Thoughts on Roger Waters as a Bass Player

[Phaidrus]

I consider Waters' bass playing on the "Live in Pompeii" video to be representative of his best work. He has a style all his own and I really like it.

Technically, he's nothing to rave about, but I think his playing is imaginative and fits the vibe of the band extremely well.

One thing to note is that Roger has stated in interviews that he actually doesn't like playing the bass and considers it a lesser instrument to the guitar or keys. He said that the only "instrument" lower than bass is the drums.

I've heard numerous bootleg recordings of live Pink Floyd shows from the 70s and Waters tended to play very sloppy with lots of bad notes, and he sometimes even drops out entirely, especially when he's singing.

I'm guessing it has to do with his apathy toward the bass. It's like he doesn't care to put in the effort for live shows. At least it seems that way to me.

I believe he mostly plays acoustic guitar during live shows for his solo work and he's quite sharp doing that with no sign of apathy at all.

Pompeii is a Pink Floyd milestone and indeed representative of Waters' bass playing. I was not aware of his value classification of instruments, with which I obviously do not agree. I like his minimal playing. In Careful With That Axe, Eugene, probably my favorite PF track, he is just playing octaves but this is exactly what the song needs for its moody atmosphere.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

My opinion of his bass playing tends to get colored by my opinion of the man: a Pluperfect Jerk. He seems to be the only guy who can really get under Gilmour's skin, which is an accomplishment with an otherwise nearly unflappable gentleman. His bass playing was adequate to the task, nothing more, and anything more imaginative or technical was almost invariably played by Gilmour., to who I give most of the credit for the best of Floyd musically and melodically. The first bass line I ever learned was Money, I'll call that one of Rogers few interesting bass lines.

 

[poochiecheeks]

As others have said he is a songwriter first and a bassist second. I saw his solo act in NYC recently and he only played his black and maple precision on songs where the bass was prominent- money, colour, etc. Otherwise he played guitar or nothing at all. Gilmour recorded a lot of the bass parts on the PF stuff, the fretless intro to Hey You for example.

 

[Artman]

I think he's a good bass player. As far as his bass playing is concerned, pretty much any competent bass player can fill the role equally well.
He wrote some unique songs that I don't think anybody else could have written.
Terrible singer in my opinion, but that's just my opinion.
As a person, he comes across as quite arrogant, so I don't blame the others for carrying on without him, but that's their battle, not mine.

 

[60bass]

Having been a Pink Floyd fan for literally decades. Plus having seen them live on tours, I can only say this. I never came away from any Floyd concert where I was saying my God the bass playing was killer.

Bass playing is just not what Pink Floyd is about. With the exception of Gilmour it seems like everybody else is just filler. They are there. They get the job done and they make the band great.

I feel the same way about Cliff Williams. When you hear him on record or see AC/DC live you never leap out of your seat and go Man that dude is a killer bass player. That said. He fits that band perfectly the same way. Roger Waters fits Pink Floyd.

 

[MVE]

Roger was the 2nd best bass player in Pink Floyd ... right behind David Gilmour.

I don't know, Rick Wright is probably the best overall musician among them. I bet if he picked up a bass he would get more out of it than Roger Waters.

 

[bassGtar]

In this thread I keep seeing Bass Player = Butler = Serves The Meatloaf.

I don't think it has to be this way. If you love the bass, check out some better music. IMHO the bass player can make the song by how well she harmonizes, moves and fills the music. All this talk of serving the music sounds like a capitulation to me. If a person is being creative, they are doing more than serving.

 

[JRT64]

I've read numerous bios and other books on Pink Floyd, and Roger Waters is quite open about the fact that Gilmour played the overwhelming majority of the bass parts on their recordings. In addition to his comments about bass being a lesser instrument that is not important, Waters was quoted as saying something like (I'm paraphrasing here), "I'm the greatest rock songwriter in history, why should I spend my time recording bass parts in the studio?" I wish we still had those books, as I'd like to be able to cite an actual reference here.

-Y

With egotistical comments like that (unless that were meant to be a joke IDK), I can understand why he and Gilmour didn't get along too well.

