Thoughts on Roger Waters as a Bass Player

[Hot Rats]

My view is that Gilmour and Waters needed each other. They made their best music with each other. And they never reached that same height and level of creativity without each other. Waters solo projects are ok, but not super great. The Final Cut is the worst Floyd album. Floyd's Momentary Lapse is a good album but the Division Bell not so much (for me anyway). The Saucer project of Mason is nothing more than a tribute band. Not bad at all but not something I really have to see.

Yep, I agree, they were better together than apart but I dig Rogers solo stuff way more the Davids. Roger is a conceptual writer/artist and David is a guitar player trying to write songs. I am surprised Amused to Death wasn't more popular as it has Jeff Beck on guitar duties, but oh well.

 

[bobyoung53]

I saw Roger here in Lima a few years ago and he only played bass on one or two songs.

 

[Koshchei]

Alright, I knew this would evolve into a lame bash on Roger Waters thread, thanks for getting things really going.

I never bashed his songwriting or contributions to Floyd while he was active in the band. He played a creative role in some of the greatest albums of the 20th Century.

But since then, he's been an out of touch grumpy old man, an apologist for genocidal dictators, and first rate gadfly. I wish that I could separate Roger Waters the pain in the ass from Roger Waters the songwriter, but he makes it virtually impossible.

 

[Koshchei]

Just doesn't make sense unless you've been brainwashed by the corporate narrative.

You're just parroting the corporate counter-narrative that you've clearly been brainwashed by.

Seriously, give me a break. That sort of "if people don't agree with me, they must have been brainwashed" nonsense may be all the rage amongst the Morlocks on 4Chan, but it's worth nothing here.

 

[nomaj]

Compared to fellow bass players from the Prog Genre, like Mike Rutherford (Genesis), Chris Squire (Yes), Greg Lake (King Crimson, ELP) and Cyriel Havermans (Focus). His playing is conservative.

But he could get complex too. ("Money" is in 7/8 and is very hard to get right.)

Actually, "Money" is in 7/4 (except for the guitar solo, which is 4/4).

 

[Grinderman]

Like others have said, he get's the job done and whether it was Gilmour or him who played on the recordings, the bass serves the song very well in almost every single song.

This below is a perfect example..... how many bass players would be content, on what is a two chord song, to just play the root note for the entire song? One root note for 8 bars and then the other one for 4 bars, back to the original root note for 4 bars and repeat for the entire song.

With that tone, with that sound, I would; probably why it comes to my mind.

 

[tbz]

You're just parroting the corporate counter-narrative that you've clearly been brainwashed by.

Seriously, give me a break. That sort of "if people don't agree with me, they must have been brainwashed" nonsense may be all the rage amongst the Morlocks on 4Chan, but it's worth nothing here.

That would make sense if said narrative existed. It doesn't.

But continue to choose to be uninformed. Enjoy.

Side note re: your flea comment. How has he sucked the blood from that band lol. Maybe back up your point instead of arguing needlessly.

 

[DaveParker39]

It's kinda hard to gauge because we don't really know what all was Roger and what was David.
I think in a live context he did fine.
If Rick Wright was still alive and there was a Pink Floyd reunion my preference would be Guy Pratt on Bass, Roger does a lot of his performances just singing and not playing bass, or playing acoustic and singing.

 

[Ric5]

Roger is good with the gong

 

[Tim Skaggs]

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!

Waters and tens or hundreds of thousands other musicians from the mid-late 1960's started playing in bands very shortly after they started playing their instruments. (Beatles effect). Some got better, some quit, and a very small percentage landed a record deal. Of those that landed a record deal, a very small percentage had decent success, and of those that had good success, another very, very small percentage of them had decades of major success. Waters is (was) in that last small group. Waters was 24 when The first PF album was released, so, he was good enough from the start and improved with time. He didn't become a virtuoso on electric bass, but it wasn't necessary that he did. PF music didn't require (<insert your favorite bass shredder here>) level playing. If Waters would have achieved virtuoso level of bass playing, it would have been lost on most PF music. Maybe his writing would have been different if he had become a bass virtuoso, but would it have been as popular? The "what if" game has no end or winner, but Waters' bass playing seems to have reached the proper level to fit in existing PF music & the proper level to sustain PF on a positive trajectory after he started doing more writing.

An extreme example of this "garage band to legendary group" phenomenon is Adam Clayton of U2. He openly admits that he could barely play bass when the band formed. He didn't become a virtuoso, but he's well beyond beginner at this point.

To give a more direct answer to the question what I think of Waters as a bassist; good, but not necessarily great; accomplished, but not groundbreaking; adequate, but definitely not lacking; not a candidate for King Crimson, but not a shoe-in to replace Dee Dee Ramone. It's all all about the era when it comes to music & sports. The "best" at anything in 1970 might not be in 2022, or might still be best in 2122….

 

[Ric5]

Roger plays percussion

 

[Ric5]

this is totally Roger

 

[Pow R Tosh]

this is totally Roger

Ummagumma - most excellent album.

 

[N0sferatu]

Who cares, really? Nobody bought Floyd albums for the stellar chopsfest.

You know what? Jimmy imho there is more then shredding on a bass you obviously must like it like to be the background playing my grooves and just because I enjoy it. I am in my late 50's and I know what I like sooooo I will continue to do what I am doing and enjoying it. Have a nice life buddy

 

[Les Fret]

Ummagumma - most excellent album.

The live part is great. But from the individual pieces I only like half of them.

 

[Pow R Tosh]

The live part is great. But from the individual pieces I only like half of them.

The live album is excellent. It was also the first time I heard Astronomy Domine, as much as I hold Piper as my favourite album, if I had to choose, I'd take the Ummagumma live version with Gilmour. It absolutely soars!

Pillow of Winds is another great track I like - interesting that Roger is credited with fretless bass on this - at least on wiki! I wonder if it was actually Gilmour? Anyone know?

 

[SulzerType2]

You know what? Jimmy imho there is more then shredding on a bass you obviously must like it like to be the background playing my grooves and just because I enjoy it. I am in my late 50's and I know what I like sooooo I will continue to do what I am doing and enjoying it. Have a nice life buddy

Why are boomers always so hostile on the Internet?

 

[Pow R Tosh]

Love Grantchester Meadows and Narrow Way on the studio side. Love the early experimental stuff

 

[JimmyM]

You know what? Jimmy imho there is more then shredding on a bass you obviously must like it like to be the background playing my grooves and just because I enjoy it. I am in my late 50's and I know what I like sooooo I will continue to do what I am doing and enjoying it. Have a nice life buddy

What are you talking about? That was the whole point of my post. People bought it because it was good music, not a stellar chopsfest.

 

[tvbop]

how many bass players would be content, on what is a two chord song, to just play the root note for the entire song?

Only another bassist would say such a thing. I bet not one audience member or owner of the album has ever said such a thing, in other words in todays "Im cleverer than you" internet nightmare wankery environment we live in, basic bass playing in the appropriate situation is all that's needed. In fact its a heck of a breath of fresh air....I love it.