Fact: It's not the bass

[Jazz Ad]

FACT : [insert opinion here]

 

[DavC]

it's in your Head/Brain ... some might say Heart ( it's just a muscle with no brains ) ...

after 50+ years of piano and 40+ years of bass/gtr ... some folks can get their emotion or feeling to come thru their fingers ... !! some learn the mechanics and that's it ... they sound like lifeless robots ...

someone playing with feeling touches us differently ... ! you don't have to be super talented to touch someone musically ... and it doesn't require a super expensive instrument ... just one that is IN TUNE and works properly ..

 

[Iridescentone]

I was talking about another video but found this instead:

I have no idea if that's a crummy banjo or a $8000 one. Do you?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I have no idea if that's a crummy banjo or a $8000 one. Do you?

I have no idea either.. Anyone?

 

[Ric5]

Fact: It's not the bass

Bad strings and a bad setup can make any bass sound bad ... Also being out of tune makes you sound bad ...

 

[madjazzbass]

Yes! He's a lefty. For a while there he played a Wal 5 string. I liked that.

??? Really?!!

 

[hernameisrio]

A crappy player will make a great bass sound crappy and vice versa. I agree with that.

However.... I don't care how good you are, if you are in a Red Hot Chilli Pepper or Victor Wooten cover band (as examples) you aren't making a Hofner with flats or a fretless Rob Allen with tapes sound good in that context.

Yeah the tone is in your fingers, now i will sell all my expensive basses and buy a nice indonesian sunburst squier jazz bass for $120 (used).

Right? I had a fretless Squier VM Jazz for a little while and once I got my '77 Fender Jazz, I was just like, "." Different basses have totally different tones/sounds/feels. Just because I COULD make a Squier sound good, doesn't make my choice of gear irrelevant. I'm mostly an audio/visual-kinetic learner. I can generally [literally] feel the difference between a $300 bass and a $1500 bass. It ain't right, but it's the truth. The materials are different. The assembly and quality assurance is different. Most of the time, people pay more for a bass because of the money that was put into making it in the first place. This is something I've noticed with fashion, skateboards, snowboards, computers as well. BTW, yes....Apple's assembly lines are in China, but if the entire computer was designed there, then you'd have a completely different experience.

It's not "bad" to want a $300 Ibanez because you think you can make it sound good, but if you seriously want to claim that there's no difference at all in quality from an American Fender or Warwick or Fodera, you cray.

 

[hernameisrio]

p.s. I would say, being a bad bass player makes you sound bad.

 

[Bass'd on a true story]

Totally untrue. I have had a bass that everyone in my band agreed sounded lifeless. I changed strings, tried new amps, tried different right hand techniques, and it all sounded the same: completely dead.

Not to say you need an expensive bass, I've played plenty of great Squiers. I'm just saying that SOME basses cannot be saved.

 

[Skunky]

I think you need a minimum, you know. The thing can't be a total crap of course, then you can't do magic on it, as better as you are. But if you get a minimum level of quality, that supplies the basic needs, then you really can do awesome stuff with it

 

[aprod]

Buy the best bass you can afford. Its ridiculous to think a pos Squier will sound better than a Sadowsky in anyone's hands.

 

[Skunky]

It will, if the Squier guy knows how to play and the Sadowsky don't hehehe

 

[troy mcclure]

I can only play as good as I can play, however I certainly play and sound better on a bass that I am comfortable on and that plays well. I could play lines on my Alembic that I couldn't on my SX. I found my Alembics tone not really compatible for my band setting so I sold it. Many pretty basses that I find desirable, I would be willing to spend the money for the look I want but I do not expect it to make me a better player.

 

[4andnomore]

I have my preferences bass-wise, but totally agree with the OP.

 

[Joedog]

I thought this horse was beat, dead, cremated, burned on a pyre, drowned, and beat again. BUT it has risen from the ashes, like the phoenix! LOL...JK.

 

[Cowboy in Latvia]

Can I get an Amen!

No, no you cannot. You oversimplify all that we do and refuse to acknowledge that more than one opinion may be right. Why would I support such hyperbole as fact?

 

[mpdd]

I've gotten so spoiled with my LB100 that I do have to adjust to other bass necks, but my suck factor was way worse prior to focused lessons, ongoing jamming, structured recording, and regular shows

 

[Smooth_bass88]

??? Really?!!

Yes, sir.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Here's a song he used the Wal on...you can hear him hit the low C a few times during the solo.

 

[basspraiser]

Reminds me of when I got my ASAT & some guys on a bass page on FB were asking for a demo. I reluctantly posted one & then all hell broke loose, with the old timer G&L users saying things like "An ASAT should NEVER sound like that!".

I learned my lesson on posting videos.

Rude... Just rude... ( the posters I mean... Not you)