Message to the younger or new players.

What's this "jazz" thing you're talking about??? ..... I axed my buddies at the "Fieldy Fax" site and no one knew???

 

Words of wisdom from a gigging pro.

I have CDs ranging from Andrea Bocelli, to pure bass solo albums, from Bach, to nu-metal, jazz to gospel. So there you go. It all helps.

 

I totally agree. Before I started playing bass and guitar (dodges eggs ), I listened to a lot of rap and nu-metal. Nowadays, I hardly listen to those groups and now listen to a broad range of music, including jazz, R&B, classic rock, blues, funk, etc. etc. I think if you only listen to one type of music, you're playing will become so redundant and tedious. It's good to have a lot of different influences.

 

i like to hear everything i can... i hate when people say "I just listen to Ska" or "I´m a Metalhead!" and so on...

 

its a great waste to listen to one band or one type of music. funk , emo , rock , jazz , reggae , classical , punk , ...... there is so much out there, if you limit yourself to one, youre missing out. if you want to be a well rounded bass player you need all of em.

 

I agree and disagree. I do believe people should be open to different types of music and should give it a chance! But I don't think people should force themselves to LIKE different music. Music is supposed to be something you like and nobody should tell you what you should be listening to, it should be your choice!

A friend of mine told me that I had to listen to Rush because Geddy Lee is such an amazing player. While I agree he is a great bassist, I actually had to force myself to listen to the record. Finally I thought, "I gave this a chance and I hate it, so I ain't gonna listen to it." That was my choice and I for one would rather see some kid playing bass who only WANTS to listen to RHCP because that's what he loves than some kid who listens to everything because his favourite bassists likes everything as well.

 

I'll pretty much dig anything with a few exceptions. I don't really see a good reason for not keeping an open mind.

 

I agree. I think it just helps to listen to all kinds of music. I know a guitarist who ONLY listens to Iron Maiden, Helloween and few (VERY few) bands that are similar. He said once that musicians who only write in 4/4 sucked but I always say that it´s the soul in the music that counts (or something like that..) And he practices A LOT and is the most boring guitarist I know about..
And btw..When I started playing bass the only bass players I listened to were Flea and Les Claypool.. Now I can fill an A4 page with cool bassists (I´ve done that in boring classes here in school), and most of them are jazzers.
I don´t think that post made sense...

 

Jazz sucks.

 

I read a quote once that said you should listen to music you do not enjoy more, you should figure out what you do not like about it or maybe find something to like in the style.

I don't think there is a type of music that I will not listen to or try to listen to, there was even a time that I was simple minded and thought Jazz Sucked.

 

I find that metal guitar players are the most stubborn about what they listen to. I'm on the Metal Method message board and all these guys listen to 80's metal and nothing else. Unless the band has shredding guitars and 10 minute solos, they won't listen to it. At least bassists have more of an open mind on average here!

 

I didn't start playing bass on jazz, but I did start listening to music with jazz. I learned a lot about chords and music theory from playing Sax in my school's jazz band. I started playing bass to RATM and then gradually broadened my horizons to rock, metal, funk, jazz, etc. I can definately see myself improving as I incorporate different techniques into different styles.

 

i think its a great idea to listen to heaps of music.
I've been listenig to lots of different types of music ever since i could listen and its really helped my playing and composing on all 5 of my instruments(thats right 5). I've been listening to the likes of Santana and Clapton,ELO,Dire Straits,and all that for ages. At the same time i been listening to 'tallica,Live,RHCP,Sabbath,Led Zep.It all helps, especialy in the composing department.

 

also Jazz rules
I play bass for my schools Big Band and Jazz Combo and it rocks yeah

 

In regard to what Lazy says, what I find is that the more types of music you are exposed to, the more types of music you like!

What makes it even more likeable, IME, is when you hear the music in the culture/setting in which it thrives. For instance, I never got into Carribean salsa until I was sitting on a beach one day with some sugar cane rum on a Carribean island off of Mexico, watching people dancing in a conga line to some of this salsa.......all of the sudden, WHAMMO!!! It suddenly made sense!

 

Well said Warwicknut! People who only listen to and play one type of music are only making themselves clones of whoever they are listening to, only inferior copies.

 

I'll listen to and play any genre, but I never use C. I hate that stupid note.