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We bassist are so under appreciated!

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Eric Albany

May 22, 2011
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#1
We bassist are so under appreciated! We are always second or third to the guitarist(s)! I mean, why can't we be the most dominant sound in a song second only to the singer(s)!?!? It's un fair. And a lot of people don't know what the bassist's name is, but they sure as heck know the guitarists' name and the singer's name. It's drivin me crazy. Plus, we don't get as much respect as the guitarists do. Have you ever heard a kid say "When I grow up, I wanna be a bass player." No it's always "When I grow up I wanna be a guitar player." or "When I grow up I wanna be a drummer." or "When I grow up I wanna be a singer." Does any one else out there feel the same way?
 
#3
Eric Albany said:
We bassist are so under appreciated! We are always second or third to the guitarist(s)! I mean, why can't we be the most dominant sound in a song second only to the singer(s)!?!? It's un fair. And a lot of people don't know what the bassist's name is, but they sure as heck know the guitarists' name and the singer's name. It's drivin me crazy. Plus, we don't get as much respect as the guitarists do. Have you ever heard a kid say "When I grow up, I wanna be a bass player." No it's always "When I grow up I wanna be a guitar player." or "When I grow up I wanna be a drummer." or "When I grow up I wanna be a singer." Does any one else out there feel the same way?
Click to expand...

When I grow up, I wanna be a bass player.
Been saying it since 3rd grade =3
 
#4
I was one of those kids that said " I wanna be bass player when I grow up". As far as your other complaints...I don't get too bent out of shape about that stuff. I do my job musically, serve the song the best I can, and most importantly have a good time. I've learned to make it not about me, but about the song. I play bass because I believe I was made for it, not to get pats on the back or anything like that. But I'm just one of many bass players out there, this is just how I feel.
 
#6
Couldn't give a monkeys, i love what i do, i appreciate what i do, the people most important to me appreciate it aswell, and anyone that decides to be seniour ass wipe about anything gets sargent major ass wipe back :D.

Its one of the easiest songs ive played, but spent all of yesturday playing orgasmatron by motorhead again and again, with various amounts of overdrive from my behringer pedal, i love just holding the beat of a song down, and when i finally get into a band of some sort, i wont much care for standing out music wise, just being level or a tad above the drummer, keeping time, rocking it, just having a good time, what other people think doesnt matter to me anymore.

Used to, but ive grown up, and if other people are so childish to be that way, least i know im mature, and they have barely any mental age whatsoever.

Rant over :D
 
#8
If you're playing bass to be recognized by everyone and be the center of attention, you're going to have to really work to pull it off. It generally doesn't work. Most bassists are A) doing what they're told to do because they're yesmen, or B) the ones who write a good portion of the material, if not all of it, and care more about the music than the attention.

And a lot of the times, it's because of the fact that we do a lot of things that can make it hard to be heard properly. Mid-scooping, distortion (if used improperly) and other things can bury us in a mix. OR, we're heard, but the listener may assume it's the guitarist who did that part.

I had to check my tone. I was using too much distortion, so some of my lines were attributed to the guitarist. I stopped using my stompbox and people were able to tell the difference of who played what more easily. Before that issue, I was mid-scooping. Because of the lack of mids, I couldn't hear a thing I was playing. The lack of punch kept me from being heard. So that may be something you want to do.

And since everyone wants to play guitar or sing, WE get the monopoly on the local music scene.

And remember, a lot of bassists have their own distinctive styles that don't require complete insanity. RyKnow from Mudvayne and Shavo from SoAD for example. Then there's the oddity of people like Claypool, and then just general rock out madness of people like Steve Harris.
 
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