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Female Bass Players

Which one do you prefer?

  • Total voters
    62
#103
Snaxster said:
For me it's less about gender (or biological sex, etc.) and more about bio-cultural generational trends. In these videos, each player plays like someone who learned from YouTube videos and online forums. As players, not as women, their demeanor is shallow: methodical, dutiful, tentative... soulless. That is a generalization, of course. I found Anna Sentina to have the best groove by far, and Pamela Caravias the best sound; both hinted at soulfulness as yet untapped. I found Marta Altesa's playing to be irrelevant.

I am old. More specifically, I am an old nerd and intellectual. But I have soul like a mother*****r. For me, in any form that I can detect (which is limited by my aptitude, not others' works, I know), soulfulness is the main measure of a musician. Friedrich Gulda was ferocious. Singular, iconoclastic, musically reverent, he had a piano he named The Lion. (I won't cite James Brown because it's too obvious.) Nina Simone, incendiary, enraged, practically burst from her body when she performed. Her audiences exploded in adoration of the divinity she let them glimpse.

Maybe it's because I don't get out much, but the Western culture at large of musicians and music I see and hear in the internet age to date is characterized by its soullessness. Why look to female musicians for better or other? Even Esperanza Spalding, a fantastic player and excellent and thinking musician, is not immune to the timidity of her times. Where is the fire?

Me'Shell NdegéOcello has it and she is huge. Huge! But she is older, deriving from a bygone time. Rhonda Smith, a musician's musician and the consummate professional, is beyond technique and almost beyond groove, she is so fierce.

Defying my model is Tal Wilkenfeld. Bless her. It isn't her theory or technique, but her joy and how much she cares. It's how much her soul compels her to care. May she live long and continue to grace her generation and all the world with her gift.
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Rhonda Smith, Me'Shell yes definitely Esperanza and Tal. I love them all
@Snaxster just for you, you will probably prefer these covers by Pamela (that's why I prefer her, she plays any style and her Jill Scott cover is amazing:
or Esperanza 's Black Gold cover:
 
#108
viking power said:
I like Paz (A Perfect Circle), Kim Deal (Pixies, Breeders), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and what's her name previously of White Zombie.

As far as YouTube ladies of 4 string thunder I like all 3 that the OP posted as well as a player by the name of Jade Justine. Anybody like her playing?

As my musical tastes have expanded I've really learned to like Esperanza Spalding. One cool lady.
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Sean Yseult from White Zombie yes, ans Esperanza... a real Goddess Pamela did a cover of Esperanza Spalding's Black Gold check it:
 
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#112
Caroline Caz campbell...... Hugh Cornwell
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#116
smeet said:
Sadly, I think much of it is because a lot of people still think of females as inferior, or like children. It's all very condescending. If my dog could play bass, he'd be pretty good "for a dog". If a player is good, they are good.
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While you are largely right (sadly in this day and age).
There is also the novelty of female bassplayers because few women chose to wield such a large and ungainly instrument.
In the end what matters is how good a PERSON is and not their gender, but I can see how it is at least a little interesting for both male and (especially other female) bass players to see female players out there doing well.
As for the dog, no one should be surprized he takes on an instrument associated with large 'woofers'.
 
#117
Funk$tar said:
Haha aww thanks so much! I haven't been on in months because i've been so busy with school and trying to put myself out there a bit more, but I am so thankful to have your guys support so thank you! I actually was asked to go on tour with Nick Jonas, but I had to turn it down because I felt like I was unprepared for that kind of lifestyle! I know God will bless me with much more opportunities so it's all good!
Thanks again guys and hope everyone is doing great!
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Holy!!!!
I wish I was doing well enough to turn down Nick Jonas (not a fan at all, but that's a A gig).
I won't say you shoulda done it, 'cause I don't know all your reasons - do you mean the "rock" lifestyle or simply touring for weeks on end?
If that's the case, and you are getting that level of interest you might want to go to Nashville - the basslines are generally not all that exciting, but there is a strong Christian undercurrent in a lot of country music, so the artists tend to take it a little easier, and there is also the Christian music scene which is largely centered there as well - and they even more so are more "family oriented" in their approach to work - and naturally their attitudes to the "rock and roll" lifestyle.
Definitely glad you're getting yourself "out there", and that it's working.
Good for you.
Nice to see someone I "know" making it in music.
 
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#118
Anyway - to the OP.
Tina Weymouth.
No female bass player will ever displace her in my mind - of course that's cause she's one of my two favourite bassplayers period and no one's going to displace Bruce Thomas in the top spot and Tina's a VERY close second.
 
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