I saw this video on TV last night. What is the point of having Sting pretend to play doublebass for this video?
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Double Bass Sting
- Thread starter TroyK
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(Full Disclosure) - I dig the Police and Sting. FYI.
In the early 80's, with the advent of MTV/Music Videos, a famous NYC/Village Voice Film Critic, (J. Hoberman), once referred to MTV Music Videos as - "Sh***Y Little Movies".
Made me laugh.
Your Laughter May Vary and Your Mother May Wear Doc Martens.
In the early 80's, with the advent of MTV/Music Videos, a famous NYC/Village Voice Film Critic, (J. Hoberman), once referred to MTV Music Videos as - "Sh***Y Little Movies".
Made me laugh.
Your Laughter May Vary and Your Mother May Wear Doc Martens.
DB looks sophisticated. Sting loves to think of himself as being sophisticated (and probably loves the idea of others perceiving him as being sophisticated). 
A lot of times when a double bass is pictured in/on film/video, it's because of how great it looks. The folks "calling the shots" and their clients know that the double bass adds a cool factor.
I've actually met the man, and that's not fair. He is very confident, but he also knows what he's talking about and what you see is real.
According to the BMI, Every Breath You Take is the worlds most played radio song.
I can just picture it now. Sting opens the mailbox, and there it is, yet another royalty check for Every Breath, hidden between all the other cheques for the hits he’s had. I’m sure those are the moments he considers the opinions of an online bass forum...
I can just picture it now. Sting opens the mailbox, and there it is, yet another royalty check for Every Breath, hidden between all the other cheques for the hits he’s had. I’m sure those are the moments he considers the opinions of an online bass forum...
I believe he played EUB on this in the studio, in addition to a slab track.
Sting’s no Dave Holland (and Dave Holland is no Sting), but he does play the instrument enough to make $2,000.00 a day off of a song in which he used it.
I don’t know about the DB bit, but he had some amazing runs where he wrote some really great music. Not that he would care, but he has my respect for that no matter what others may think of his personality or lifestyle. Combat boots, etc.
He's the only artist I've seen so strongly object to the use of his given name, he's said in interviews that even his mother calls him Sting.
Funny, because it was all due to a bee-striped sweater he wore when he was a teacher:
I don't think he's stuck-up, but he's one of those Stiff Upper Lip Britons, quite serious most of the time.
I read his book & got the feeling he's stoic most of the time, even though it started out with he & his wife getting super-stoned!
RE: the bass arrangement,
Last year I watched their concert from a blu-ray (or DVD) at the local library & I'm sure there's more than one bass arrangement in the song, but my ears couldn't tell me if it's really DB or just electric-bass.
I assume it's a backing track, instead of a ghost player.
I honestly didn't mean to start this to bag on Sting. I like some of the early Police albums, I am neither a fan nor a hater...
...but he is not playing the doublebass in this video or on this track. In this case, what I see is NOT real.
I get it, it's an MTV video. But why not play the instrument that you play in it? I'll go with the producer/director made him.
...but he is not playing the doublebass in this video or on this track. In this case, what I see is NOT real.
I get it, it's an MTV video. But why not play the instrument that you play in it? I'll go with the producer/director made him.
Yeah, it's all about the image. Funny how he's not even trying to mime the rhythm of the actual bass part. EDIT: So there was a doubled part? Who knew?
Reminds me of a thing that happens in my house every time my wife and I are watching a film or show with "live" music in it. For the first few years we were together, she would ask me "are they really playing that music?", to which I would invariably answer "nope". Now, 21 years in, whenever musicians appear on screen, she just barely turns to me and raises an eyebrow, and I just roll my eyes and shake my head; the energy put into the reaction usually depends on whether an effort was even made.
The double bass is one of the most comical uses as a prop, since the actors who stand there miming often don't even know how to hold it. Props to Hugh Laurie, though, for actually playing the piano in a number of episodes of House!
Reminds me of a thing that happens in my house every time my wife and I are watching a film or show with "live" music in it. For the first few years we were together, she would ask me "are they really playing that music?", to which I would invariably answer "nope". Now, 21 years in, whenever musicians appear on screen, she just barely turns to me and raises an eyebrow, and I just roll my eyes and shake my head; the energy put into the reaction usually depends on whether an effort was even made.
The double bass is one of the most comical uses as a prop, since the actors who stand there miming often don't even know how to hold it. Props to Hugh Laurie, though, for actually playing the piano in a number of episodes of House!
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Awesome! DB FoodFight over a Police/Sting video from the previous Century!
The end of the world is near.
Say what you will about him - he sure hires great musicians and plays the (P Bass) Deep In The Pocket while singing live.
The end of the world is near.
Say what you will about him - he sure hires great musicians and plays the (P Bass) Deep In The Pocket while singing live.
Sting plays double bass and there are examples of him playing it on recordings and concerts. If I'm not mistaken there is both bass guitar and double bass on "Every Breath You Take". Here are the isolated bass parts.
Here's a video of him playing double bass in concert. The original recording featured a fretless Fender Precision.
- Steve
Why did anyone make some of the videos they did in the 80s MTV Days? Because it sold a lot of copies. Back in the days where even a minor hit made big sales of physical copies. They usually bought the whole album - not just the single.
He knew it would attract attention, and he knew how to play it.
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If you listen to the isolated bass parts you can hear that he's playing the upright bass part in the video, but not the more prominent bass guitar part.
- Steve
Sting also played double bass before The Police, so it's more than just a prop in a video. He used to play double bass with a trad jazz band which is where he got his nickname for wearing a striped jumper that made him look like a bumblebee. In this video you can hear him play his EUB with Jools Holland and Andy Summers and while his technique is not great, you can tell he has some knowledge of jazz bass line construction.
- Steve
- Steve
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As the story goes, Sting used most of his contract advance to buy his Italian bass in the late ‘70s.
He was working as a public school music teacher and living in a basement apartment outside London at the time.
Sound like anyone you might know?
He was working as a public school music teacher and living in a basement apartment outside London at the time.
Sound like anyone you might know?
He plays some DB, and says he has always aspired to be a DB player but can't really devote the time to it, and on many tracks (I don't know about this one) he recorded a DB line and a BG line and mixed them together. He seems to be alluding to that recording technique in this video, but i don't know if that technique is being done in this recording.
