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Only One Bass?

#161
Dr. Cheese said:
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:
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Having played bass for almost 30 years myself - in bands, in the studios, and as a session bassist - one needs only three basses: A (Fender) Jazz Bass, a (Fender) Precision Bass, and a single H Stingray 5. I have all three and I know if I get asked to write a bass line for someone else’s song, I have access to whatever sound they’re looking for.
A fretless is also good to have, yet not necessary. If a fretless is played the way it’s supposed to be played, it can be a great too for ear training and for honing ones note accuracy skills. The problem is that I have seen quite a few bassists playing the fretless as if it were a fretted bass. The fretless was my main instrument when I was in my early through mid-20’s, and not playing it like it was meant to be played doesn’t make sense to me.
 
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#162
Kevin Lynch said:
Having played bass for almost 30 years myself - in bands, in the studios, and as a session bassist - one needs only three basses: A (Fender) Jazz Bass, a (Fender) Precision Bass, and a single H Stingray 5. I have all three and I know if I get asked to write a bass line for someone else’s song, I have access to whatever sound they’re looking for.
A fretless is also good to have, yet not necessary. If a fretless is played the way it’s supposed to be played, it can be a great too for ear training and for honing ones note accuracy skills. The problem is that I have seen quite a few bassists playing the fretless as if it were a fretted bass. The fretless was my main instrument when I was in my early through mid-20’s, and not playing it like it was meant to be played doesn’t make sense to me.
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In my opinion, the fact that a fretless bass does not have to be played with constant mwah makes it versatile.
 
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#163
Kevin Lynch said:
Having played bass for almost 30 years myself - in bands, in the studios, and as a session bassist - one needs only three basses: A (Fender) Jazz Bass, a (Fender) Precision Bass, and a single H Stingray 5. I have all three and I know if I get asked to write a bass line for someone else’s song, I have access to whatever sound they’re looking for.
A fretless is also good to have, yet not necessary. If a fretless is played the way it’s supposed to be played, it can be a great too for ear training and for honing ones note accuracy skills. The problem is that I have seen quite a few bassists playing the fretless as if it were a fretted bass. The fretless was my main instrument when I was in my early through mid-20’s, and not playing it like it was meant to be played doesn’t make sense to me.
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What he said.
If someone else is calling the shots, those are the essential 4, although Sadowsky can replace the Jazz.

Otherwise, express yourself.

My main axe is now a $500 Sterling Stingray.
 
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#166
Dr. Cheese said:
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:
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Getting to know you on this site, I can say with 100% certainty that you will never have less than 14 basses...haha :bassist::roflmao::laugh:
 
#167
kosmicwizard said:
You should really check out F basses, I love them in natural, but they look incredible coloured as well, often you can still see the wood grain through the colour sprayed over it. :O
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Haha, yeah my bass enabler keeps trying to tempt me with F Basses when they come into the shop. They are cool, and it is entirely possible I may end up getting one at some point, but for now I'm more of a Dingwall guy.
 
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#168
4StringDave said:
What's that....?
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Like a drug dealer, but for bass.

In my case, he works at my local music shop and is an prolific voice for the bass playing community in my area. Pretty well every serious bassist in town knows him and buys stuff from him. He's the kind of guy who knows a lot about a lot and is constantly promoting cool gear.
 
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#169
Dr. Cheese said:
In my opinion, the fact that a fretless bass does not have to be played with constant mwah makes it versatile.
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I never said that. Yes it is a versatile bass, but it is also a unique one in its own right. IMO, why play it if one is only going to play it like a fretted bass? I never see Gary Willis, Pino Palladino, Jah Wobble, Mick Karn, and all of the other great fretless players only playing their fretless basses like fretted ones. The “mwah” as you say, is what makes it a unique instrument. Again, I played fretless for many years and modeled my playing after some of the greats (the ones I’ve mentioned and more) because I wanted to learn all about the fretless and approach it as a completely different instrument. Like they did. And if one really learns all there is to learn about the fretless, one will see that it is a completely different instrument than that of its cousin the fretted bass. Playing it like a fretted and only playing it that way would not be taking advantage of its versatility. It would be missing a huge opportunity to learn, IMO.
 
