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Wow. I'd only ever heard Vanilla Fudge. Now I get why Frank Zappa singled them out for ridicule in the Mud Shark number on The Mothers Fillmore East -June 1971.
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I'm finally at the point where I have enough skill and confidence to relax and dance around a bit and I love it!
Bassplyr1
Guest
- Dec 13, 2013
- 33
- 43
- Disclosures
- I play bass and I know things...thats what I do.
You have to dance!!! I teach my students dancing is part of grooving. We are time keepers and if your body is not moving to the groove you're playing it means, in my opinion, you're not grooving hard enough. Which means you're not doing your job as a bass player.
Women come up to me and comment that I am so different from all the other bass players they fall in love with because I actually dance and therefore am probably good in bed. I of course, am happy to give private lessons!I call fake postNo ladies ever come up and talk to the bass player.
I do a constant "sway" that looks quite ridiculous sometimes when I watch videos of gigs
I'm 99 & 1/2 years old, I can't barely move I got the arthritis everywhere except my fingers and they can still shred like a MoFo...Still gigging the care home circuit...
When realize that I’m not dancing or moving is usually the same time I realize I’m too into my own head and and it’s time to get back to the groove at hand...
First I'm a big guy. I was 6'2" and 350 at my largest, Now I'm about 6'1" and 270. Add 3 plus feet of bass guitar swingin' around and manslaughter could/would be the charge. I dance when I play IF and only IF:
1. The stage is big enough to allow it.
2. My cord isn't currently tangled around my feet.
3. The groove is right and tight.
To paraphrase Howlin' Wolf:
"Let that boy boogie woogie... it's in him and it's gotta come out!
When we play "Tighten Up" I do the dance... When we land in Funkadelica I like to strut across the stage and act out. When James is played... ah then I can really make a move.
Worf
1. The stage is big enough to allow it.
2. My cord isn't currently tangled around my feet.
3. The groove is right and tight.
To paraphrase Howlin' Wolf:
"Let that boy boogie woogie... it's in him and it's gotta come out!
When we play "Tighten Up" I do the dance... When we land in Funkadelica I like to strut across the stage and act out. When James is played... ah then I can really make a move.
Worf
I'm pretty notorious for moving around in a haphazard yet energetic fashion, but I would not call it dancing.
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More like this:
What?? No one plays in a "soul music" band any more and does "steps" like we used to? Actually,the bass player usually stayed around the drummer to keep it tight, but there were songs that needed steps...Knock on Wood, Try a Little Tenderness, Dancin' in the Streets. etc. The horn section always took part and other "front line" players did as well, but we rehearsed with everyone doing them "just in case" the mood struck, as many players mention here. Try it..you will be surprised how much fun it can be playing these great songs and mimicking those great players from Motown and Chess and so forth.
A buddy—who I have lost touch with, are you out there Charlie?—who was the bass player in Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeno Band had also been a dancer with a Mexican dance troupe (Ballets Folklorico de Mexico??). He could MOVE! and it looked good. Very entertaining. So although I don't move very much, I encourage it if you can pull it off. Or even if you can't but the crowd enjoys it!
