Having a bass player is now optional

You may have heard of a band called The Doors. LA band, active in the 60s and early 70s, had a few hits?

They had no bass player when they played live, and most of their studio recordings had no bass player either

 

If your point is that samples and computers are capable of making bass sounds...

Yes, that is correct.

 

Ahem, lots (most?) of their recordings had a bass player, and most of the time it was some badass session cat.

 

My old band was 6 guys then the economy tanked & we went down to four.
Gigs got leaner and now they are a duo and I'm looking for a gig.

 

So... he was doing the same thing that the guitarist from Local H was doing since the 90s?
Dude routed out a Telecaster and stuck a PBass pickup under the E and A strings, which were a heavier gauge then the rest, then ran that out through a separate jack which ran through a Boss octaver.

Nihil novi sub sole man. What you might've just discovered and believe to be profound wisdom, someone else already has discovered it, practiced and perfected it.
Hell, just look at pianists. Some of those jazz dudes who accompany themselves with their left hand can play better walking basslines while playing a melody than most of us can just playing bass.

 

We opened for a country band a few weekends ago that at one time was a pretty big name. They only had 4 guys on stage and none of them was a bassist. Keyboardist was covering the bass parts. I've seen this in other bands too but this was the first country band I saw going sans bassist. Suffice to say I lost a lot of respect for them when I saw that and didn't feel obligated to watch their set.

So yeah, bass seems to be the first player to go when the rest of the band wants bigger pieces of the pie. On the flip side, it keeps me motivated to be my best so I'm not one of them.

 

As a keyboard player, I'm used to see my job taking care by midi guitars, bass with effects, or audio track...

 

Learn how to sing. Singing lead on 5-10 songs a night and harmonies on most of the rest. You won't be going anywhere in most cover bands unless you are a douche or you want to go.

 

Really?
That's just plain immature and incredibly rude of you.
Ever consider that maybe they got rid of their bass player because, gasp, the bass isn't as vital a part of THEIR music that necessitated having a fifth member who plays bass, and with that fifth member extra complications in logistical planning, extra money spent on touring for lodging, food and whatever else the band member requires?

And judging by your attitude you just might be.
Bass players are the first to go? Ha. Ha. Ha.
Tell me, how many gigging pianists do you know?
The days of the piano man are over. At best, all you get in modern pop music is midi arrangements. And going back to my point of logistics, what's better? A laptop with the midi arrangements preloaded on it, or a pianist/synth player who has to drag around his bulky, heavy piano/synth, and his piano amp? And then, once he gets there and sets up, be immediately pelted by complaints from almost every member of the band, for 'taking up too much space on the stage' or 'having too busy a left hand and walking all over the bass player's bassline' or 'not moving enough and and killing the band's stage presence?'

 

Several, and not only do they not need bassists, they don't need anyone else.

 

Some great bands don't have bass players. Some terrible bands do. The presence of a bass player tells me nothing about the quality of the band or whether I'll like it or not. If I like the music, I don't care what instruments they use.

 

I saw a 5 piece 70s disco band yesterday at a festival. They had 2 guitars, drums, keyboards, and a female singer. No bass player. The band was good but being that most of the songs were built around good bass lines, it was disappointing that the keyboard player was playing the bass parts the best he could but it limited him to being a one handed keyboard player.

 

The yeah yeah yeahs are awesome and they don't have a bass player. Sometimes they have a second guitarist who plays bass but gold lion is probably their best song and he plays acoustic while nick plays electric. They get a nice sound though because their drummer and guitarist are amazing.

 

To OP, I guess you're unfamiliar with Charlie Hunter then? He plays hybrid 7 and 8 string instruments, some bass strings and some guitar strings, separate outputs so he runs the bass strings to a bass amp and the guitar strings through his effects chain and into a guitar amp.

Also, I've seen bands with no guitarist, and many with no drummer. Also still seems to be plenty of bands with keyboards/piano/organ/synth around, although admittedly not as common as bass is in bands.

Isn't it supposed to be more about the musicians and the music than the instruments?

 

Carach Angren works without Bass. There's some here and there on the albums but none live. The guitar player plays a 7-string but not with a lot of low end and certainly not in a way that would replace a bass. And there actually is no need for it! They sound great without a bass and with nobody replacing it.

just a little input

 

+1

 

The White Stripes ?

 

I heard some rap music the other day. They had no singer...