Rock bands with no bassists

[tdelamont]

I think key bass can work, particularly in the studio where you can control the mix. A lot of 80's pop had only left-hand bass. And you have some whomping subs , it can work live, but you generally need two things: A really good keyboardist who is not just chunking eighth notes, and a drummer with a heavy foot to move that air that a keyboard can't. I'd rather see a really good trio with a left-hand bass than a mediocre 4-piece with a bass player just banging out root notes all night.

 

[7dollarbologna]

Yea, I hate when that happens ... but hey, whatever get's you to the sound you seek in the end is fine.

I'm going to start with the obvious ... The Doors

I always thought they recorded with a real bass player, and toured with out one.

 

[jmverdugo]

Carolyn Wonderland has no bass player in her band and the keys guy does a very nice job, pretty cool tone too.

 

[Shardik]

The White Stripes (duh)
Early Black Keys

I have covered The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" including myself on bass. Works fine. I even think I used a couple of notes below the deep E on a standard guitar. I think the bass thump suited the song.

 

[Camaro]

Leningrad Cowboys.

 

[SamJ]

Rock bands with no bassists.........


... Aren't rock bands!

 

[dabaumtravis]

I have covered The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" including myself on bass. Works fine. I even think I used a couple of notes below the deep E on a standard guitar. I think the bass thump suited the song.

I also like to play 7NA on my bass. In fact, it was the first song I learned when I started playing.

 

[Lebowsky]

these guys are only 1 guitar and drums:

 

[ferdinandstrat]

Local H



Darediablo....well depends when. Their guitarist/bassist when he's not playing bass lets the keyboardist handle the bass parts on the Hammond, like in the track above.



Black Cobra

 

[sl0pch0p]

 

[HaphAsSard]

ATTILA!!

 

[Nephilymbass]

Sometimes it's annoyingly weak sounding to hear a band without a bass player, other times there's guitar players that want to be bass players so bad they're playing 8'strings or 30" baritone guitars tuned down to E and I think it's kind of flattering. For example Meshuggah. I love Meshuggah. But I don't listen to meshuggah and think "oh my gosh, why do the guitars have to invade the sonic space of the bass" I listen to meshuggah and hear 3 bass players and as a bass player I think that's cool. Another example is Tosin Abasi from animals as leaders double thumbing his 8 string like Victor wooten. Most of those types of bands do have real bass on thier albums. In fact if I'm not mistaken Nolly from periphery tracked bass on the latest animals as leaders album which imo is by far their best sounding album. I have seen more and more bands playing without a bass player though. I've even seen a couple bands that play along to pre recorded bass usibg a laptop setup that also provides click tracks and samples and stuff. It's whatever. If a band sounds that annoying I just won't listen to them. If we're at the club it's normally a good time to go outside and give my ears a break.

 

[DinoRock]

I always thought they recorded with a real bass player, and toured with out one.

Correct. A variety of bass players in the studio, some more regularly than others.

 

[ferdinandstrat]

Sometimes it's annoyingly weak sounding to hear a band without a bass player, other times there's guitar players that want to be bass players so bad they're playing 8'strings or 30" baritone guitars tuned down to E and I think it's kind of flattering. For example Meshuggah. I love Meshuggah. But I don't listen to meshuggah and think "oh my gosh, why do the guitars have to invade the sonic space of the bass" I listen to meshuggah and hear 3 bass players and as a bass player I think that's cool. Another example is Tosin Abasi from animals as leaders double thumbing his 8 string like Victor wooten. Most of those types of bands do have real bass on thier albums. In fact if I'm not mistaken Nolly from periphery tracked bass on the latest animals as leaders album which imo is by far their best sounding album. I have seen more and more bands playing without a bass player though. I've even seen a couple bands that play along to pre recorded bass usibg a laptop setup that also provides click tracks and samples and stuff. It's whatever. If a band sounds that annoying I just won't listen to them. If we're at the club it's normally a good time to go outside and give my ears a break.

The problem is that we force on ourselves these non existent, invisible guide lines such as "invading sonic space" and other thing. While it may qualify as preferences a lot of people view these preferences as guide line and boundaries they are not willing to step out of.

There are no rules to music, people can do whatever they want. Whatever sounds good is a relative subject anyway.

 

[spanndrew]

Sounds like rock to me

 

[DinoRock]

The problem is that we force on ourselves these non existent, invisible guide lines such as "invading sonic space" and other thing. While it may qualify as preferences a lot of people view these preferences as guide line and boundaries they are not willing to step out of.

There are no rules to music, people can do whatever they want. Whatever sounds good is a relative subject anyway.

I think there is a very good chance that in X [you all can fill in the X] number of years, music will be made without physical guitars and basses and microphones and keyboards etc. I think that X is such that the younger demographic on TB, maybe the HS folks, will live to see this in its entirety. I think that us baby boomers might see a real movement in this direction before we cash it in. Certainly, there are many "records" being made today that are done mostly "in the box," i.,e., by using features of a DAW.

 

[ferdinandstrat]

I think there is a very good chance that in X [you all can fill in the X] number of years, music will be made without physical guitars and basses and microphones and keyboards etc. I think that X is such that the younger demographic on TB, maybe the HS folks, will live to see this in its entirety. I think that us baby boomers might see a real movement in this direction before we cash it in. Certainly, there are many "records" being made today that are done mostly "in the box," i.,e., by using features of a DAW.

I fear that day has already come.

 

[pklima]

I think there is a very good chance that in X [you all can fill in the X] number of years, music will be made without physical guitars and basses and microphones and keyboards etc. I think that X is such that the younger demographic on TB, maybe the HS folks, will live to see this in its entirety. I think that us baby boomers might see a real movement in this direction before we cash it in. Certainly, there are many "records" being made today that are done mostly "in the box," i.,e., by using features of a DAW.

Yeah. I already don't play bass on any songs I produce, not even the acoustic ones. Instead of spending 10 minutes recording a bass part, I spent more than a hundred hours recording and trimming samples, so I can then spend a half hour programming a bass part. Sure it's a lot more work, but I'm convinced it sounds better.

But it'll be a while before we can do it without microphones. Sampling vocals is the last frontier - I'm trying to dabble in that, and it's hard to get any semblance of natural-sounding pronunciation.

And rock bands are more retro, they insist on doing things the old-fashioned way.

 

[Laza]

the rolling stones

 

[Vince Klortho]

One of the best shows I ever seen was Steppenwolf in the mid-80s at a small place in Corvallis, OR that's now gone. That was a really great show for a variety of reasons that I won't go into. I saw them again a couple of years later and the keyboard player played the bass lines. I saw them another time a few years after that and again there was no bass player. I didn't like their sound without a bass player so that was the last time I saw them and I won't see them again unless they have a bass player. To me, their sound loses a lot without a bassist. Probably because I know practically all of their songs and the keyboard guy was playing the lines too differently.