• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Do you play what they play?

#101
I have a Jazz bass and a PJ which I'm sure many of my bass idols play / played. But now my main axe is a Brubaker Brute which didn't exist when I was getting turned on to bass guitar... so no.

In my guitar playing days I bought a USA Strat as my first "real" guitar (this is eons ago when I was a teenager). I chose a strat mostly because my guitar idol--the guitarist in my sister's band at the time--played one... He also played a PRS but I didn't have $2500 to spend. ;)
 
#102
Yes and No.
I play a Fender J and Kaye C-1 Upright and tons of player's I admire play the same.
I play a Modulus Q5 and a few of my favorites play the same.
I play a Mod fretless and I know no one I dig who is a famous bass player that does.
 
#104
Kinda...Many of my influences play jazz basses, but I play the similar but different, MTD Beast 4 passive--I much prefer the neck and slap sound of it over the Fender jazz, but it can nail the jazz tone effortlessly.
However, many of my reggae influences, like Earl Falconer use the Steinberger XL2, which is honestly why I bought one. Why? Because you cant come close to those reggae tones with any other bass UNLESS you have that Steiny IMHO..
 
#105
Hard to say.... I have the same bass I got when I started. An 80s MIJ P-bass, which I bought at a pawn shop years ago because it was an actual fender for less than $100. I bought it on whim, to be honest. I've had it worked on since then and it plays ok, but it sounds even better.

Over time I have realized it's mainly ps on all those old rock/r&b recordings I loved, with some js here and there. And I really do love the pbass feel and sound, so I don't need to wander. My fav player is JPJ, who as we all know favored the J. But that interview where he shows how to play Whole Lotta Love? It was a pbass. And since whole lotta love just happens to be the greatest song from the greatest band that ever existed in this particular part of the galaxy, I think we're good.

EDIT: oh wait. Amps/effects? I do have a small acoustic amp, which I guess I could say is JPJ-ish. But that would be coincidental. I bought it cuz it was dirt cheap. In any case, I use a BDI2 through the front end, anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlatwoundFunk
#106
My favorite players are Pino, Jamerson, Willie Weeks, Duck Dunn, etc., mostly PBass guys. I do own a PBass with flats, but I normally gig with a '99 Stingray 5 String. Ironically, I bought that bass new when I was copping a lot of Flea lines and listening to more funk. My interest in the bass exceeded my interest in the player, although I'm still cool with RHCP.

I also have a Modulus Quantum 6 Sweetspot that gets very little love these days, purchased back when I was playing in jam bands and looking for that Oteil tone. In my own defense, most of the jam band players back then were using Modulus. It's still a great bass, I just connect better with the Stingray. Even Oteil has moved to PBasses or his Fodera.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Matt Dean, Arild and FlatwoundFunk
#108
I cant afford the bass's that my favorite bass players use, just kidding ! I'm just a P and J sandwich kind of guy, I play what sounds and feels good to me, although I'm always fighting off the GAS because some off those other bass's just look and sound sooooo cool !!!:woot:
 
#109
My basses of choice are influenced by my favorite players, but I would never go out and buy a signature copy model even if it was American-made. I think some of the great players who influenced my playing steered me in a direction that led me to discover Fender and Rickenbacker basses. The type and style I play though within those brands are based on my own personal taste.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: FlatwoundFunk
#112
I've done it but not always. I got into extended range basses back when Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey first came out with Bass Extremes. I wanted to try Bailey's crazy artificial harmonics/chordal approach so I got the signature model of his 6-string bass. The problem was that while I have the same kind of bass it wasn't the same level of electronics so I never could get the harmonics to pop out. I'm actually revisiting this issue lately as I'm either going to trade up or upgrade the bass.

I had that same bass in a lesson with Gerald Veasley (an Ibanez endorser) and he thought I was working too hard and handed me his SG 6-string. I was able to easily play a lot of ideas on that so I got into Ibanez for awhile.

But lately I've been playing basses that none of my influences play. I got Tanatos Claymores because of harmonic and counterpoint ideas that I'm doing with my band; I only know one other bassist that uses 7-strings (Steve Ratchen from Wizards of Winter) and he uses Conklins. I'm also in the process of getting an Ibanez VOLO because I want to use the ramp to hone my technique, and the bass felt great when I tried one a year ago in NYC. Again, no influences or any player I know uses one.
 
#113
Well, my earlier influences are Flea and I don't play Musicman, Modulus or Spector. Mike Mills from REM, I DO play a precision bass (lakland not fender) and John Paul Jones. I don't play a jazz bass. However, like John Paul Jones in his later years I DO play a fretless unlined thumb bass. But not for that reason. I have always loved the Bass tone off of early Toad the wet sproket records which is courtesty of a fretless Warwick and so that is yes on that question. I DO play an upright bass, like 100% of my heros on the upright. ;)
 
#116
Nah, never did, never had a favourite player. My first major inspirations on bass were, Chris Squire, Marcus Miller, Stu Hamm and Jaco, predictably...oh and Stuart Zender. I never had a Fender, Warwick, Factor or Ric at the time either...I opted for a Pedulla Rapture and a JD fretless then moved on to a Yamaha TRB6-II. Non of the basses I owned had anything to do with the players I listened to and admired. They just suited me, or at least I thought they did at the time!
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlatwoundFunk
#119
Jeffrey Bryan said:
I kinda dID the 50/50 thing. Pick up something I got inspired by and flip it around enough to make it my own.

I play a Charvel 2B pointy headstock because I loved the Jackson that David Ellefson has. The problem was that the 4-string Jacksons have a small pointy headstock whereas the old 4-string Charvel models have the same big headstock as the 5-string Jacksons.
Invalid Link Removed
Jeffrey Bryan - Raiser 2009

Jeffrey Bryan - Raiser 2009

Live gig in Amsterdam, The Netherlands


I now play a Killer Dagger because I loved the Akira Takasaki (LOUDNESS) / Taiji (X-JAPAN, LOUDNESS) styled (bass)guitars but have thrown in Villex P/J to "claim" my own signature sound.
Egk4DNz.jpg

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
Daveid Ellefson is a monster on the bass, and I love the old Jackson/Charvel basses ( not so much the newer low end models) ........I wish I could afford half the stuff my heroes use.
BTW- that special edition neck-through Jackson made for Ellefson is beautiful, but I dont have 3000+ dollars for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeffrey Bryan

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back