How do you describe your role when asked?

[bassrique]

I'm part drummer and part guitarist.

 

[JohnnyBottom]

JohnnyBottom...Mover of bowels...Responsible if you are dancing, responsible if you are not dancing.... Except in my jefferson Airplane tribute. Job done if they are sitting there with thier jaws dropping.

 

[Mvilmany]

“I play de bass.”

 

[SteveC]

I don't know that anyone has ever asked my role. They ask what I do or play. My response is and has been for a while - "I'm just the bass player."
I know my role. Learn songs. Play the parts.

 

[arbiterusa]

how do you explain your role in the band without sounding like an egotistical jerk?

I can't, because I AM an egotistical jerk.

 

[InhumanResource]

I try a soccer metaphor.

We bassists are the goalies of the band. We can keep them from losing, but we can't make them win.

This is a pretty good one!

 

[dan1952]

I drive the bus.

 

[Brian Pulham]

"Holding down the bottom end"

 

[Chrisenbacker69]

I play the low notes that you feel in the pit of your stomach.

 

[dalkowski]

I put the bumps in the rumps.

 

[Pings Bass]

I try a soccer metaphor.

We bassists are the goalies of the band. We can keep them from losing, but we can't make them win.

Hockey analogy: the bass player is the defenseman (goalie is the drummer). If you know hockey you might know what I'm getting at. Setting the pace, feeding the leads/forwards, holding down the groove/blue line...

I think it's funny/sad in rock the bass is often overlooked. In Latin music it's central. In jazz, it's foundational. I feel for you rockers. We get a lot more love over here.

 

[MoeTown1986]

I just say I'm the reason the ladies move their hips.

 

[devnulljp]

 

[5StringBlues]

I drive the bus.

I'd have to say the drummer drives the bus and I'm the guy that helps the special needs kids (guitarists) get on.

 

[juggahnaught]

Better to let your playing speak for you, whether you sweep syncopated licks and use chords liberally or stick to roots on the quarters. So if anyone asks you about your "role" in the band, just say that you hold it down, then immediately deflect and invite to the next show.

 

[Colin Cunliffe]

depends, if they seem to be someone with no musical knowledge whatsoever I will tell them that I play Bass guitar as it saves me having to explain what a Bass is to them, to someone with no musical knowledge whatsoever a bass and a guitar may as well be the same thing. If its someone who seems to have an understanding of music then I will say I play Bass

Try explaining a Euphonium to a non musician

To anyone who has played in a (British) Brass Band or wind Band (American OK but not the same prestige and/or understanding) they know. I always laugh and smirk in an understanding way at the scene in Brassed Off when his wife tells him to play his Trumpet and he - never mind go watch the film it looses a lot in the explanation, just like what is a Euphonium!!!! In brass I'm now playing Tuba and so "Its a BASE, a foundation."

Sorry Americans I'm not knocking but the Euphonium (Baritone) isn't used or played in the same way on your side of the pond

 

[Kipp Harrington]

We tease around a lot, but as a bass player, when asked, how do you explain your role in the band without sounding like an egotistical jerk?

I think that's pretty easy because most people don't really care. You're the bass player, for cryin' out loud!

 

[2112]

We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water.

 

[primusfan1989]

To me, the role of a bassist in music is to be the glue that connects the rhythm of the drums to the harmony of the rest of the instruments

 

[mattj1stc]

Well, I've just started with a group that has no drummer. We've played together before, but always in bigger bands (with drummers of course). In this case, it's just a vocalist, a guitarist and me. While I've never been asked by outsiders to define my role, we did have to talk about how thigs were going to work without percussion.

In the end, it really didn't change things too much. I now have the formal time keeping role, but it's not all that difficult because most of the songs are pretty jazz related (busy parts that walk, but the chord changes are structured). Basically, it's what I was doing anyway (staying in the pocket, trying to emphasize chord changes, making sure I hit the 1's solidly, etc.), just more so. Still, it was kind of interesting to have to formally outline my role as the foundation.