more basses = less skill?

[vin*tone]

How is this topic worth 14 pages??

I jump between my 5er, my 4er, my shorty, my upright, fretless ABG, my guitar and even a banjo.... The notion that that might actually stunt my development as a musician is flat out ridiculous.

 

[bass12]

How is this topic worth 14 pages??

I jump between my 5er, my 4er, my shorty, my upright, fretless ABG, my guitar and even a banjo.... The notion that that might actually stunt my development as a musician is flat out ridiculous.

15 now, thanks to you.

 

[ghiadub]

I have to kinda agree; I started out with just one bass as we all did. I was the best bass player around (my immediate vicinity). I eventually gravitated to other styles of music that required different sounds, so I slowly started accumulating basses.

As I started playing more styles of music with my new basses, I was exposed to more musicians. And better musicians, and all of a sudden, it seemed I was not the best bassist. not even close.

I had assumed that it was that I was just not as talented, but now that I think about it, it was kinda in proportion to the number of basses I own.

 

[Locki]

you gotta be kidding.

Skill depends on how much you practice, not how many basses you have.

 

[PazzoBasso]

Obviously true,

Also:
No Basses = Ultimate Bass Master

 

[makkE]

I can understand having a j, a P, a fretless, a 5er, a 6er - the basic models.

What I don't get is how some people have like 6 Rics or 10 different P's...

I can see myself having a J, a P or P/J and some fretless in the future.

I wouldn't feel right about having more than three basses though. Would feel like overkill.

 

[phillybass101]

This is an easy one. I've heard that before but if you ask anyone who can seriously play how many basses they own I'm almost certain the answer will be several. I am a no name hobbyist but I own 6 basses and I'm looking to buy three more in 2012. With the exception of a multi necked bass you can only play one bass at a time. The important thing is to spend enough time on a given bass to get to know it so that you can play it well when you have to. Each of my basses sound different. Some guys that hire you will tell you what kind of sound they liked. I played with a blues/rock guitarist (his gig, he was paying) and he was admant that I play my Fender Jazz. for some other gigs, the leader didn't care or have a preference. You should have the correct bass for the occasion that's what I'd say. To me the bassic sounds are p-bass, jazz bass, SR, and ric. Any boutique can come close to these if you don't own a fender or a MM. I'm not a rocker so there may be other options as well. If you don;t have alot of money and needed a gig worthy bass you couldn't go wrong with let's say a Squire Vintage Modified. For their costs you could easily afford after a few gigs a 4 string whatever (jazz or P) and a 5 string Jazz for a total of $629 or so. Add another $250 or so and get the fretless as well. For less than a grand you could have the P and Jazz and fretless covered.

 

[RonChase]

How would one account for John Entwhistle,he had a staggering collection

 

[bunkaroo]

How would one account for John Entwhistle,he had a staggering collection

Well he must have sucked. Duh!

 

[kcole4001]

I can understand having a j, a P, a fretless, a 5er, a 6er - the basic models.

What I don't get is how some people have like 6 Rics or 10 different P's...

I can see myself having a J, a P or P/J and some fretless in the future.

I wouldn't feel right about having more than three basses though. Would feel like overkill.

Overkill?
Not really.
I have 6, and couldn't possibly justify getting rid of any of them.

Ricks:
4000: I've had it since 1986, my first good bass, plays beautifully, makes an excellent backup to my main bass now.
4001: tuned down 1/2 step and wearing Chromes for my oldies band.
4003: sporting a Hipshot D Tuner, my main bass.
4080: always wanted one (big Rush fan), not gonna sell it, no way. Someday I hope to have a set of Moog Taurus III bass pedals.

Peavey Millenium BXP5: my only 5 string for when I need one.

Squier VM Jazz: basically, most folks gotta have a Jazz, will eventually be fretless (basically a cheapo Jaco clone).

They all serve different yet similar purposes.

 

[bassbenj]

I can understand having a j, a P, a fretless, a 5er, a 6er - the basic models.

What I don't get is how some people have like 6 Rics or 10 different P's...

I can see myself having a J, a P or P/J and some fretless in the future.

I wouldn't feel right about having more than three basses though. Would feel like overkill.

You've already figured it out and STILL you are going to feel guilty about more than three? You are already up to 3 basses (J, P, fretless) and you aren't even off of Fender yet! I've got 4 strings, 5ers (fretted and fretless) 6ers (fretted and fretless) J, P, semi-hollow body acoustic, 8 string (doubled), 7 string (fretted) plus a number of cheapo fretted and fretless "bar basses" I don't have to worry about. I think it's pretty obvious that no ONE of these basses can do the job the other ones are doing.

Sure if you play in one band with one kind of music and your bass is perfect for it, that's all you need. But in my experience sooner or later you get roped into doing music you never ever thought you'd end up doing. And when you do your bass may no longer be so perfect. And that means another one. Sure, you could sell the old one to make sure you never have more than one bass, but are you SURE you'll never be playing the old stuff again? Cripes, usually you end up playing BOTH. Just multiply that couple more times and that's where some of us are coming from.

Although the TB-style question, "if you could only have THREE basses which would they be" is an interesting one.

 

[metron]

Pssssst hey thread! Your premise is a logical fallacy. Go away!

 

[XylemBassGuitar]

Also:
No Basses = Ultimate Bass Master

This is definitely my favorite quote of the thread.

 

[Tom Howland]

More basses= More money.

Just more crayons in the box of tone.

 

[dvh]

More basses= More money.

Just more crayons in the box of tone.

Can you actually vouch for that? Has having more basses brought you more income than if you'd had only one or two?

Genuinely curious....

 

[bunkaroo]

Can you actually vouch for that? Has having more basses brought you more income than if you'd had only one or two?

Genuinely curious....

I took his post as more basses means the persoan has more money to spend on basses. I don't see how having more basses would make you more successful commercial unless you ran a studio for bassists who wanted variety or something like that.

 

[mikeswals]

more basses = less skill?

I'm perfectly okay with it.

 

[Korladis]

Ideally I'd have a backup bass for every tuning I use. Currently that's two tunings. I have three electric basses. I need a backup for my BEAD bass if I start gigging seriously with that one as a main.

 

[Christian Joseph Allbee]

I think that the reason some people who have more basses have less skill because they might be more concerned with the different sounds you get out of different basses than with how well they actually play. Others who have more basses are quite skilled.
I myself have only two basses (one electric and one acoustic) and I'm satisfied with both of them. However, since they're both different (the electric has a short-scale Jazz-type neck and the acoustic has a medium-scale Precision-type neck and bulkier body), I have to change my playing technique when switching between them. They have served me well and I don't see myself getting another bass (unless it's a bass ukulele or one of my two basses gets broken or stolen).

 

[Moe Monsarrat]

I don't know who's making those kind of sweeping generalizations, but I have probably 20 basses and I can play ALL of them really well.....just sayin'.