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Playing with two bassists

#41
lz4005 said:
One bass, standard tuning. One Bass VI tune B-B. One Bass VI tuned F-F, capoed to F# so he has an open B on the second string. Piano player doubling bass parts with his left hand a lot of the time. And a bass clarinet in the horn section.

I'm pretty sure this is Mike League's Big Bottom. That arrangement had to start out as an inside joke. It works, but it's ridiculous.
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You've got better sources than mine. The liner notes on Family Dinner call it as two baritones and electric bass. :thumbsup:

And you're right about it working while still being ridiculous. In lesser hands it would have been like trying to eat a sticky bun made entirely out of cinnamon. ;):cool:
 
#43
Why are people encouraging one of you to switch to a different instrument? That's not what this thread is about. He's not a professional musician, and I'm sure they are playing bass because they like it.

Of course, it's not a common choice, but depending on the type of music you're making it could work. It depends how creative you are.

Another option could be one of you playing piccolo bass or something.
 
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#44
i've been in a number of "downtown nyc" 2-bass bands, and the combination always sounded great. there's a lot of power & depth in a 2-bass approach. i'd say go for it. you don't need any special tunings etc, just ears
to arrange what sounds best.
depending on the material, it can be a powerful approach to rock stuff, just about anything, and is definitely unique. i predict that some media-darling will come up with a much-publicized project with 2 basses and the whole scene will run to copy the idea. hey- get in early and be a "change agent"!
 
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#45
Ellington carried two basses for - I believe - two separate (short) periods.

I seem to remember Monk having two basses at some point.

Coltrane definitely had two basses from time to time, as well as two drummers for a while till Elvin threw up his hands and quit.
 
#46
40Hz said:
Here's a good example of an arrangement for a whole lotta lows that actually works. One bass plus two baritones. Sounds great. But not everybody is a master writer/arranger like Mike League - or in as incredibly tight and tasteful an ensemble as Snarky Puppy.



And even granted that, I don't think I'd want to sit through a whole set of this kind of sound. And I'm a bass player.

So…think it through. I don't doubt somebody can make it work full time. But it remains to be seen who will. Even Royal Blood (who really push what you can do with bass) gets tiring (for me anyway) shortly after their second song.

But maybe that's all just me. YMMV. :cool:;)
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Ooh, I gotta listen that one. Just started that album and the accordion gal singing in French was too hot for my ears. But, I digress.
 
#47
Thumb n Fingers said:
As mentioned above, finding gigs or gaining a following might be tough.
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My experience was actually quite the opposite. I think the novelty of being "that band with two bass players" got us a lot more attention than we maybe deserved.

MYLOWFREQ said:
Sounds like a nightmare to me :nailbiting::bag:
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I have to admit, by the end of that band, I was very sick of sharing the spot. When the other guy quit, everybody thought I'd either be upset, or start auditioning for another bass player. The reason why is because the band evolved to where the other guy was doing all the bass playing, and I was basically a soloist (it was wannabe fusion stuff). But you know, if I really wanted to play solos all night, I would have taken up sax or something.

I certainly don't regret playing with that band, though. For one thing, the other bassist was a master of feel, and I learned a lot just from playing next to him week after week. For another thing, being in that band opened some doors for me, and led directly to my current group. So, OP, I say go for it. What have you got to lose?
 
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#49
Wow !! 2 bassist ??
Well, as a guitarist you will need to pace yourself since it can get real busy and go sideways and you may feel like your loosing ground..
Sorta of like going to bed with 2 chicks .... you will need to pace yourself and watch out they dont leave you burnt out and then you become a spectator...
 
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#51
Yeah, despite the examples of various bands doing this, the Science of Sound (Acoustics/Physics) is against you. Unless, as noted, "one guy goes high, VERY high, other guy stays low, and has a different tone." Even then, it's a novelty.

If you're starting out, no, don't do it. First learn about music, Acoustics, the Harmonic series, frequencies mixing, esp. very low frequencies...and switch to guitar.
 
#54
I usually set the last half of any bass lesson with my students to be a two-bass player jam session... just having a musical dialogue to develop melodic, rhythmic and traditional bass line creation skills with two bass guitars. The notion of starting an original project that arises out of this has crossed my mind, though. It would definitely require two bassists who have the musicality and technical ability to fulfill different ensemble roles other than just "the bass player". :)

So far I was able to pull it off virtually last Summer in this video interpretation of a famous console game theme I grew up with:



And most recently, with an original composition I recorded last month featuring 2 basses (I tracked the melody line 1st and then the bass line) to drums and vocoder:

 
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#57
Grimaldi said:
I'm a young and inexperienced player for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but as I said in a previous thread, I am looking to start a band. As it turns out the solid majority of people I know who play any instruments at all play bass, oddly enough. I was wondering about jamming and or gigging with multiple bassists and if anyone has any positive (or negative) tales to tell about experimenting with this. I know this isn't the sub for this type of advice, but I'd also appreciate advice on any effects or techniques that could help to differentiate two bassists while playing (I use a jazz bass, but most people I know play p bass, which definitely changes things a bit to start)
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One of the sickest local bands that used to travel And play here had two bass players. The lineup was drums, sorta a 80s inspired lead guitar player, female singer, a more traditional bassist who played a 4 string Spector pick style through an ampeg rig but what really made them stand out was the "second bass player" he alternated between 6 string bass and a Chapman stick and played them through a Roland keyboard amp and would trade off with the lead guitar player as far as playing rhythm and lead stuff. hed do some great tapping parts, rhythm guitar like parts and used effects tastefully.
 
#60
Clef_de_fa said:
E down to B is down a 4th and E up to B is going up a 5th ...

Just like going from E up to G# is going up a major 3rd and going E down to G# is going down a minor 6th

etc
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Yes. And the convention is that the strings are a fourth apart. So like he post said, tuning one bass BEAD is tuned down a fourth.

Mandolins and violins are tuned in fifths. Basses in guitars in fourths. Now, some do tune basses in fifths; a search will tell you more.
 

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