The reason girls don't care about your bass is because your bass isn't the right brand.
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What is it about the guitar?
- Thread starter peteybass
- Start date
Guitar is very cool. There's a lot of guitar bashing on this forum, which is natural I suppose...but then again I don't see as much bass bashing on guitar forums. I think some of this is attributed to jealousy but I know some bassists have legitimate problems with guitarists in bands. I've only played in one band years & years ago but I never had problems with the two guitarists *shrugs*
It's Jimi Hendrix's fault. Him and Page. They took a six stringed instrument and turned it into a status symbol with Freudian overtones. There is a ridiculous cult that puts the guitar on such a high pedestal that it baffles all logic and reason. I thought bass players got to far into the stupid minutia of their instruments until I read a Les Paul forum. YIKES! talk about drinking your own punch.
Men'sHealth ran an article siting a study that said women are more attracted to a men merely carrying a guitar case. They didn't go as far as to say what happens if a man is carrying a bass case.
Men'sHealth ran an article siting a study that said women are more attracted to a men merely carrying a guitar case. They didn't go as far as to say what happens if a man is carrying a bass case.
I'm sure they'd just assume that it's a guitar case. So you'd be golden. At least until you open it up and climb up on stage. Then you would resume secondary status to the "real" guitar player(s)...
Reading through TalkBass I get the impression that many bassists are insecure, at least those who feel they are in some sort of competition with "guitards".
How many threads have we seen where bassists complain about getting no respect, or being buried in the mix, or whine about the egos of guitarists and singers?
Seriously, get some self confidence and be comfortable with your role as a musician or move on. Insecurity is lame.
Insecurity is also girl repellant. Which leads back to the topic.
Been married about 6 years with two kids. Love my wife but after a long day of work and kids there isnt much left sometimes in the romance department.
I practice bass every night and my wife is very cool and supportive of music but never says a word. I pull out my guitar amp the other night and start playing to backing tracks, Rock, Jazz and some Santana stuff. I am not that good and could probably barely get by in a bar band as a rhythym guitarist.
So anyway after playing for about 15 minutes she comes in the music room and says how good it sounds and she loves guitar. Lets just leave the story there. Sorry to get so personal but it cracks me up the way Women sometimes react to Guitars and Lead Singers.
Stupid story but hey who else can I share this with
Maybe and this is a big maybe. Maybe your guitar playing was so horrible that your wife would do anything to get you to stop playing.
Just sayin'..... maybe.
Hahahaha, LMAO!
We always make jokes about the guitar player always getting the BJ. (Except for our guitar player).
when guitar plays chords to a song people can hear the song and maybe even start some mental rummaging through the words and then all sorts of associations come up
there are some songs where the bass part is distinctive enough that people recognize the song, but the bass is never going to support the melody the same way a chording instrument can
then there is all that range and tone people just hear in that range 'better'
now a better question might be reactions to the same song played on piano or rhodes vs guitar. it's likely the keyboardist gets even less respect and their skill and training goes well beyond what most 3 chord guitarists can manage.
If anyone is justified in complaining about the unexplainable attraction of some simple guitar strumming, I'd nominate the keyboard guy.
there are some songs where the bass part is distinctive enough that people recognize the song, but the bass is never going to support the melody the same way a chording instrument can
then there is all that range and tone people just hear in that range 'better'
now a better question might be reactions to the same song played on piano or rhodes vs guitar. it's likely the keyboardist gets even less respect and their skill and training goes well beyond what most 3 chord guitarists can manage.
If anyone is justified in complaining about the unexplainable attraction of some simple guitar strumming, I'd nominate the keyboard guy.
I own and play acoustic, electric and bass guitars. Despite being mediocre to average on all, it's an overdriven electric that gets the praise every time.
Wut? I can play my bass whisper quiet or so loudly my practice amp can't keep up. Are you comparing guitar and bass to something else that you can bash the hell out of?
never listened to DB played arco ? or any classical instruments ? They really have a dynamic range that guitar and bass can't acheive. Many talk about playing with feel but I can't hear any emotion in the music ... it is more like the rock feel or the samba feel ... not sadness or happiness. On top of that many people use compress and limiter which really doesn't help at all.
It has nothing to do with the instrument, it's because dynamics aren't usually something taught and exercised by bass players, and they are 90% of the time compressed.
Well I think getting buried in the mix is a valid complaint
Why have a bass player if they're not going to be heard?
I was reading an article once in a sound recording magazine, I think EM, and they were talking about how you used to have to have someone ride the fader for bass to keep all the notes the same, but that new recording software usually has a program to do it for you. I think most people don't consider variances in the volume of the notes of a bass to be intentional or good, so they don't process it musically when they hear it. And I think most popular music these days doesn't use any dynamic variance in the range, so most people don't have a context for it to sound good.
I think that includes musicians and listeners.
Well I think getting buried in the mix is a valid complaint
If I'm in a band where I am not given the proper respect I will leave. Life's too short to be someone's whipping boy and complain about it. The band I'm in now was basically co-founded by me and I'm one of the songwriters, so I'm not gonna get buried.
Only exception to that is if the money's good enough (Metallica, we're talking about YOU. Let me know when you want me to audition, Lars...you can bury my mix underneath that pile of cash.)
Depends. I think some Sabbath stuff Geezer is definitely playing with softness or heaviness on purpose, for example.
A pop song with a dance beat, not so much. You want a rounded tone that's very steady, I think. But metal and prog and hard rock which may go from soft passages to heavy, you want more dynamics.
Classical music requires extreme dynamic control, though, as well as a timbre you can only get from a stringed instrument with a bow. I think Clef's got a point there.
Personal preference, though, David Gilmour's guitar-playing is about as expressive as anything I can imagine.
