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more basses = less skill?

will only 1 bass make you a better player?

  • Your playing will be the same no matter how many basses you own.

    Votes: 582 94.5%

  • Playing more than one type of bass will hinder your abilities.

    Votes: 27 4.4%

  • if you have more than one bass they should be the same brand so they feel the same.

    Votes: 7 1.1%
  • Total voters
    616
#181
With so many choices, with so many very different sounds, why not have at least a couple?
Spare/junker, collector's item, vintage weirdo....
Ok, so I don't actually need three 12 string basses. But having a variety definitely has improved my playing - particularly the 5 and 6 stringers...they give a lot of motivation for you to learn chording, double & triple stops. I have sold all my 4 stringers since going to 5 and beyond. My 12 string Hamer is B-E-A-D, using the lower four from a 5 sring set(.135) and two sets of piccilo bass strings. Absolutely killer tone.
But I do have one go-to bass for like 90% of my playing. 6 stringer.
 
#182
thing is if you want certain sounds, you need certain equipment. You can try to get a Jazz bass to sound like a Precision bass, but in the end they are different instruments. Same with the Stingray, and rickenbacker basses.

It takes a bit of getting used to but once your left hand gets used to it shouldn't be any issues.
 
#183
There's probably a segment of players that yes have a lot of disposable income probably from other pursuits and own a lot of basses. To support this income these guys have to focus on other things so maybe they're not as practiced as some players.

That was a long way of saying there are a few of those, yes.
 
#186
tbonesullivan said:
thing is if you want certain sounds, you need certain equipment. You can try to get a Jazz bass to sound like a Precision bass, but in the end they are different instruments. Same with the Stingray, and rickenbacker basses.

It takes a bit of getting used to but once your left hand gets used to it shouldn't be any issues.
Click to expand...

Thing is, you could pick any one of those and to the vast majority of people they wouldn't know or wouldn't care.... if it makes music, all's well
 
#187
I have 5 basses. They all sound at least a little different. My P Elite II (my #1) and my P Special Deluxe sound somewhat similar. My HM is really warm. ESP is an average 5 string. My fretless has a piezo pickup and 4 band eq. So, they're all different. I just grab whichever one I'm feelin' at the time.
 
#189
I've noticed that there is almost a direct relation in this field. A lot of the people I know that are really good at their instruments actually have more than one and they are all on the really cheap side. I've got a friend with a used danelectro electric guitar along with other cheap instruments and I don't think I've ever met anyone who can play guitar better than him.
 
#190
SirGrotius said:
There's probably a segment of players that yes have a lot of disposable income probably from other pursuits and own a lot of basses. To support this income these guys have to focus on other things so maybe they're not as practiced as some players.

That was a long way of saying there are a few of those, yes.
Click to expand...
I think you are way off base my friend - possibly hating on those who [may actually]have it more together, rather than just posturing that they have it together. It's like what I told a friend who was unemployed and wanted to start a business -but he didn't have the cash flow. "Dude, you may have to pursue this when you have a job. Then you have to decide not to waste time on TV, partying, whatever and pursue the business deal part-time, until you can go full time". Unfortunately, a lot of musicians work crap jobs to maintain a bunch of non-artistic "stuff" in their lives: till-dawn-partying, chasing tail, looking "the part", jamming for hours on end to the same songs with the same people. Many of the most successful musicians HAVE had a decent day job(or 2)*, which provided the income for better equipment, real lessons, solid transportation and the wherewithal to tell the dead-beat, slacker wanta-bees that are/were holding them back where they can go. It's a business AND it's fun - but no business sense, little fun. I explained the same issue to my daughter (graphic artist): all creative people struggle with finding time for their creative work vs. time for the work that feeds them and creates the space in their life to pursue their creative work. Some of us owners of multiple instruments take this whole deal very seriously. I personally consider a musician over the age of 30 who can only afford one instrument as suspect - they obviously [to me] have never been committed enough to put all that other crap aside. You don't own a "spare"? - I'm not going on a trip with you. You are unprepared on many levels. IMHO.:D

*Jesus was a carpenter TOO- it never stopped him from making his mark.
 
