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what bass is better for playing blues

what Bass is best for blues

  • Fender

    Votes: 185 95.4%

  • Warwick

    Votes: 9 4.6%
  • Total voters
    194
  • Poll closed .
#43
CapnSev said:
I think showing up to a blues jam or pick-up gig with a Fender automatically makes the other blues musicians comfortable. Your fellow musicians in a steady gigging blues band probably don't care what you're playing.
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Yeh, this is true. I showed up at a blues jam with a white headless Spirit YoBass a number of years ago. Nobody actually gave me any crap about it and I still got to play some, but I did feel a little like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.
 
#44
I once saw Chris Duarte when he was opening for Joe Satriani. If you don't know who he, he plays very straight-ahead, Strat-oriented blues. Style is somewhere between Clapton and SRV. His bassist was using a custom Conklin 7-string. He sounded fine, he wasn't a "soloist", he played all the appropriate lines for the style and his tone fit nicely with the music.

I love Fenders as much as anyone, my bass collection is quickly becoming all Fenders. But, if you aren't getting paid LOTS of money to bring what the bandleader wants you to play, then bring whatever bass you want and have fun. I would choose the Fender myself, but there is nothing wrong with choosing a Warwick. Just personal preference.
 
#46
funkythumb said:
When you guys talk about brands that you need for a gig and the completely absurd idea some people have about, not only the brand of bass but the number of strings, I just go bonkers and get so upset. It reminds me of an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Sorry for venting here but I need to share this story because of the old-school mentality that plagues even some pro, non-bass playing musicians.
Without dragging this story out too long, a guitar player I know shook the hand of a bass player who showed up to sub in his church band, saying that he admired him for showing up with a four string bass. From everything this guitar player said, he came across like some bigoted, dinosaur saying that 4 string bass is REAL bass and that other strings are irrelevant!!!!
***!!!! I just feel that I live in a totally different universe than some of these traditionalists. Who CARES what you bring to the gig as long as you can PLAY!?!?!?!
When everyone was playing a Fender, Jack Bruce decided to go against the norm and play a Gibson. He still made it big regardless of what label was on his bass!! Les Claypool didn't play a Fender. He choose the path less traveled with a relatively unknown bass and he still made it big. Steve Swallow hasn't played Fenders since the 70's and he's done pretty damn well. These are all different examples from different styles of music demonstrating the validity of independent thought and choice. Personally, I'm sick of seeing all these look-alike bands on late night tv. Yea, they sound pretty good but they seem like clones of each other with bass players having the mandatory Fender and SVT rig. Would the world come to a stand still if they swapped out an SVT with an AGGIE cab???
Time to chill.........deep breath :)
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I am taking the opposite approach and saying that it's perfectly ok to be judged by what equipment you bring, and even what you are wearing! Music isn't always about just the sound, but entertainment and the visual aspect. A guy with a mohawk and dog collar playing a Kubicki ex-factor and sitting in with a blues band...somehow feels wrong to me. Sure, with your eyes closed it might sound perfectly fine...but audiences are not sitting there with eyes closed!

I learned a long time ago to bring the right bass to the right gig...modern gospel? I'm bringing a boutique 5 or 6 string. Metal? A Dean, warwick, gibson thunderbird or shecter (black finish and the pointier the better)...Surf Rock? Classic passive J or Jaguar. A funk gig? Maybe an active J bass....blues gig? My P-bass with flats. Period.


And before you curse me or call me a headstock harlot....I get a LOT of gigs using this attitude.

Let the flames begin!
 
#56
lucas vigor said:
I am taking the opposite approach and saying that it's perfectly ok to be judged by what equipment you bring, and even what you are wearing! Music isn't always about just the sound, but entertainment and the visual aspect. A guy with a mohawk and dog collar playing a Kubicki ex-factor and sitting in with a blues band...somehow feels wrong to me. Sure, with your eyes closed it might sound perfectly fine...but audiences are not sitting there with eyes closed!

I learned a long time ago to bring the right bass to the right gig...modern gospel? I'm bringing a boutique 5 or 6 string. Metal? A Dean, warwick, gibson thunderbird or shecter (black finish and the pointier the better)...Surf Rock? Classic passive J or Jaguar. A funk gig? Maybe an active J bass....blues gig? My P-bass with flats. Period.


And before you curse me or call me a headstock harlot....I get a LOT of gigs using this attitude.

Let the flames begin!
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Well, I pretty much follow the same formula as you've mentioned above because I too, am a working musician who gets lots of gigs and I want to keep it that way.
We play it safe because that's the formula that usually works. Have the right bass and have the right look. Right?
It's a safe bet but what I'm saying is that within certain acoustic parameters for certain gigs, you can use different basses and still SOUND great. A Hofner Beatle bass can sound great on an traditional R&B, reggae, or country gig. It may not, however, be in the "in" bass or expected bass to take but sonically it'll work and can sound great.
This whole thing is about what brand. I'm not saying you can or should go to the extreme opposite end of what is deemed reasonable. If the tone works for what you're doing that's what should matter. The brand alone should not, however, be a reason to exclude anyone from a gig.
 
#60
The Best bass for the blues is a full size string bass. The next best is the (more popular) three-quarter-size string bass. After that a full size acoustic bass guitar, preferably fretless (could be four or five string). If necessary, all the above could be amplified, but in my opinion an all electric solid bodied bass guitar is a soulless substitute which does not have the timbre to articulate the nuances of the musical genre.
 

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