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One Bass Only: A short treatise

#21
Eric Moesle said:
Jaco only needed one bass. :bassist:
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but he didn't only use one bass.

I think while maybe there are advantages to becoming extremely familiar with one bass, there are more advantages to having more than one. Example, a 4 string/5 string/fretless. Depends really on the type of player you are though. Some players just don't need all of those tools. Others who freelance in many styles maybe should have a few different instruments. Interesting discussion though.
 
#22
In the overall tonal spectrum, an electric bass is an electric bass. A P-bass can do what a J-bass can do and vice versa - and this carries over for every electric bass. We think that basses sound so different from one another because we're so used to listening to them and picking apart every element of their sound. To a guitarist or to an average listener, they probably wouldn't be able to tell which you were playing unless they saw it, or had experience with basses. Even bass players often can't tell them apart, as has been demonstrated here on TB with several blind tests including a J vs. P bass in a recording.

Consider it this way: In the world of classical double bass, you soon realize that every bass you pick up has a vastly different character, but to a cello/violin/viola player, they might only notice huge differences (like a 4k instrument vs. a 25k instrument). In addition - despite these apparent vast differences, there is no consistency forced in double bass sections - except perhaps that an instrument be of a certain quality level. There's so much tonal overlap between DBs that the nuances are actually quite small in comparison. Much more has to do with your playing and technique than the instrument itself. The same goes for electric bass.

Really the only reason to own more than one bass is for yourself. It's not as if you picked up a music man and it was all of a sudden incapable of doing pop, or you picked up a P-bass and all of a sudden it refused to be played in a jazz trio. In the objective musical world if you have one nice bass that plays well, is comfortable, and your technique is up to snuff, you'll be able to do everything out there and sound really good.
 
#24
I've been thinking about this recently (again - I have gone back & forth over the years). I'm not a professional musician and (within reason) I can buy the gear I "want". I have a lot of basses that I like, but to be honest more than I need, and I can't give all of them the love they deserve. I've never liked 5-strings, so that makes it easier, and having an upright has pretty much cured my interest in fretless electric bass guitar.

My "reasonably small" lineup would be a P-bass with flats, a Rickenbacker 4001 with rounds, a short-scale (probably a Danelectro), and an upright. (All of which I now own - plus more....) It's a very versatile lineup (altho admittedly vintage-oriented). Having the option to change neck profiles, string types and scale lengths helps me be creative and avoid repetitive stress issues.

If I limited myself to one of my current electric basses, it would be the Ric. Despite some drawbacks (kinda heavy, no forearm contour, and the goofy bridge) it's versatile and I like the neck the best of all.

Of course the perfect bass that I haven't tried yet is somewhere out there, calling out to me..... I should just sell them all, go to one of the bass specialty stores and start over.
 
#25
At the same time, even the classical players in the sections will use a second instrument for different situations - Chamber vs Orchestral vs pit etc. I can see the rationalization for, say, a fretless and/or 6 string for a working player in different situations.
 
#26
At a minimum I need a fretted 5+ string bass guitar, a fretless bass guitar and an upright. Different people pay me to play different instruments. If I sold the big bass, the people who hire me to play double bass would start hiring someone else.

Right now I have two "extra instruments" that I am contemplating selling. Really though, the extras, at least for me, are more about rotating different instruments in and out on the chance that I'll find one I like better than the regulars. I don't need to do it, but what the hey. I have a LITTLE spare money. Buying a house next week, so that will probably change.
 
#27
I too have thought about this a lot. I tend to be somewhat minimalist by nature. I also grew up in the era when most had 1 instrument, 1 amp.

I could do with just one bass, but I see having more than one as just having evolved along with the prolification and growth of electric/electronic music. Styles of music as well as types of basses have multiplied, so it's a lot more complex issue than just what you might be able to get by with.

I have fretted, fretless, long and short scales all, passive and active for justifiable reasons in that one can not duplicate the others traits. I did give up a five string and convinced myself that if I needed a low b, i can string one of my fours BEAD.

For myself, there is no conscience issue such as family, income, priorities, etc. but I can understand how you feel that way.
Believing strongly in balance, it seems to me things are not always black and white, and reasonableness allows us a place between the two extremes, more often than not.
 
