Is the bass playing really that bad?

[Bassic_desires]

This post relates to "Black Winds" by Little John and the Monks (from ?1965).

I heard this track on "Bordertown" last night. It is the closing track for Season 3, Episode 3 and I found the music on YouTube.

On YT, there is a comment by Rixster, who claims to be the co-author and bass player on the track. I take the comment at face value as being legitimate. Inter alia, Rixster said, ". . . I played bass; if you listen close, I really sucked at playing bass."

I rather like the bass. What do you think?

 

[5StringBlues]

He's no Sparky.



carrots

 

[J Wilson]

This is what pop records sounded like back then (I was around in those days).

You either had records like this, from the sound of it, where the real band members recorded themselves in a local studio. Or you had records from either coast, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, etc., with studio musicians, known producers, and much higher production values, where the artist or group simply sang over those tracks, which was very common. The record companies preferred these pros knocking out entire albums in just a few days to the real band taking all day or worse to get a keeper take of one song.

And recording technology and instruments and amps were in their infancy vs. today.

 

[Bassic_desires]

(I was around in those days).

You're not alone

 

[micguy]

If Jamerson played on that, it'd probably have a better vibe, but in the context of the band, the bass playing seems about on par with everything else going on - if you started replacing parts, the whole band would have ended up being studio musicians (a la Motown, the Beach Boys, etc).

As it is, it sounds like a band from the 60's, and that's OK

 

[bolophonic]

Just someone being bashful about their teenage self. The bass sounds just fine for that type of song.

 

[BassBrass]

It's called self depreciating humor. It's thought to be charming and disarming and shows the writer's emotional security to make fun of him/her self. Even clever narcissists use it.

 

[cnltb]

I REALLY like the bass here. To my ear it's appropriate for the song/production and works well!

 

[cnltb]

If Jamerson played on that, it'd probably have a better vibe, but in the context of the band, the bass playing seems about on par with everything else going on - if you started replacing parts, the whole band would have ended up being studio musicians (a la Motown, the Beach Boys, etc).

As it is, it sounds like a band from the 60's, and that's OK

Jamerson on this?
Might he not have overplayed and destroyed the atmosphere (possibly?)

 

[DirtDog]

We are often our own worst critics. I think the playing was fine and suited the tune. No timing issues, no sloppiness, great tone. Simple bass line for a simple song. He may be a better player today but there was nothing bad about his playing on that.

 

[cnltb]

We are often our own worst critics. I think the playing was fine and suited the tune. No timing issues, no sloppiness, great tone. Simple bass line for a simple song. He may be a better player today but there was nothing bad about his playing on that.

He may have been a really good player then and mature musician who knew what to play and what not?

 

[sonic 7]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Durham52]

Yeah, I was 13 in '65, listened to heaps of recordings like that back then. As I only had a crap transistor radio to listen on, like hundreds of thousands of other kids, the level of musicianship didn't always matter a whole lot, (not that there weren't a heap of competent musicians playing on those songs) because what was coming through the tiny little speaker was just mush. As long as you could hear the beat and the vocal, that's pretty much all that mattered.

 

[BigJohnAZ]

Sounds fine, I probably would add a couple chromatic walk-up fills here and there after the first verse. It's a chill song, doesn't need crazy bass stuff going on.

 

[Jason Schulhz]

The groove fits the song and I like his flatwound earthy tone. But I would have made it a little less “notey,” and simplified it to give the vocals more room to breathe. But that’s just a matter of preference, no two people are going to write bass lines the same.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

This post relates to "Black Winds" by Little John and the Monks (from ?1965).

I heard this track on "Bordertown" last night. It is the closing track for Season 3, Episode 3 and I found the music on YouTube.

On YT, there is a comment by Rixster, who claims to be the co-author and bass player on the track. I take the comment at face value as being legitimate. Inter alia, Rixster said, ". . . I played bass; if you listen close, I really sucked at playing bass."

I rather like the bass. What do you think?

Not much bad about the playing. Now, the bass itself is another story. It’s out of tune, the strings should have been changed before the session, and a better EQ, and or tone setting would have improved things dramatically. JMO.

And yes, I’m another one that was around back in those days. LOL!!!

 

[Ewo]

Hey, all the playing and singing on that tune was fine. Sure, since then people have got pickier about tone and timing (don't get me started on OCD quantization), but those tracks were up to snuff for the time period.

Yeah, I was around back then; had just started playing bass.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

The groove fits the song and I like his flatwound earthy tone. But I would have made it a little less “notey,” and simplified it to give the vocals more room to breathe. But that’s just a matter of preference, no two people are going to write bass lines the same.

The “woody tone” came from strings that were so over the hill it caused intonation problems..JMO, But I get the effect being fashionable in back in the day.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure if there was a law or something back then, but I don’t think anybody ever changed their strings until Entwistle and Squire came along…LOL!!

 

[P. Aaron]

The slight timing issues our trained ears notice are part of the era's charm of self-production in its infancy vs the pro's down the street.

 

[BassFishingInAmerica]

It fits the tune perfectly. Cool song.

I think some of these streaming series are exposure for a lot of cool old music I’ve never heard before. I’m constantly using the Sounhound app.