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Is Sheryl Crow really a bassist?

#25
DWBass said:
Ok. The question was is she really a bassist! I in no way put down her playing or her artistry! I merely said "I don't think she is a bassist in the same way as we are" My thinking is that I doubt she listens to Jaco or Victor Wooten! I doubt she is a gear snob like a good handful of folks here are! I doubt she even cares what a Fodera is or Epifini or Accugroove Electronics! You read into my post way too much and take things way to serious and then say you don't mean any disrespect! Respect my opinion the same way I respect yours! I like Sheryl Crow. My band does several of her tunes! Yeah, she can play bass! Yes, she writes good songs. And believe me, I am in no way a snob of any kind! Hell, probably 99% of the cats on this site can outplay me! 75% probably have gear costing twice or 3 times mine! What the hell do I have to be snobbish about! Guys posting vids of their playing looking for accolades! What do I have to be snobbish about?! If I sound pissed off............I am!
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DW - For what it's worth, I understood exactly what you meant and "snobish" was as far as you could get from how you feel.
 
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#27
being a bassist has noting to do with knowing all the brands that make bass related gear or being a fan of jaco and wooten.
i'm sure james jamerson never heard of fodera or epifani either or wooten, but he's still bassplayer, just like sheryl crow.
 
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#29
mvw356 said:
being a bassist has noting to do with knowing all the brands that make bass related gear or being a fan of jaco and wooten.
i'm sure james jamerson never heard of fodera or epifani either or wooten, but he's still bassplayer, just like sheryl crow.
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Good point. To continue where your going, I always liked McCartney's brand of strings....the "long shiny ones". Not a real techno-geek but he played some great bass, IMHO. On the other hand you would expect a seasoned LA studio bassist to know a lot about his or her craft. I seriously doubt Sheryl Crow could make it as a session bassist unless she got the frreak break or siimply ate, drank and slept bass for about 5 years, and did know who Jaco was. I think of a great session bassist as somebody you can throw *anything* at, and they can deliver the goods, and I think it takes specializing in that one thing to be that good. And I wouldn't expect the session great to be able to write a song to save his life.
 
#31
I read an interview with Sheryl Crow where she explained how it's part of how she writes songs.

So she said that she would play a bass line and sing along with it when working out a song. So the point is that with just roots in a bass line, you don't have the quality of the chord outlined - there is more ambiguity and the melody can go where it needs to, rather than just being limited to or inclined towards, chord tones.

Then , once she has the melody fixed - then she can flesh out the chords and decide on major/minor/diminished 7ths, 9ths etc.

So the bass line and vocal end up being inextricably intertwined.
 
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#32
Bruce Lindfield said:
I read an interview with Sheryl Crow where she explained how it's part of how she writes songs.

So she said that she would play a bass line and sing along with it when working out a song. So the point is that with just roots in a bass line, you don't have the quality of the chord outlined - there is more ambiguity and the melody can go where it needs to, rather than just being limited to or inclined towards, chord tones.

Then , once she has the melody fixed - then she can flesh out the chords and decide on major/minor/diminished 7ths, 9ths etc.

So the bass line and vocal end up being inextricably intertwined.
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Hmmm. So, I'm marrying a smart chick....excellent.
 
#33
Skel said:
I've recently been listening to Sheryl Crow a lot - I'm always about 15 years behind the times. I've seen her on TV a few times and in pictures playing a big hollow body bass, so I guess she "plays bass". Obviously her songwriting is very good.

In listening very closely to the bass work to the song "All I Wanna Do", the bass line is very good and the tone is superb IMHO. Is this Sheryl playing bass? She's for real?

Skel
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Dude! She kills on bass. check out the bass section on her web page, and the many utubes. On a couple of tours she WAS the bassist, yeah, she can sing and play! She's a total string player!
 
#36
Wow that house is cool, and well she's pretty cool too. She has written great songs and can sing and play multiple instruments, but until I hear her cover of School Days I am withholding judgement :)
 
#37
Skel said:
In listening very closely to the bass work to the song "All I Wanna Do", the bass line is very good and the tone is superb IMHO. Is this Sheryl playing bass? She's for real?
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Is this Sheryl?
sc.PNG


Taken from here:


(Edit)

Sorry, I found it, I found it.
Here it is.
sc2.PNG


Taken from here.


But...
At the same concert.
 
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#38
corinpills said:
I'm not even much of a Sheryl Crow fan (although she's got excellent taste in gear- the Guild basses and the gibson j-200 she plays), but I just think it's the apex of pretensiousness to talk about the "artistry" of playing bass. It's a job, right? You play the low notes and try to make people feel good, that's all. Essentially, just try not to get all fancy and destroy the song and you've done your job. Everybody wants to get all Meryl Streep and talk about their craft and their devotion to the church of low end.

Again, nothing personal, I don't mean this as a big attack or anything, but it always seems that the logical extension of thinking so highly of playing bass is putting down others who merely play. Sorry if it sounds harsh, I went to Berklee 15 years ago and I'm still scarred by jazz snobbery.
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This isn't an attack or anything, but if you didn't go to Berklee you can't insult jazz and bassists who enjoy discussing their shared craft.:smug:
 
#39
corinpills said:
I'm not even much of a Sheryl Crow fan (although she's got excellent taste in gear- the Guild basses and the gibson j-200 she plays), but I just think it's the apex of pretensiousness to talk about the "artistry" of playing bass. It's a job, right? You play the low notes and try to make people feel good, that's all. Essentially, just try not to get all fancy and destroy the song and you've done your job. Everybody wants to get all Meryl Streep and talk about their craft and their devotion to the church of low end.

Again, nothing personal, I don't mean this as a big attack or anything, but it always seems that the logical extension of thinking so highly of playing bass is putting down others who merely play. Sorry if it sounds harsh, I went to Berklee 15 years ago and I'm still scarred by jazz snobbery.
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I can think of much better places to project your hang-ups and general apathy onto bass playing than a web forum for bassists. Your goal might be to thump some notes in the right key, but for many of us, the bass guitar is an important tool for self-expression. For me, the whole thing is intertwined with an artistic philosophy that is decidedly unpretentious. It is a language that is immediately understandable to me and I find it laughable that a "trained" musician would scoff at it just because they can't feel it. 15 years sounds like a long time to be dragging around that much baggage.
 
#40
I like Sheryl. She is a very talented musician, songwriter. Her last country album, lMHO, was too laughable, comedic. In short - it sucked, IMHO.
Now, is the U2 bass player playing Jaco or Wooten?
Is Coldplay bassist playing Jaco or Wooten?
 

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