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What Makes an Excellent Bassist?
- Thread starter Philip McAdam
- Start date
A good bass player has a combination of passion and persistence. Passion is what motivates you to practice; persistence in practicing is what eventually gets you where you want to be.
There are a lot of ways to recognize a good bass player - I'd argue that a good bass player is recognized when a band sounds good. Our job is to make the band sound good - whatever that takes is what you need to learn. Note that the relative importance of various things depends somewhat on the genre(s) involved.
There are a lot of ways to recognize a good bass player - I'd argue that a good bass player is recognized when a band sounds good. Our job is to make the band sound good - whatever that takes is what you need to learn. Note that the relative importance of various things depends somewhat on the genre(s) involved.
I don't disagree that timing is important, but... timing is important to be any musician. A bassist with impeccable timing is not gonna make a band sound good if he or she is the only one on the group with great timing. A band's groove is only as good as it's weakest member's timing.
In my world of Saturday night bar bands, the good bass player needs to glue the band together, keep people dancing, and notch out that ring in the PA.
... and if they can sing a harmony +++
... and if they can sing a harmony +++
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Technique, tone, taste, years of woodshedding, blah, blah, blah . . . . . . . what made ME a headed-for-excellent bassist was when I could play with great drummers. Put me with a schnook, whaddya gonna do ? Can't kill 'em (though God knows it ran through my animal brain more than once . . . . .).
So I'd say excellent drummers.
So I'd say excellent drummers.
The willingness to put the needs of the venue, audience, band, project, and/or song ahead of their own desire to self-indulge. I don't care if you're Muhammad I'm Hard Bruce Lee on the bass or any other instrument. If you can't do this, I don't need ya.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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Timing and rhythm, Ability to "lock in" with the drummer, Someone who serves the song, Isn't overly flashy,
Has a good sound with reliable equipment...and above all...an excellent bassist is the glue that holds the band together while performing.
Has a good sound with reliable equipment...and above all...an excellent bassist is the glue that holds the band together while performing.
So true. But let's not forget that good glue comes in many forms so always be sure to select the right glue for the job...
That it's ok to play simple lines in a great song - not everything has to be ultra technical. You did your part to make it great.
ensemble: the ability to identify and then anticipate what the ensemble needs from the bass instrument.
What makes an excellent bassist? To hear people on here talk, it would be hiding in the back and not calling attention to yourself in any way, shape or form. True, you can have a lot of chops and still suck, but all my favorite bassists do a fair amount of calling attention to themselves, and I'd totally bet that a lot of THEIR favorite bassists do it also.
Consummate jazz bassist Ray Brown said, many times, that the most important components are good time and good sound. If you can thump simple roots with good time and good sound, you're more useful to an ensemble than a guy who can knowledgeably play a plethora of non-chord tones from a flurry of implied secondary dominants.