#191
No matter the hobby, it's easy to hate on the rich folks like doctors and lawyers. Sure, some aren't going to be great because they're working 60 hours a week and have a family. Then again, some might surprise you. You're dealing with some strong willed Type A personalities. They're fairly competitive and hard working, which is how they got there in the first place. Given the lack of down time, they value it.

A few years back, I knew a neurosurg resident that was amazing on the classical guitar. He could put professional musicians to shame, not that they'd ever admit it. He has since moved on to a different hospital.
 
#192
funk generator said:
So I was talking to a few very skilled bassists the other day (one of them records for esperanza spalding!) and they both said you Shouldn't have more than one bass. The exception being if you play a fretless and a fretted.

The logic behind it is if you play more than one bass you'll never be amazing at playing one of them. You should get to be "best friends" per say with your main bass and the better you know it the better you'll play.
So my question is this. Does having more than one bass hinder your playing. If you have 2 basses should they be of the same builder or brand?

I know there are alot of one bass threads, but I couldn't find one like this
Click to expand...

I dunno. Can you introduce me to your friends and I can demonstrate my skill on all 5 of my basses? I'm confident I could make complete fools of anyone attempting to say this to me.

This notion is absurd. If you are so married to the precise feel of one of your basses that you can't play a different one, you are seriously doing some thing wrong. Yes, I really like playing my 4001, but I also really like playing my Squier VMJ (which is what I usually use for practice) and then of course I really really enjoy playing my Spector. And I can kick ass on all of them equally.
 
#195
I have gone through 22 basses in the 2 short years I've been (trying) to learn how to be a decent player. I currently own 7 with number 8 on the way. I'm getting better, because I put some time into it daily.

I'm always GASsing, maybe because I love the artistry involved in bass design. Then again, if every bass felt, played, and sounded the same, I wouldn't always want another.
 
#196
maxgrant said:
I dunno. Can you introduce me to your friends and I can demonstrate my skill on all 5 of my basses? I'm confident I could make complete fools of anyone attempting to say this to me.

This notion is absurd. If you are so married to the precise feel of one of your basses that you can't play a different one, you are seriously doing some thing wrong. Yes, I really like playing my 4001, but I also really like playing my Squier VMJ (which is what I usually use for practice) and then of course I really really enjoy playing my Spector. And I can kick ass on all of them equally.
Click to expand...

Same here. I'm proud of the fact I can play the way I want to play on a variety of different basses with various scales and string spacings.

I will say in a player's formative years it's probably better to stick to one type of bass once a comfortable one is found.
 
#198
You can have like 20 basses and play incredibly on all of them and yet you could be more incredible if you had focused on just 1.

Strange how people translate "you could be better with just 1 bass" to "you're bad because you play more then 1 bass" and getting all defensive.
 
#199
The idea behind what the OP said ... is that you focus on music and not put the focus on the instrument.

When you have one bass, you are more inclined to try to obtain many different tone out of it and try every technic instead of ... that bass is for that sound and that technic and on this one I can't get the technic to work so I bought it for that purpose etc.

So in a sense you are better because your bass is like your wife and you know how to obtain what you want from it. Many classical player are like that and nothing will stop them to obtain what they want from their instrument.

Also, with one bass you will have more chance ton find your unique sound/voice. Once you have it, you will have no matter what.
 
#200
How many DB's should a player have? One with an ebony board and spruce top and sides, another with stained maple board laminate sides but solid top, another one cedar top……

Consider also that many of them will simply rent rather than travel with their own.

If EB's were as precious as DB's Talkbass threads would dwell more on technique and musicality instead of constant gassing for instruments that are only marginally different from what's already owned.

IMHO.....
 

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