Jeez... I'm blaming that on my COVID. Plus, I forgot piano too, which is weird considering the one time I saw him perform live he played piano.
He opened for Ministry in 1986 and it was in the strangest place outside of Chicago in NW Indiana.
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Multi-instrumentalist bassists
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Jeez... I'm blaming that on my COVID. Plus, I forgot piano too, which is weird considering the one time I saw him perform live he played piano.
He opened for Ministry in 1986 and it was in the strangest place outside of Chicago in NW Indiana.
I think "keyboards" cover it. Cale did some wack viola stuff with Eno and Kevin Ayers as well. One of my greatest lifetime regrets, in terms of missing a performance, was being out of town when he did the entire Paris 1919 album with the UCLA Orchestra at Royce Hall about 10 years ago.
While playing a few different, but very similar fretted stringed instruments certainly qualifies to be considered a 'multi instrumentalist'. Maybe those who can add a variety including some of, wind, keys, percussion, or fretless stringed instruments would seem to really take the multi instrumentalist thing to another level. I suppose if you can then also add singing, songwriting, composition, production, mixing and recording, then you reach McCartney (and a few others) level of multiple abilities.
That's a bummer when that happens, you still regret it.
I saw Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds with Al Jardine and a ton of other Beach Boys songs at Royce in 2006.
I'm going to see Sunn O))) in the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in a few weeks. I didn't want to have regrets.
Yeah, how perfect is that? I'm on the fence on that one, it's a two hour drive in for me from where I am now, and I'm afraid they'll collapse the building
.
Yeah, how perfect is that? I'm on the fence on that one, it's a two hour drive in for me from where I am now, and I'm afraid they'll collapse the building
Me too!!
On the subject of « other » musicians, not bassists (yes, I'm off-topic 
).
Ralph Towner: twelve strings, classical guitar, piano (quite impressive BTW), synthesiser, percussions, trumpet and French horn.
).Ralph Towner: twelve strings, classical guitar, piano (quite impressive BTW), synthesiser, percussions, trumpet and French horn.
What a great LP. I had to listen to it a couple of times before I "got it". Thanks for the link. I'm going to listen to it to night. I have my front eyes pealed for oranges..LOL
Not many people mention Boney James, or not many other jazz groups or soloists. I would love the opportunity to play bass for a jazz group
Mike Mills from REM does the keyboard work as well as bass.
I'm guilty of this myself. For me it comes from being a "team-oriented player" I suppose. There were times when we felt like certain songs needed a mandolin. Well, the singer wasn't gonna play anything, the drummer couldn't hit a mandolin, and the guitarist wasn't guaranteed a mando solo so there I was grabbing one and figuring out what we needed. Can I play Mandolin? Enough for the songs we did, but I'm damn sure not a mando player. Then we wanted a Pedal Steel but couldn't find anybody remotely near us and anybody doing remote recordings at the time was well beyond our budget. I finally said just buy me one and I'll figure out the parts we need. And that's just what I did, I learned enough to write some parts for the songs and tracked them. They sound like I actually knew what the hell I was doing. Harmonica at the live show? Yup, threw a neck holder on and figured it out cuz we wanted to play that song. In all those instances my playing the extra instrument had nothing to do with my desire to be a multi-instrumentalist, I just wanted to do what the team needed me to do. Hell, that's what I do as a bass player, I do whatever the song needs me to do. When I was young I wanted to learn how to tap and play 64th-note triplets all day long, but eventually, I learned that the songs sounded much better when I did what they needed me to.
I think we as bass players might just be more mentally suited to do whatever is needed of us to make the song right.
I think that is a decent take on why it might be fairly common to see bassists covering other instruments. I know McCartney said pretty much that about why he ended up on bass, no one else wanted to do it so he said I'll do that. I mean, I realize this whole thread and premise is based on biased generalizations, but I think it's fair to say that there's a decent percentage of bassists that fit a role of doing service to the music. Also, straddling melody and rhythm certainly plays a factor as well.
As everybody else has already been mentioned - me! I play bass (fretted and fretless), guitar (6- and 12-steel string acoustic guitar, and 6-string nylon acoustic guitar), plus a bit of drums and a smattering of keys.
Mike Oldfield.
I play bass and studied classical guitar, electric guitar, fretless guitar and sitar. I try to divide my time equally across all instruments. Have played Chapman Stick for seven years, but I stopped it.
I play bass and studied classical guitar, electric guitar, fretless guitar and sitar. I try to divide my time equally across all instruments. Have played Chapman Stick for seven years, but I stopped it.
I won't give names but I know a bass player who can play 4 string bass, 5 string bass, fretless bass, acoustic bass, short scale bass, hollow bass and all variables.
Speaking of contemporary artists, Elise Trouw plays bass, guitar, drums, keys, and sings. She also does a hell of live looping using Ableton or whatever.
