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Gospel Bass

#23
A Jim Deacon.
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#25
Harvey4strings said:
Whats the best bass for gospel Music?
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Fodera Emperor 5 Elite II.

You don't agree? Why not? Is it the 35" scale length? The contemporary-looking body style when the lead guitarist is playing a Gibson ES? Or maybe it's the fact the $14,000 price tag is more than you paid for your car?

Hopefully you get the point. There is no such thing as an unqualified "best" bass. If there were, it wouldn't be as soon as it became widely known that this bass is "best", because it would become so expensive and valuable it would no longer be anyone's "best" choice for anything but sitting in its case in the studio. The "best" bass for any bassist, in any genre, is the one that fits the best, feels the best, sounds the best, looks the best, and can be owned (and potentially replaced) at an affordable pricepoint. Every last one of these points of consideration is 100% dependent on you, the player; your height/armspan, your back's carrying capacity, your fingers, your ears and your wallet.

I have personally attended service if not actually played on the worship team with bassists playing everything from Squiers and Ibanez Soundgears to Sadowskys and Music Man Sterlings, and that's just in your run of the mill mainline Protestant church where the praise group is all-volunteer and the instruments the players bring is what they play in their bedrooms or at their bar gigs on Friday nights. They all did their job admirably (though the Soundgear could have used some knowledgeable attention to maintenance). Getting into the megachurches where people are paid good money to be up front leading worship every week and expected to look the part, it would not be unusual to see custom instruments in the $3000-$4000 range. Why? Because when you're playing for 10,000 people per service, 3 services a day, in what used to be a basketball arena in Houston, an equipment failure at the wrong time can lose you that steady paycheck, so that $4k in a top-quality instrument is a business investment far more than a luxury item.

(We won't go into the fact that income disparities between the senior pastor and just about everyone else who makes worship work at these non-denom independent megachurches can be bigger percentage-wise than Bezos vs Random Amazon warehouse picker, so "megachurch bassist" isn't as cushy a job as I may have inferred.)

Bottom line, figure out what you can afford to pay for a bass, and play everything you can get your hands on under that price. All we can give are suggestions of brands known for their quality and value for money, that we have some experience with. That doesn't even mean any of them is the best bass for any of us in any genre; they're just suggestions for what could possibly be the best bass for you when playing gospel.
 
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#26
I don't the they make a bass in this, but if they did, you'd certainly get some attention at church...
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Dude at my church plays a cheaper Yamaha and a nice little combo. He and the pianist actually sound really good with a choir behind them. They've been trying to get me to come play cello, but I dunno about church jamming. I generally like to keep my bad behavior and asking for forgiveness for it separate.
 
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#32
A 5 is a gotta- have?..... A 5 is a must?..... really?
In 1972 my folks bought my first bass from a " gospel " musician.
And it was a 10 year old Epiphone 4 string. Short scale at that!
Elvis made Gospel records, working with the Jordanairs, The Stamps and the Blackwood brothers.... and his bass player played P's.. 4 string P's...
Remember James Brown in the Blues brothers movie? He played some kickin gospel that shook the church so hard it caused Jake to "see the light"!
The bass?.... A sunburst Jazz.....with 4 strings.
Now let's discuss some semantics. There's a difference between what I understand as " Gospel " and today's Church music/Praise music.
Just like there used to be difference between Gospel and "Hymns ".
Gospel music is syncopated music designed to sort of "raise the roof".
It sometimes comes dangerously close to Rockin! Ray Charles got lots of grief for using elements of it in secular music. And tons of it was created on 4 stringers.
Now I'm not trying to kick a hornet's nest here, I know how many of you guys and gals love your 5's. I'm sure they serve you well in all your endeavors.
But sayin that it's a gotta have to be the "best bass" for Gospel?
I don't think so. Just my 2 cents

Easy 5 stringers..... I can feel you sharpening your knives..;)
 
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#34
Mastodon2 said:
Much like asking which car would be fastest around Laguna Seca, your wife's mini van could do a lap, but a McLaren 720S would be quicker. Sure they'd both complete a lap, but you can see that one tool has been optimised for the job at hand.
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Nice point, however I would point out that this advantage all but disappears when you leave the racetrack and get on the highway, where most of us actually use our cars. Meanwhile, cost of ownership, and protecting your investment, would mean that you'd likely drive your McLaren a lot more carefully, and get a lot less utility out of driving it for the money you're spending, than I would my wife's minivan.

There comes a point at which the next dollar spent on something nice does not increase the practical and emotional benefits of owning something nice, as much as it increases the fear of losing something nice. That point is different for everyone, but I posit that $300k is a pricepoint even many one-percenters are reluctant to spend on a car, especially a new one. A vintage collectible, maybe, but not a brand new daily driver.

Back to the case in point, a Fodera Emperor Elite is a top-notch bass, made with exacting, painstaking attention to detail in every aspect of its design and construction. And its $14,000 price tag means that, unless you're Victor Wooten and command a billable rate for session time that makes you that much from just a couple days of using the instrument, you're going to be paranoid about protecting it, and that will make you cautious about using it, even in situations where you can get an actual return on investment from it.

Meanwhile, for a tenth the price or less, you can buy a bass that no highly-skilled player would in any way consider a hindrance to his or her playing, that would pay you back in a few months of $100 weekly gigs, and while you might still feel that twinge in your chest when you knock it against a metal amp corner the first time, you'll rationalize, far more quickly, that it comes with the territory of having a giggable instrument.
 
#37
Pdaddy1978 said:
A 5 is a gotta- have?..... A 5 is a must?..... really?
In 1972 my folks bought my first bass from a " gospel " musician.
And it was a 10 year old Epiphone 4 string. Short scale at that!
Elvis made Gospel records, working with the Jordanairs, The Stamps and the Blackwood brothers.... and his bass player played P's.. 4 string P's...
Remember James Brown in the Blues brothers movie? He played some kickin gospel that shook the church so hard it caused Jake to "see the light"!
The bass?.... A sunburst Jazz.....with 4 strings.
Now let's discuss some semantics. There's a difference between what I understand as " Gospel " and today's Church music/Praise music.
Just like there used to be difference between Gospel and "Hymns ".
Gospel music is syncopated music designed to sort of "raise the roof".
It sometimes comes dangerously close to Rockin! Ray Charles got lots of grief for using elements of it in secular music. And tons of it was created on 4 stringers.
Now I'm not trying to kick a hornet's nest here, I know how many of you guys and gals love your 5's. I'm sure they serve you well in all your endeavors.
But sayin that it's a gotta have to be the "best bass" for Gospel?
I don't think so. Just my 2 cents

Easy 5 stringers..... I can feel you sharpening your knives..;)
Click to expand...

If you want to play the Urban (Popular African American style Gospel that has developed since the mid 1980’s,) Gospel a five is the most practical bass to use, although some, like Reggie Parker, use a four with a detuner. For the type of Gospel you cited, use a P or a J.
 
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#38
jfh2112 said:
Find a 5-string you like and play that. Or, find a 4-string you like and tune it BEAD and play that.
Click to expand...
jfh2112 said:
Find a 5-string you like and play that. Or, find a 4-string you like and tune it BEAD and play that.
Click to expand...
BEAD would leave out the high end for slaps and fills. If you have to have a four, use a detuner or get a 35” scale bass, like a Cirrus, and tune DGCF. I used a Cirrus like that in church a few years ago, and it worked quite well.


Off topic: Hamilton Bohannon, R.I.P.
 
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