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Oldest recorded bass guitar solo?

#81
Dr. Cheese said:
This is cool, but it does not give an example
of the earliest bass guitar solo.
Click to expand...
Dr cheeseyou are right but there are recordings in the tutmarc family. I jut don't know if there are any bass solos because I never asked.....also the serenader bass was made from 1947 to 1950....there are some old guys that still have their's and I never asked them either....so I'll ask. also what do we define as a bass solo, how many measures????

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#82
Bflat said:
Dr cheeseyou are right but there are recordings in the tutmarc family. I jut don't know if there are any bass solos because I never asked.....also the serenader bass was made from 1947 to 1950....there are some old guys that still have there's and I never asked them either....so I'll ask. also what do we define as a bass solo, how many measures????

View attachment 4235638
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I would say at least three or four measures of doing something besides the established bass line and the bass is either unaccompanied except for drums or other instruments are comping in support.
 
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#83
Bflat said:
Dr cheeseyou are right but there are recordings in the tutmarc family. I jut don't know if there are any bass solos because I never asked.....also the serenader bass was made from 1947 to 1950....there are some old guys that still have their's and I never asked them either....so I'll ask. also what do we define as a bass solo, how many measures????

View attachment 4235638
Click to expand...

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to market the Tutmarc bass again? Short scales are really big these days, and that bass looks really compact. I wonder if they were light too?
 
#84
There was a John Mayall album in 1970 called Empty Rooms. It includes a song called "To a Princess" which starts with a bit of Piano but it's basically a two Bass Duet with John Singing. It has a guess spot by Larry Taylor (Canned Heat) and Steve Thompson the Bluesbreakers bassist at the time. It may be the first electric Bass duet ever recorded.
 
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#87
Bflat said:

passinwind,
I called Doug Tutmarc for you today but he wasn't home I'l let you know what he says........
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Cool, thanks. I was sorry to miss your little GTG in Seattle when you did the pickup, a few of the guys who attended are pretty good friends of mine. It's a little far for a day trip for me although I still do that occasionally. I've seen the one at the old EMP exhibit and heard their more recent recordings and would love to hear it more in the context of how it was used with the Tutmarc amps and their family bands and whoever else was using them around Seattle. When I lived up there in the 80s I heard mention of the basses once in a while, but nothing really solid.
 
#88
Dr. Cheese said:
I wonder if anyone has ever tried to market the Tutmarc bass again? Short scales are really big these days, and that bass looks really compact. I wonder if they were light too?
Click to expand...

A couple of TB'ers have built pretty nice looking knockoff/tribute basses. I'll bet you could build one really light if you were optimizing for that.
 
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#89
Dr. Cheese said:
Wow! That bass fuzz solo really popped out of left field! It sounded like a trombone!
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It was the result of happy accident equipment malfunction, similar to Paul Burlison(Johnny Burnette)dropping his amp(resulting in a loose tube), creating a fuzzy sound on "Train Kept A Rolling", or Willie Kizart(Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston)dropping his amp, damaging the speaker which led to the buzz on "Rocket 88". On the Robbins track, the mixer channel that session guitarist Grady Martin had a six-string bass plugged directly into went on the fritz, but the producer liked the sound and left it as-is.
Otherwise, on this 1965 deep cut, Paul layed some fuzzy but thin 'lead' bass on top of his usual throbbing low end...
 
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#90
Jazz Ad said:
There were notorious bass solos by Jet Harris with The Shadows.
I don't know if it was the earliest but it was early.
Nivram was recorded in 1960 with a very solid solo on the bridge.

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Definitely a contender for 'earliest UK' as Jet Harris is generally agreed to be the first British P bass owner - though interestingly by circumstance rather than by choice. According to the official Fender P-bass history: "They were few and far between at first; in London, Invalid Link Removed bassist Terence "Jet" Harris (so nicknamed for his sprinting prowess at secondary school) had received one of the first ones — if not the first Precision Bass in Britain — in 1959. He'd just joined Cliff Richard's backing group when his Framus bass guitar was accidentally destroyed and a London importer gave him a Precision as a replacement." Can you even imagine a Framus bass in the Shad's line-up?!
 
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#91
No offence meant, but I absolutely hate jazz as much as I hate slap.
The most soleless electronic chunder ever recorded. Never changed my mind in 50 years of bass playing. Cannot stand the sound of it. I can't possibly be the only one? If that was the sound of music I would never have taken it up. Very thankful for Beatles, Cream and Free who taught us there were options.

Lennon once said that before Elvis there was nothing, but for me, before Beatles there was nothing.
 
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#92
Aussie Player said:
No offence meant, but I absolutely hate jazz as much as I hate slap.
The most soleless electronic chunder ever recorded. Never changed my mind in 50 years of bass playing. Cannot stand the sound of it. I can't possibly be the only one? If that was the sound of music I would never have taken it up. Very thankful for Beatles, Cream and Free who taught us there were options.

Lennon once said that before Elvis there was nothing, but for me, before Beatles there was nothing.
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Everyone has an opinion, just like we all have something else too.:D
 
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#94
hi Doc :)

Very interesting thread! :bookworm::bookworm::bookworm: :thumbsup: Good for the history channel! :D

Dr. Cheese said:
I am guessing Monk Montgomery around 1952.
Click to expand...

Or some other Jazz cat. Live Jazz gigs often were recorded and broadcasted (the good old radio days),

but sadly most of them were never released as records.

Back to gear talk: :D (historic)

scrumpymike said:
Can you even imagine a Framus bass in the Shad's line-up?!
Click to expand...

Yes I can! :D Brian Locking actually played Framus basses! :laugh: (he also played for Cliff Richards and the Shadows!)

And btw: Bill Wyman played Framus too (he even signed a three years endorsment in 1964!)

In the 50s Framus was the market leader in Europe

and among the first pro level instruments imported to Britain.

Fenders were rare birds! Terence (Jet) was lucky someone 'gave' him a Fender (did he have to pay for it?)

Protective import taxes made them too expensive to become popular. (Marshall plan)

So, yes I can imagine The Shadows with a Framus bass! (just like a lot of other bands)

:)



greetings

Wise

edit: sorry for the derail :D
 
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#97
Wisebass said:
hi Doc :)


Yes I can! :D Brian Locking actually played Framus basses! :laugh: (he also played for Cliff Richards and the Shadows!)

And btw: Bill Wyman played Framus too (he even signed a three years endorsment in 1964!)

In the 50s Framus was the market leader in Europe

and among the first pro level instruments imported to Britain.

Fenders were rare birds! Terence (Jet) was lucky someone 'gave' him a Fender (did he have to pay for it?)

Protective import taxes made them too expensive to become popular. (Marshall plan)

So, yes I can imagine The Shadows with a Framus bass! (just like a lot of other bands)

:)



greetings

Wise

edit: sorry for the derail :D
Click to expand...
You're right about the popularity of Framus basses back in the day. They were big on my radar too thanks to Wyman. I wasn't rubbishing them, just referencing the fact that the Shad's were always known as an all Fender lineup. Sorry for continuing the derail - I'm done now ;)
 
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