Roger Waters and Meddle

The great runs and melodic phrasings you hear probably IS Gilmour!

 

Its the question of the ages... which Floyd basslines were played by who.
Personally I have always thought that Rogers played bass on every album before 'The Wall'. If you listen, there is a huge jump in the quality of the bass playing on 'The Wall' then all of the albums before it. Its always sounded quite obvious to me that whoever played bass on 'the Wall' was not the same person who played bass on the other albums.
But after reading your post, I sat down and listened to 'Meddle' carefully, and yeah there is some excellent bass playing, especially on 'Echoes', its better playing then on subsequent albums. But I also noticed some small similarities to some of the playing way back on 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn', which was undoubtedly Waters.
Remember, when Pink Floyd first formed, Waters wasnt a songwriter or a singer, he was only a bassplayer, so he must have some skills as a bassist.
Its well known that as the band progressed Waters grew far less interested in the actual playing and focussed more on production, leaving the music side of things to Gilmour. Perhaps what may have happened is this: Waters, a competent bassist, reached his playing peak at 'Meddle', but that was around the time that he began to focus his interest away from playing and more towards production. As a result, he is less then passionate about his bass playing on future albums, and the basslines become lazy and simple, until 'The Wall', when musically Gilmour completely runs the show. Just a theory.
Jim

 

The bassist they have tour with them now is just awsome! Cant think of the name but he does all kinds of studio work and touring! He does some great funk work live!

 

Guy Pratt?

 

yes thank you!

 

In some of the older footage I recall of Waters playing bass, he almost looked awkward and out of place with it. He seemed far more at home in a production and experimental capacity than on his own instrument.

I recall there was this video where they performed some songs from Meddle in an old, open-air colliseum. I seem to remember him being most at home experimenting in the studio, but looking somewhat unhappy with a Precision in his hands.

For that reason, it wouldn't surprise me if some of PF's best bass was laid down by Gilmour. Being a long time PF fan, I've always felt so much of their work was about feel, from the intros to the solos. Gilmour is one of my favorites of all time, and I think he has more feel in his pinky than most guitarists will ever have in their whole repertoire. I think he would be capable of good things on bass.

 

Hes certainly not a good live bassist. He cant sing and play at the same time. Has anybody listened to his live album "In The Flesh"? He played bass in concert, but on 'Another Brick In The Wall pt2' when he sings that first verse, that distinctive bassline is nowhere to be heard, he just hits open E a couple of times, and its not until the choir takes over for the second verse that he starts playing the bassline to it.
Jim