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Just how much respect bass players DON'T get

Neener

Neener

Grumpy Old Dog
Feb 25, 2007
409
23
Mechanicsburg, PA
#1
Ask anyone you know who is NOT a musician to name just five bass players.

Here's what you'll usually get:

1. Flea
2. Geddy (maybe)
3. That chubby guy from Van Halen with the Jack Daniels bass.
4. Oh, what's-his-name, with the tongue.
5. And the most common answer, "that's all I can think of"

I'll throw out some obvious bass players like "what about Sting or McCartney", the common answer is "they play bass?"

Ever hear of Jaco? Who?
Wooten? No
Manring? Nope

The truth hurts, I guess we just deal with it.

Your results will NOT very.
 
#9
Neener said:
Ever hear of Jaco? Who?
Wooten? No
Manring? Nope
Click to expand...

To be fair, if you asked:
Ever heard of Zarwinul? Who/
Bela Fleck? No
Al Skolnick? Nope

These guy's aren't unknown because they're bass players, but because they're not playing mainstream music - if it was just bass, then the guys who play with them (above) would be household names.

Ask a non-musician to name 5 guitarists (who don't sing) and they'd struggle:
Van Halen
Hendrix (oops he sings!)
Satriani (techicaly so does he!!)
Via
My mate Dave's kid got a guitar for Xmas...

Name 6 JAzz musicians who don't sing:
erm...

If you don't sing, and aren't mainstream then non-musicians aing gonna remember you.

Ian
 
#11
Marcus said:
To some people, trivial knowledge (such as naming bass players) is completely irrelevant to their lives. Personally, I cannot name five guitarists. Or five drummers. Or five keyboard players. You get the idea.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's completely irrelevant. They could live without it, yes, but I would say that knowing at least a little bit about a wide variety of things is nice to have under your belt and can make life a little better. It will help you carry a conversation in most situations and with most people, and allow you to have a foundation of information to always draw on--if needed.
 
#12
You're right Steve, I don't think I can call out too many current other musicians the didn't play in the 70's and early 80's and who aren't Christian players. But there's one thing I do know, thats (1.)the ENTIRE band follows the drummer and I (including the vocals) 2. without us there is no groove, thus no rhythm, and (3) when the band gets into trouble, who brings them out? you guessed it, bass and drums. 4th, who eyeballs the changes and endings? Bass and drums again. I don't care if the audience doesn't know my (our) role in the band, but the rest of the band sure does!

One last point, next time you play, try turning down the bass and see how uninspiring and lifeless the band sounds.
 
#13
I ran into two bass players last week who didn't know who Wooten was.

Just so happens, where I work there is a few guitarist and two other bassist. One of the bassist came into my department to show me what he found. A guy named Victor Wooten doing a Christmas song on Youtube. Turned out to be his version of Amazing Grace. :D In the middle of the video the other bassist comes in and ask "who's that?"

At first I thought it was weird that there would be bassist out there whom never heard of Victor Wooten up until now. Totally understandable though. One guy is a Metal bassist and probably has never explored outside his genre. The other plays more Caribbean style music. I'm pretty sure nether of them spend much time online. The Metal bassist saw be browsing talkbass and asked what it was once.

Not once did I past judgment on these two guys though. I thought it was cool that I was there to tell them a little about Wooten and suggest tunes they should check out. After all, I doubt I could name five bassist in todays Metal Music let alone in World Music.



To get back on topic.
I'm not at all surprised that non-musicians could name five bassist. Not unless they were also front men or did something that made the news. I think it's mostly us rhythm section guys who have the skinny on who's who. We check out other bassist and who they are playing with. We always pay attention to their counterpart, the drummer and of course "the artist". Hey, you don't have to go back too far in time where one of the best bassist in the world didn't even get his name on the multitude of hits he was a part of and it was even a shorter period when it was made public. I'm talking about James Jamerson, of course.
 
#17
crkempton said:
lol me neither
Click to expand...

theshadow2001 said:
If we did what we do for respect admiration glory spotlight or any other thing we wouldn't be part of the rhythm section.

We do it because we love it.

BTW
I can't name 5 drummers
Click to expand...

I've played bass with at least five drummers--since playing with other musicians is a great way to improve--so maybe you can count those drummers you've had the chance to play alongside.... :)

I do like to know the names of musicians, though, so I can pinpoint style, songwriting, etc. when referencing something or looking to track something down to inspire my own musicianship.
 
#18
My nephew, who's ten, was asked to list his top ten bassists by his teacher. He was obviously struggling when I saw the list -- he had Flea at No1 but couldn't think of anybody else. And he'd put himself down at No10.

I mentioned John Paul Jones. I don't think the name meant much, but he went in at No2. :smug:

Cheers

Mark
 
#19
Neener said:
Ask anyone you know who is NOT a musician to name just five bass players.

The truth hurts, I guess we just deal with it.
Click to expand...

IMHO, respect doesn't come from how many other people who play the same instrument are recognized & remembered by the average, random person on the street. Respect comes from playing your instrument well - regardless of which instrument it is. You do that very well and you'll get all the respect you deserve from those who hear you play - whether or not they've ever heard of Michael Manring or Victor Wooten... :eyebrow:

MM
 

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