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Is bass mostly a percussion instrument?
- Thread starter NickInMesa
- Start date
Yep, it depends how you play it. I like to play it as a rhythm. But then you take a guy like Fieldy from Korn who plays it as more of a percussion. So much so that I don`t even know if his actually hitting notes as opposed to just hammering on the stings.
My sentiments exactly. If anything, I think it's more of a harmonic/rhythmic instrument, since you generally use it to outline chords/chord changes and the beat of the music (rhythm).
I think that might have been what you meant as opposed to percussive, but I won't put words in your mouth.
...no doubt. Just ask Larry Graham & Louis Johnson. Their thumb/pop style was an early attempt to cover drum parts in a group with no drums. (Mother is the neccessity of invention).
True...then there's "prepared bass" (check out Ben Allison, for example). Going by the definition above, a piano is more "percussion instrument" than a bass (piano's strings are struck with a hammer).
That said, like others here have alluded...you can play bass (& any instrument) with a percussionist mentality. In Latin music, a lot will say every musician is a percussionist-first.
Guys like Free Jazz bass meister William Parker sometimes talk about thinking of the bass strings as drums-
E = kick
A= snare
D= tom
G = cymbal
...sometimes, as a practice thing (& come to think of it, something I need to get back on)...talk a drum chart (like one of my favourites for this exercise, Clyde Stubblefield) and play the kick with notes on your "E" & play the snare with notes on your "A". Then try inverting the drum chart rhythm...essentially putting the "A"/snare part on the strong beats(maybe "1" & "3") while putting the "E"/kick in the backbeats (usually "2" & "4").
Just food for thought...
A bass is not mostly a percussion instrument, it is a bass. I see no need to say we are more like a drummer or guitar player as much as I would say we are more like a violinist or french horn player. We play the bass and obviously in different roles we use our instrument differently.
Rufus Reid said it well in his DVD and I will paraphrase. When there is no drummer we need to be able to keep time. When there is no piano (guitar) we need to fill in the harmonic content and when there is no horn (singer) we need to provide the melodic content. We should not rely on these other instruments and should be able to play sufficiently with out them. We shouldn't need them but rather want to play with them.
Sounds like a few of you want to play follow the drummer, what if the drummer is trying to follow the bass player? We then have nobody leading and in turn who's following what?
Rufus Reid said it well in his DVD and I will paraphrase. When there is no drummer we need to be able to keep time. When there is no piano (guitar) we need to fill in the harmonic content and when there is no horn (singer) we need to provide the melodic content. We should not rely on these other instruments and should be able to play sufficiently with out them. We shouldn't need them but rather want to play with them.
Sounds like a few of you want to play follow the drummer, what if the drummer is trying to follow the bass player? We then have nobody leading and in turn who's following what?
I agree, in one studio session I was warming up by playing some fast scales and runs, the producer looked at me amazed and was like "that's amazing, you're really good". I replied that, as a bassist to be good, I needed to be able to play one note with groove and rhythm and make it fit and sound good, and that that is much harder than flashy runs. I preceded to lay down a nice very simple bass line.
Obviously the bass can be used as a melodic instrument and a harmonic instrument, but IMO in a band situation, a bass is more important to the rhythm of a song than the drums, and I think that makes it a percussion instrument.
EDIT: I am not a slap player, primarily finger funk and pop.
Obviously the bass can be used as a melodic instrument and a harmonic instrument, but IMO in a band situation, a bass is more important to the rhythm of a song than the drums, and I think that makes it a percussion instrument.
EDIT: I am not a slap player, primarily finger funk and pop.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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I don't think bass is "mostly" a percussion instrument. I don't agree with you. I do play the bass percussively, sometimes, with slap technique. Don't confuse percussion with keeping time. Everyone in a band has a responsibility to keep time, groove, swing, etc... and observe a feel of a song. Secondly, there are musics in which even percussion instruments do not keep time, overtly, and are used for texture.
Piano IS generally considered to be a part of the percussion family, just as a technical point, but I hear what you're saying.
Many people play it as percussion with tone. It can, of course be much, much more.
No. There are probably a lot of other players who would agree with you. I'm just not one of them...
MM
Hit the nail on the head. Percussion =/= Rhythm
I like to think of the bass as a part of the rhythm section. Since we need to support the melody/harmony along with this, I feel we have the most important role in a band.
I prefer to think of it as the best-of-both-worlds: It is the bridge between the Rhythm-section, that translates the beat to the rest of the band, while at the same time compounding the beat by hitting melodic notes that are either a counterpoint to, or are in some cases, the melody.
Personally, because of my age, I'm heavily influenced by both John Entwhistle (particularly the stuff he does on the Live at Leeds album) and Jack Bruce (particularly the Wheels of Fire album). I learned their styles note-for-note early on by wearing the grooves out of those albums.
Personally, because of my age, I'm heavily influenced by both John Entwhistle (particularly the stuff he does on the Live at Leeds album) and Jack Bruce (particularly the Wheels of Fire album). I learned their styles note-for-note early on by wearing the grooves out of those albums.
The way I've always viewed it, bass exists at the lowest common denominator between the three basic "building blocks" of music: melody, harmony & rhythm - in a similar way as the three-dimensional corner of a room, adjoining two walls and the floor (or two adjacent walls and the ceiling).
For this reason, bass is generally the most powerful (i.e. and hugely influential) instrument in the ensemble. It's a unique role - not to be compared directly with any other instrument (including percussion). IMO, etc.
MM
For this reason, bass is generally the most powerful (i.e. and hugely influential) instrument in the ensemble. It's a unique role - not to be compared directly with any other instrument (including percussion). IMO, etc.
MM
Well... My daughter plays bass in her high school marching band. In the percussion pit. 
In this case, the bass functions as a percussion instrument, along with the xylophones, chimes, marimbas, glockenspiels, etc... Many of which are also very melodic instruments.
The technical difference, I guess, is that the bass is a stringed instrument and she's vibrating the strings with her fingers instead of a mallet or hammer (and she hasn't done any slapping yet)... But it functions really well with the rest of the percussion instruments. She provides the low end, and a little of that "thump, thump"...
In this case, the bass functions as a percussion instrument, along with the xylophones, chimes, marimbas, glockenspiels, etc... Many of which are also very melodic instruments.
The technical difference, I guess, is that the bass is a stringed instrument and she's vibrating the strings with her fingers instead of a mallet or hammer (and she hasn't done any slapping yet)... But it functions really well with the rest of the percussion instruments. She provides the low end, and a little of that "thump, thump"...
