Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ya .. but every single one of us knows more about changing strings than she does.
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Carol Kaye's string changing method !
- Thread starter BazzTard
- Start date
Ya .. but every single one of us knows more about changing strings than she does.
How do you know I wasn't there? For all you know I am Carole Kaye....maybe I'm just a dude with a time machine....or maybe I was in line trying to buy a bass when she came in to swap her strings.....
At the price ink goes for nowadays, it's just about as cost-effective.I don't change ink carts either. I just buy a new printer.
And that's something getting lost in here...it was more cost-effective for Carol to swing into a local music store and pick up another bass than it was for her to buy a set of strings, take the old ones off, put the new ones on, and retune. Those types of factors count, you know?
In the 1972 price list, a P-bass was under $300. By the end of the 70s it was about $700. Those were MSRP, this was before the days where everyone expects at least 30% off MSRP.
If you were Carol, you would have spelled your own name right.
Busted!
Then I guess I am just a dude with a time machine!! Haha
There are a couple of things worth considering when evaluating the contributions of people like Carol Kaye, Joe Osborne and James Jamerson. Electric bass was barely ten years old when they started their careers. These players didn't grow up listening to electric bass, so it was up to them develop styles that took advantage of the new possibilities of the instrument. We can look back at their work now and fail to see the innovation, since we've heard it all for decades now, but if you compare the types of bass lines that these early players were creating compared to what came before them the difference is striking.
Carol Kaye was an accomplished jazz guitarist before she became an electric bass player. Many of her bass lines were derived from Latin rhythms that she had become familiar with while playing in jazz bands. When combining that approach with the new innovations of drummers like Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, they really did create a new and distinctive style. It's easy to think that these players were simply in the right place at the right time, and that's true, but they were also players who had the imagination and knowledge to develop a new and different style.
Another thing to consider is that string changing wasn't as important back then as is seems to be now. Joe Osborne says he never changed his strings throughout his entire career in Los Angeles. Jamerson apparently didn't change them that often either. Flat wound strings were all that was available up until around 1968. When you consider that basses back then had foam mutes, new strings probably didn't make that much difference in the sound.
Carol Kaye was an accomplished jazz guitarist before she became an electric bass player. Many of her bass lines were derived from Latin rhythms that she had become familiar with while playing in jazz bands. When combining that approach with the new innovations of drummers like Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, they really did create a new and distinctive style. It's easy to think that these players were simply in the right place at the right time, and that's true, but they were also players who had the imagination and knowledge to develop a new and different style.
Another thing to consider is that string changing wasn't as important back then as is seems to be now. Joe Osborne says he never changed his strings throughout his entire career in Los Angeles. Jamerson apparently didn't change them that often either. Flat wound strings were all that was available up until around 1968. When you consider that basses back then had foam mutes, new strings probably didn't make that much difference in the sound.
Good points. Still seems ridiculous to buy a new bass whenever you needed a string change.
She gets angry. Very angry. I've been subjected to it online, and it ain't pretty. Go along with her and she's the sweetest person on earth. Disagree or ask her something she thinks is stupid, and the fangs and claws come out
IIRC she has also been called "senile" before, regarding her recollection of lines that Jamerson played on, not her. It's kind of like watching a dog attack the dot from a laser pointer...you realize it's going to get mad and never really go anywhere lol
I admire Carol Kaye's talent, she's definitely beyond an "average player", and I think her stressing of musicality is a great thing for bass. Those are great qualities.
I also saw some interviews with her, and she's stubborn (I love picked bass with flats, but c'mon... that's not the only way to play bass), can get "catty" as she puts it, and has "fudged her resume" as JimmyM said. I really don't like that at all.
With that said, knowing what I know today, I can't imagine someone not liking to get new strings sometimes. It takes 10 minutes to change them. To me, it's like getting McDonalds fries, except bass strings have far less industrial waste and metallic content.
I also saw some interviews with her, and she's stubborn (I love picked bass with flats, but c'mon... that's not the only way to play bass), can get "catty" as she puts it, and has "fudged her resume" as JimmyM said. I really don't like that at all.
With that said, knowing what I know today, I can't imagine someone not liking to get new strings sometimes. It takes 10 minutes to change them. To me, it's like getting McDonalds fries, except bass strings have far less industrial waste and metallic content.
Yeah, who wants those grapes anyway? They're probably sour.
Yep, she sight-reads, she plays well, she delivered what producers and artists wanted, but she sucked. Makes perfect sense.
Hold up there , Jim. I never even implied she sucked. Not even close. I even stated in my post that she knew theory up and down and that she did her job. How did you add 2+2 and wind up with 756???? Please, quote the line of mine that implied she sucked. When I read it back I don't come up with that.
Look, I'm an electrician. There's a heart center nearby here. I pretty much handled the electrical for the bottom floor which encompasses several OR, the cafeteria, and a pretty impressive lobby. The lighting is pretty awesome. Everything works flawlessly. Am I some sort of electrical God? Nope. I'm an electrician. I got some prints and I brought them to life. That's what Kaye did. She got blueprints and made a bass line out of them. Did she do it with the stroke of Michelangelo's brush? Nope, she did it just fine. The parts worked out great. She was a "good electrician". For a paycheck, she played the bass. She did it well,, showed up on time, and performed her job, so her pay went up. Welcome to America? I fail to see the divine intervention here. Shrug.
Sorry.
My recollection of this story is that she didn't have the time for new strings to break in for recording so that was why she would do that.
No worries, we'll be here when you get back. No promises that the thread still has anything to do with Carol Kaye, though....