 

[micguy]

A lot of artists have studio musicians and road musicians.

Roger is David's road bass player. David is David's studio bass player.

Roger writes a lot of good music, too.

 

[buldog5151bass]

In general, Pink Floyd instrumental parts for all instruments are not that difficult, but are extremely well crafted and fit what the music needs. Gilmour is the "best musician".

 

[Ostie]

Adequate as a bass player. Arrogant as a human being.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Absolutely great. He's one of the top musicians of the 20th century. Legendary.

It's all about the context. Waters was a songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, singer and bass player.

 

[packhowitzer]

I think Dark Side of the Moon has some of the best bass parts and playing on a rock album. The P bass tone throughout is one of the best recorded bass tones on a rock album. What tracks are David and what tracks are Roger? Don't know! Don't care! It's just all great!

That's thing for me when it comes to pink floyd bass (regardless of who actually played the parts). It's the tone. In fact, I've always thought that the pink floyd albums of the 70s represent the pinnacle of what the technology of the day could generate. The bass tone sits in the mix perfectly. The guitars soar without being harsh. The keys and drums are present without over powering. And let's not forget the layers upon layers of sound effects and little details that make pink floyd a top choice for those looking to "expand their minds" lol.

Were they great musicians? hmm Gilmour and Wright probably were. But Waters and Mason were perfectly serviceable. But what they really were was masters of tone and effects. And I don't mean that to say that they were hiding behind effects. I mean to say that I've tried to replicate Gilmour's guitar sound on say Run Like Hell or Comfortably Numb. The effort of trying shows me just how much thought they (and their engineers) must have put into crafting the sounds that come through on the albums.

I've seen Waters in concert performing the The Wall. I watched his bass playing. It was ok, but nothing flashy. But his bass tone was thunderous. That powerful D note in Another Brick in Wall part II? yeah, it hit like a truck in concert.

I've been playing bass for 30 years and the sound in my head when I'm trying to fit into a mix is usually something Pink Floyd related. It's like the baseline that I calibrate to.

 

[Mike Sorr]

I've been a fan of Pink Floyd for over 30 years, I'm a guitar player for the same period of time. Always appreciated Syd Barrett and David Gilmour (and countless others). I've always dabbled with bass, graduating from a cheap one to a Squier Jaco, to a Fender Jaco and now at last a Wal Mk1. So, I appreciate bass (not a great player!). What are peoples thoughts on Roger Waters bass playing? From Piper to now? Apologies if this has been done already, but I'm new to posting. I think he's pretty good on reflection!

I thought I read somewhere that Roger only played live and not in the studio, and that either David Gilmour or Richard Wright wrote the bass lines on all of their songs. I know the fretless playing on "Hey You" isn't him. Can anyone back that up?

 

[HardNHeavy]

I never complain when i hear PF, so i guess he's doing something right. His playing isn't flashy, but classy. Sometimes "less is more"

 

[bolophonic]

Pink Floyd is probably the last band I think about when it comes to iconic bass players. As soon as I post this reply, I will likely forget which one is the bassist again.

 

[KidAmnesia]

I know Gilmour recorded and probably wrote a lot of those bass lines, but I read that Waters also acted as a producer/arranger for Gilmour's guitar parts and solos. Like Gilmour would record several takes and then Waters procedded to "edit" the final version with the best bits of each take and David would then learn it and record it.

And even if his playing wasn't "good enough" for the studio, I don't recall ever hearing him play sloppily in any live recording, he always had that massive and consistent tone and played his parts at least ok.

He wasn't the best singer in the band either.

 

[Ric5]

I don't know, Rick Wright is probably the best overall musician among them. I bet if he picked up a bass he would get more out of it than Roger Waters.

Roger was the 3rd best singer behind Gilmour and Wright

 

[Ric5]

Roger did a good job live.



I love the backline in this video, it looks like 4x12 cabs for gilmour and 4x15 cabs for Waters.
and I like the mixed speakers in the pa system

 

[mrjim123]

He is perfect for Pink Floyd, and one reason they are so hugely successful.