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#170
Edgetone said:
This. Absolutely this!

Like @Discount Saint, I played one bass for years, a CIJ Geddy Lee Jazz. I went to Long & McQuade to get new strings in 2016 and walked out with a Gibson SG bass. I never gelled with it, but it opened the door to the fact that there were so many other basses I could play. I bought a Dimension 5 Deluxe the next year, then over the next three years went through a ton of basses, including another CIJ Geddy, a USA Geddy, Hagstrom Super Swede, Ibanez SR1300, Music Man Caprice (x2), American Standard Precision, Reverend Mercalli 5, L2000, LB-100, Kiloton 5 Fretless, L-2500 and BB2015x.

I've been working more on my Minimalist progress, so I've been able to move many of these along and am currently down to three. I set myself a rule that I now play only 5 string and that I must have block inlays (other than my fretless which has no lines). These strict specifications seem to have helped as very few basses seem to have both of these.

G&L has become my go-to brand, and the L-2500 has become my main player. I've got a custom order on the way (someday) and then the current one will move along.

Currently I'm reconsidering my "rule" about only fivers now that I've become more proficient with 5 strings. I'm considering a G&L JB and/or a Matador.
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It's funny, talking about "rules". I also have rules around the basses that I buy. One is that I'm really not interested in standard Fender shapes (Jazzes and Precisions, etc), and the other is that I don't buy the same bass twice. I like to collect basses that are awesome and well constructed, but visually interesting and not completely common.
 
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#171
Discount Saint said:
Like a drug dealer, but for bass.

In my case, he works at my local music shop and is an prolific voice for the bass playing community in my area. Pretty well every serious bassist in town knows him and buys stuff from him. He's the kind of guy who knows a lot about a lot and is constantly promoting cool gear.
Click to expand...

Ah! I need one of those........... or maybe not if I want to remain solvent...!
 
#172
I'm pretty sure that my one bass would be my Roscoe fretless 5. I can do anything on that bass. It doesn't have to "sound fretless" all the time. I can't make my fretted 5 sound fretless though.
I love my P bass,but the 5 would cover a wider variety of gigs - like church and jazz - than the P or even the fretted 5.
Yes, the almighty P bass can do anything, I get it, and I really like mine these days, and I play it a lot, but the fretless 5 would do anything I need.
 
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#176
I've currently got 12 basses. If I was to get rid of all but one it'd be a tough choice for me between The Mothman, and my ESP LTD B-55. But at the end of the day I'd probably keep the ESP since I had a Hipshot tremolo bridge installed on it.
 
#177
Kevin Lynch said:
I never said that. Yes it is a versatile bass, but it is also a unique one in its own right. IMO, why play it if one is only going to play it like a fretted bass? I never see Gary Willis, Pino Palladino, Jah Wobble, Mick Karn, and all of the other great fretless players only playing their fretless basses like fretted ones. The “mwah” as you say, is what makes it a unique instrument. Again, I played fretless for many years and modeled my playing after some of the greats (the ones I’ve mentioned and more) because I wanted to learn all about the fretless and approach it as a completely different instrument. Like they did. And if one really learns all there is to learn about the fretless, one will see that it is a completely different instrument than that of its cousin the fretted bass. Playing it like a fretted and only playing it that way would not be taking advantage of its versatility. It would be missing a huge opportunity to learn, IMO.
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I agree, but I like trying to sound fretted and just adding a bit a fretless vibe to spice things up sometimes.
 
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#178
SteveC said:
I'm pretty sure that my one bass would be my Roscoe fretless 5. I can do anything on that bass. It doesn't have to "sound fretless" all the time. I can't make my fretted 5 sound fretless though.
I love my P bass,but the 5 would cover a wider variety of gigs - like church and jazz - than the P or even the fretted 5.
Yes, the almighty P bass can do anything, I get it, and I really like mine these days, and I play it a lot, but the fretless 5 would do anything I need.
Click to expand...

I would like to see pics of these Roscoes.
 

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