Poll: [update] If you're only playing high notes, are you still playing bass?

[Cadillac_Mike]

Wait, isn't the last option pretty much the same as the first one lol?

 

[Watchootognbout]

(cough,cough)....Manring....(cough).....

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm not sure if it's an algorithm thing or an increasing popularity thing, but it sure seems like I'm seeing a lot more 6-string players on Instagram and Youtube. A sixer is a cool instrument. In fact, I've been toying with getting one myself. But as a prospective 6-string owner, I have an honest question.

Most of these musicians don't really play bass-lines. The ones I'm seeing are mostly playing chords and melodies, all centered around the high C string, well above the 12th fret. It's beautiful, freaking impressive and I wish I was better at it myself. But in the end, when I want to do something chordal and melodic, I grab my electric guitar or maybe my nylon string.

Granted, It's cool and vibe and all to hear it on bass. But in my mind (in MY mind), that's not really bass.

Here's my thinking... If I told everyone I sang the bass part, they would scratch their heads if I opened my mouth and sounded like Sting. They'd say, "You're not a bass singer. You're a tenor." Isn't the same true for guitars?

So what are your thoughts? Keep in mind, I'm not talking about players who can do the bass and the melody together. That's a serious flex!! I'm genuinely curious what other bassists think about guys who play bass guitars but rarely play bass notes.

[I updated the title. It was not in line with the question... sorry!]

‘My thought is don’t notice the bass and where it’s being played, listen to the music. There had been a major shift away from bass parts that lead the song along by the nose. Rarely do bass part provide much in the way of structural logic for chord progressions as in the past. This changing of function of “Bass” has been going on for at least ten years.

As I’ve said on more than one occasion, us older rock thumpers are heading for the tar pits of musical history. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[tb-player]

(cough,cough)....Manring....(cough).....

Haha. You got me there. But to be fair, Michael Manring tunes usually incorporate bass with the melody. Dude’s an alien or something.

 

[rashrader]

I feel silly responding to this question, because I don’t want to validate it.

 

[Koshchei]

I'm not sure if it's an algorithm thing or an increasing popularity thing, but it sure seems like I'm seeing a lot more 6-string players on Instagram and Youtube. A sixer is a cool instrument. In fact, I've been toying with getting one myself. But as a prospective 6-string owner, I have an honest question.

Most of these musicians don't really play bass-lines. The ones I'm seeing are mostly playing chords and melodies, all centered around the high C string, well above the 12th fret. It's beautiful, freaking impressive and I wish I was better at it myself. But in the end, when I want to do something chordal and melodic, I grab my electric guitar or maybe my nylon string.

Granted, It's cool and vibe and all to hear it on bass. But in my mind (in MY mind), that's not really bass.

Here's my thinking... If I told everyone I sang the bass part, they would scratch their heads if I opened my mouth and sounded like Sting. They'd say, "You're not a bass singer. You're a tenor." Isn't the same true for guitars?

So what are your thoughts? Keep in mind, I'm not talking about players who can do the bass and the melody together. That's a serious flex!! I'm genuinely curious what other bassists think about guys who play bass guitars but rarely play bass notes.

[I updated the title. It was not in line with the question... sorry!]

What's a bass-line? The following uses almost the full range of the bass - four concurrent voices played in one take (the lowest notes are tapped):

 

[tb-player]

it seems like you’re just looking for a pointless semantical argument.

Nah… not angry bro. Just talking bass. It’s all good.

 

[tb-player]

What's a bass-line? The following uses almost the full range of the bass - four concurrent voices played in one take (the lowest notes are tapped):

That’s wild! Is this the point where I should say “You should buy a synth”? lol

JK. Very creative. I dig it.

 

[Koshchei]

That’s wild! Is this the point where I should say “You should buy a synth”? lol

JK. Very creative. I dig it.

It's a tribute to Wendy Carlos, who did the soundtrack to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange... I also wanted to do a demo of the BOSS SY-1 pedal that wasn't Andy Martin's excellent rendition of Subdivisions.

Here's a more conventional one that also uses the whole range of the bass:


or


Before you ask, yes, I did get a little bored during COVID. Should also mention that these were played on a 20 fret four string.