#28
i spent so many years with only one good bass and an occasional crappy second bass due to being broke that there's no way in hell i'm going back to it ;) but i can certainly understand wanting to only have one. one is all you really need unless you're a big session-meister or you're unusually hard on them.
 
#30
Thanks for the many great insights! I'll admit that this is mostly a hypothetical musing, but it does have some roots in the practical as well.

I should have added the following up front: I am NOT a professional musician. I only have interest in playing certain, more common types of music (rock, blues, and the like). I don't slap, I don't slide, I don't play 8 octaves lower than a tuba. Therefore I have no need for anything other than a passive 4 string. I can't see a reason for me to ever want or need to go fretless, upright, long scale, or 5+ strings. Obviously this is nicely limiting for me, and helps in the whole choice process.

If I were a pro and needed that kind of versatility, then you certainly must have multiple instruments. A P bass will not sound like a true upright, no matter how hard you try!

My restrictive interests and needs in this context allow me a greater degree of choice simplification. Again, I am not holding anyone to my own standards or ideas. To each their own!
 
#35
I owned just one bass for 20+ years. Having more is just a luxury I've allowed myself while I can afford to. I can see a day down the road when, out of practicality, it will again be just one bass.
 
#36
I used to buy every bass that caught my fancy, and had a bigger pedalboard than any guitarist I'd ever played with. It brought me great joy.

One day my ears told me my tone wasn't "right". Nothing specific, just not making me happy. So I started tweaking knobs on my amp. And my compressor. And the bass I had strapped on. And a few other things in between. And I started thinking about how if I put down the passive jazz and picked up the active EBMM, I'd have to mess with the settings all over again. And at that moment I came to terms with just how much I dislike fiddling with knobs.

SIMPLIFY! Now I'm playing my #1 bass 95% of the time. It goes direct into my amp with the EQ flat. All "improvements" and adjustments are to myself. So much easier, and it brings me great joy.

Theoretically I'd like to be purist about it 100% of the time, but I jam with a wide variety of bands and in a more agressive context, a fretless with tapewounds won't cut through no matter what, so there's a fretted backup in the bag.
 
#38
It depends on your situation and why/how you play/view the instrument. For many years I either only had one bass or used one of the two I had exclusively. During that time however I was only playing in one band off and on (and/or doing some casuals), and I also wasn't really stretching myself as a player - just trying to get through the gigs.

Fast forward to today where I'm playing regularly (a couple gigs per week) in three different bands along with casuals. I'm studying with a teacher (after 40+ years of playing guitar and 20+ years of playing bass) and really pushing the boundaries of what and how I play. My instruments are pretty different - 4-string and 5-string fretless Rob Allens and a pair of Fenders (P and PJ). I also have a 5-string "modern" fretless, and that will be replaced by a pair of "modern" 5-strings, one fretted, one freltess.

Could I live with one bass? I suppose - it likely would be one of the fretless Rob Allens as that big fat organic tone moves me and supports some of the music I play perfectly. But then I would lose the P/PJ fretted thing, which works perfectly with the Steely Dan tribute band I play with. I supposed I could just have the PJ, but then I'd lose the fretless expression and vibe. And now I'm working on thinking differently about the instrument and want a few more frets so I can experiment with comping and setting up a pocket in different ways.

Long way of saying of course I could live with only one bass. But since I play very different styles of music and need to support very different sets of players, I feel like the music (and my personal engagement) is better served by using a couple different tools. That said sometimes I do put a round peg into a square hole and use the "wrong" bass for some gigs, if for nothing else to expand my ears and make me think about different approaches to the sound. But being able to pick up different tools that inspire me to expand my horizons is a luxury that I'm thankful to have right now. I do believe that "less is more," but mostly as applied to how I'm playing the instrument rather than the number of instruments I own.
 
#39
Owning just 1 bass might be extreme, but I think gigging with the same bass and being identified with that bass is cool. I love watching the famous guys play with their "signature" basses, but when they play with some other bass, I don't like it as much for some reason. It's also cool that most of these guys have a fairly unique bass that you can easily identify.
 

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