of the recording.

If the player is really fussy, with a modern emulator like a Stomp and a MIDI controller it would be relatively easy to configure it for specific songs, and with a great many basses, hit the preset and the pickup selector and be very close. No one would still give a bleep in the audience though.

As for your last sentence quoted, I think this is more important than anything; play the instrument you love the most providing it's not really extreme aesthetically.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

I would have said "Roundabout " by YES.
And then I remembered seeing and hearing Geddy fill in at the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.... with a Jazz.
Dang you Geddy!!...Going and trampling all our assumptions!!

 

[GretschWretch]

I have been a lifelong P-Bass player and recently got into Stingrays. The music I am playing ranges from Elvis to Blackberry Smoke and everything in between. Whatever you want to call all those genres. My theory is that any of the big 3 (P-Bass, Stingray, J-Bass) can produce an at least usable sound for 100% of those songs.

I am sure there are other instruments that sound great and some songs sound better with a P or a stingray or a J, but that is not my question. I’m talking about weekend warrior usable sounds here.

Can you think of a song that cannot be played with either of these 3 basses?

 

[Rev_Slinky]

The only reason I can think of that you might need more than one bass for a gig is if you're playing very different styles in different songs and need instruments that will help facilitate that. I love a tubby, low tension sound, but I will reach for something tighter if I need to play fast and clean.

 

[jd56hawk]

 

[factory presets]

I know. Any song can be played convincingly on any bass.
So a tune that’s not a bass isn’t going to sound the same with a bass.

So a tuna ... that’s not a bass.
Fixed it for you.

 

[blastoff]

go get yourself an upright bass.

 

[BoogieZK]

Any Captain Beefheart's songs.

Really, i don't think its specifically relate to a bass but more to pickup types and placement.

 

[Supadope]

Anything by White Stripes

 

[jd56hawk]

Anything by White Stripes

I play White Stripes songs on several different basses...Precision, Jazz, L2000, Thundergun and Dean Exotica acoustic bass.

 

[jdthaddeus]

Interesting reply. I used to think that theme was simply slap bass. Research it and you'll find a bass was not involved. It was done electronically - heavily layered and edited.

How disappointing. I was happier when I was ignorant of that fact

 

[Michedelic]

Where does Stravinsky fit between Elvis and Blackberry Smoke? That's way to intellectual.

Where does Stravinsky fit between Elvis and Blackberry Smoke? That's way to intellectual.

Of course it’s a way to intellectual(ism); Robert Fripp once stated that “Lark’s Tongue In Aspic, Pt. II” was a cross between “Rite Of Spring” and James Brown.