Does a great BASS make a great BASS player

[31HZ]

Once you find the one great bass you can fully commit to, you can finally stop wasting your time searching for the perfect bass online and instead work on becoming a better player.

Now this I can 100% get behind.

Sometimes it takes moving through a bunch of instruments to clarify what works well (and what doesn't), in order to eventually find what works best.

Might be a "boutique," but it's perhaps even more likely that it isn't.

 

[BOOG]

I've known too many intermediate Bass players that bought a really expensive great Bass .
and many great BASS players that bought a decent Bass for a few hundred dollars that played and sounds like a expensive one.
A great BASS will not make a great BASS player
A great BASS player can make a just okay BASS play and sound like a great BASS.

agree ?
Disagree ?

I have some great gear and beautiful bass’s but I’m pretty mediocre. Is your implication that I should not have what I do?
I’m not following your point.

 

[Ellery]

If we are of the opinion that a bass player should limit his choices of instrument based on his abilities, then what is our opinion on whether we should only apply this value to ourselves or assert to impose it on others?

 

[J Posega]

I have a nice bASS.

 

[socialleper]

Cheap gear an be an impediment to playing. A bass that has poor QC and the frets are all messed up, the bridge isn't stable, there is bad neck dive, there are dead spots, etc can impact a person's ability to play, or desire to play.
Finding the right bass with the right sound and the right feel makes a giant difference. Sometimes that costs money.

 

[BOOG]

Live and let be is not a bad choice when confronted by such quandaries. Judging others seems like wasted energy.
Yeah, I’m self conscious about my abilities but the band still seems to appreciate that I show up and contribute what I can when I can whether I have my $300 bass or my $3000 bass or my $300 amp or one of my $2000+ rigs.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I don't know nuttin' about nuttin'. At a rehearsal yesterday, I was offered a 1969 Precision to play. It was wild at first--these things go for upwards of 6 grand these days! So I picked it up, played a bit, then put it down and went back to my Lakland, a 2005 Joe Osborn. The gent running the rehearsal was a bit miffed, I think. I did my best to tell him that it was just a matter of familiarity.

 

[BOOG]

Cheap gear an be an impediment to playing. A bass that has poor QC and the frets are all messed up, the bridge isn't stable, there is bad neck dive, there are dead spots, etc can impact a person's ability to play, or desire to play.
Finding the right bass with the right sound and the right feel makes a giant difference. Sometimes that costs money.

Yep, and don’t get rid of that bass that we were attracted to at one time after getting that higher quality instrument. It’s the platform to implement those basic skills to get it to what you want it to be.

 

[EliasA]

I don't know nuttin' about nuttin'. At a rehearsal yesterday, I was offered a 1969 Precision to play. It was wild at first--these things go for upwards of 6 grand these days! So I picked it up, played a bit, then put it down and went back to my Lakland, a 2005 Joe Osborn. The gent running the rehearsal was a bit miffed, I think. I did my best to tell him that it was just a matter of familiarity.

Don't say nuttin' any more around children. They say it means...touching yourself...I'll leave it at that. I understand you, but you will lose your sanity from having kids laugh incessently at random honest words.

 

[BazzaBass]

I've known too many intermediate Bass players that bought a really expensive great Bass .
and many great BASS players that bought a decent Bass for a few hundred dollars that played and sounds like a expensive one.
A great BASS will not make a great BASS player
A great BASS player can make a just okay BASS play and sound like a great BASS.

agree ?
Disagree ?

If only good tools made us good tradespeople

 

[dkelley]

A great player is great on any bass (or at least really good, if the bass is truly terrible). I've known people who have collections of super expensive basses but couldn't play a song without losing the beat.... given hours of trying and apparently no self awareness of their errors.

So yea... it's the player, not the instrument. But a better instrument is appreciated by a better player of course.

 

[Hertz]

Not sure about the majorities assessment here as my recent experience has been different. A recent used Drake bass purchase has made a lot of difference for me. 33" scale and very low action have helped me improve. I commented to a friend that I believed the bass is teaching me how to play again. I didn't pay 3K$ or more but had I had the same experience within that price range I would still comment that yes an expensive bass could make you a better player.

 

[Gervais Cote]

A friend of mine used to be a professional musician for both tours and studio work.

Just for fun, he bought the cheapest 5 string bass you can find at Amazon.

He gave it a ride in my studio taking the brand new bass out of the box……………

I can confirm the groove, rhythm and music enchantment comes from the player, not the bass !

 

[_Tay_]

No. Onto the next topic..

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Don't say nuttin' any more around children. They say it means...touching yourself...I'll leave it at that. I understand you, but you will lose your sanity from having kids laugh incessently at random honest words.

Yikes!

 

[poochiecheeks]

Certain basses make it easier to play certain things. But that's technique talk. Music and creativity is a bit more complicated than just technique. I do think that there are certain basses, that make me play better, because I'm more easily able to do what I'm thinking of. But that doesn't really make me a better player in general, it just allows me to not put too much effort into what I want to achieve.
There is people that say you should play high action, and thick necks, and use thick strings and so on, because the struggle supposedly makes you play better. Then there are people that say you should do whatever it takes to make it as easy as possible to achieve what you want to achieve. I'm more in the latter camp tbh.

This reminds me of that gig Les Claypool played with Primus recently. Les has been playing 32" scale, lightweight, thin neck, thin gauge string, basses for over 30 years, but that one gig they didn't have any of their own gear, so Les had to play an american Fender P bass. Feels like the polar opposite of one of his Pachyderm basses, but still he was able to perform a great show, without any big hiccups or anything like that.
So I'm also quite sure, that with enough motivation and will power, you can really achieve whatever you want musically.

Did he still sound like himself on a P bass?

 

[Rev_Slinky]

I'm the cat who's never paid more than $400 for a bass, which means I read threads like this to see what I'm missing out on. I have some really wonderful basses that are a joy to play, but I'm always curious about what a "really good bass" could bring out, or encourage, in my playing.

What I love about playing different basses is that each one seems to have a thing that it wants to do; a place where it really shines. Sometimes, I can't get a certain groove right on one bass, so I reach for the one that might be a step ahead of me. I could see a very well-made bass offering up more room to discover what you can do. If I only stuck to one bass, I don't know that I would push my boundaries as much. I'm not sure if that's an argument for one great bass or not, but I sure would like to play around with a few "great" basses at some point! Maybe not when they are economically out of reach, though.

 

[KenD]

Disagree. A vintage P Bass in any condition will turn you into an international first call pretty much overnight.

 

[Geri O]

I've known too many intermediate Bass players that bought a really expensive great Bass .
and many great BASS players that bought a decent Bass for a few hundred dollars that played and sounds like a expensive one.
A great BASS will not make a great BASS player
A great BASS player can make a just okay BASS play and sound like a great BASS.

agree ?
Disagree ?

Ambivalent.

 

[pglaser01]

Only if they use all caps for BASS, otherwise they must be the worst BASS players ever