Bringing this full-circle though, bass has existed for at least hundreds of years, in all styles of music, across numerous instruments, played according to many harmonic and cultural lexicons and traditions. Shoe-horning it into a tiny portion of the range of one instrument in one genre is to completely miss the forest for the first five frets of a single tree.

 

[HolmeBass]

I voted yes, with the proviso that the player is still fulfilling the bass function.

That is, locking into the drums and playing plenty of root notes, and quite often on the beat that the chord changes on. This melds the bass, drums, and rhythm guitar and keys, if present, into a kinetic platform over which melodies and counter-melodies can appear to float above.

There are a million ins and outs and variations, but ultimately the bass function does involve root notes of chords on the changes, and preferably as the lowest note in the harmony. At least most of the time.

Peter Hook did a good job in Joy Division of playing fairly high on the neck and still fulfilling the bass function.

 

[truand85]

If you're playing high it doesn't matter what kinda notes

 

[Bonafide]

I've been playing bass since 1988. My favorite bass is a 5-string with 24 frets. I like it up there in the high notes. I just believe the bass has a primary function. And when I see guys ignoring that function for flash, I start scratching my head.

As I said in the OP, I've been looking at 6-strings. I may end up getting one. And who knows, I may end up posting a video of me doing the very thing I'm questioning in this thread. If I do, don't judge me. I'm just selling out for clicks and likes.

I wouldn't get too caught up this...(bolded)

The majority of musicians who are accomplished on 6 string are not playing for flash or 'likes'. A primary reason they choose 6 string or get interested in 6 string is for it's ability to reach extended chords, phrases, melodies etc. It is not the other way around. Not to mention playing chords or melodies on the bass has very little in common tonally with guitar.

 

[dave hope]

Weren’t you the bassist for Kansas at one time?

Ha, just joshing. You did a lot of stuff up high but you kept the band fat on the bottom too.

Thanks

 

[micguy]

I’m gonna just call it a grey area and move on.

 

[wilberthenry]

The, "there's a right way and a wrong way" take is not my take. One thing I love about music is the variety of approaches different musicians take. Listeners are always able to ignore what they don't like. Someone needs to come up with a custom bass with 5 frets (4 string of course) for those who hate high notes.

 

[tb-player]

Peter Hook plays on the high register and he's still playing the bass.

Peter Hook did a good job in Joy Division of playing fairly high on the neck and still fulfilling the bass function.

Peter Hook is the exception to every rule.

 

[GIBrat51]

Okay...
To answer the title's question; yes, I'm still playing bass. But, in my case the question's really irrelevant; mainly because what I play ( and, I haven't had to play anything I don't want to play in... well, longer than a lot of TB members have been alive) doesn't call for high notes, more than once every other Blue Moon. High notes, in my antediluvian musical world, being any note that requires me to go up past the 12th fret... TBH, the only time I go into High Note Territory is when I practice scales; or, after a string change setup, when I check intonation and to see if any strings are fretting out. I'm quite happy being mired in the late '50s thru... oh, about 1978 or so. My only 5-er is a 'long scale '63 ODE banjo; all my basses have 4 strings; only 3 of them are active (out of 25); and all my 6-stringers are actual guitars...

 

[tb-player]

Here’s an example of someone doing it right, in my book. Shew!!

 

[thewildest]

Its an amazing instrument. Sounds like a bass up to the 5th fret, then it becomes a guitar until the 17th fret, and from there on it turns into a zurna.
And if you play harmonics you enter the realm of dog-audio-spectrum and can play the husky waltz of the neutered Doberman.

 

[dkelley]

The instrument is called an electric bass. Or, sometimes, a bass guitar, although it should be more like "guitar bass" since it isn't a guitar in bass range as much as a acoustic double bass in guitar form.

The instrument can be called "bass" for short.

The instrument, in it's most basic common fender form, covers E1 through D# 4. That's higher than middle C on the piano! That's HALF of the notes on a piano covered by a 4 string fender bass!

I mean really.... are you holding an instrument called a Bass, and playing music on it? If so then you are playing Bass.

There are a TON of bassists outside of rock, metal and country who infrequently play in the lower octave of the instrument. Therefore, they could do nearly everything they do on a guitar. Are they guitarists? No. They are bassists.