I just recently watched a demo video for new La Bella Gold Tapewounds. Good strings.
Now, why, WHY, do demo videos for strings have to be so g@*-*@##^* slap-heavy!!!???
Most bass players still play mostly fingerstyle on the first five frets. Amateur and professional alike. We call it the "cash register" as opposed to the low register of dropped tuning or high register of flailing up the fretboard. Yes, I can do all that too. I refrain from doing it where it is not appropriate, which it is not appropriate more than it is.
I WANT TO HEAR FINGERSTYLES. Yes, that is plural: fingerstyles. Neck or mid pickup alone, bridge pickup alone, blend: Macca, Jamerson, Dunn, C. Kaye, Squire, Entwistle, Jaco, and the rest of the classic rockers and fusion of all decades, fingers and picks. And then there are all the jazz and country bass royalty that are on every album, modestly laying down all the famous lines in those genres, and which I should be able to list their names, but they aren't coming to me right now.
Make no mistake: Larry Graham is a monster of bass playing. Bass playing in general took a quantum leap and a paradigm shift with his playing. But he's not the only one. Bootsy, S. Clarke, etc., all relied on fingers as much as slap.
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE DEMO VIDEOS PLAYING SLAP TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL THE OTHER STYLES, just to make a percussive impression.
PLEASE -- everyone going forward, professionals, string reps, demo auditions, basement tapes, youtube excursions, PLEASE -- balance out the percussion with the styles that define the rest of proper bass playing and lay down the proper foundation and groove for the rest of the styles of music so we really know what those strings sound like.
Thank you.
Now, why, WHY, do demo videos for strings have to be so g@*-*@##^* slap-heavy!!!???
Most bass players still play mostly fingerstyle on the first five frets. Amateur and professional alike. We call it the "cash register" as opposed to the low register of dropped tuning or high register of flailing up the fretboard. Yes, I can do all that too. I refrain from doing it where it is not appropriate, which it is not appropriate more than it is.
I WANT TO HEAR FINGERSTYLES. Yes, that is plural: fingerstyles. Neck or mid pickup alone, bridge pickup alone, blend: Macca, Jamerson, Dunn, C. Kaye, Squire, Entwistle, Jaco, and the rest of the classic rockers and fusion of all decades, fingers and picks. And then there are all the jazz and country bass royalty that are on every album, modestly laying down all the famous lines in those genres, and which I should be able to list their names, but they aren't coming to me right now.
Make no mistake: Larry Graham is a monster of bass playing. Bass playing in general took a quantum leap and a paradigm shift with his playing. But he's not the only one. Bootsy, S. Clarke, etc., all relied on fingers as much as slap.
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE DEMO VIDEOS PLAYING SLAP TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL THE OTHER STYLES, just to make a percussive impression.
PLEASE -- everyone going forward, professionals, string reps, demo auditions, basement tapes, youtube excursions, PLEASE -- balance out the percussion with the styles that define the rest of proper bass playing and lay down the proper foundation and groove for the rest of the styles of music so we really know what those strings sound like.
Thank you.
