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Who do you hear in your playing?

#61
I will occasionally get compliments, but have yet to hear someone say "you sound like so-and-so". When I listen to myself on live recordings, on the good bits, I personally hear more feeble echoes of John Wetton and Geezer Butler than most of my other myriad influences, even though my gear preferences are very different.
 
#67
I can't remember anyone ever telling me my playing sounds like some well known bass player, but I'm OK with that. I got serious about playing bass too late in life to be be able to play like my progressive rock heroes.

I have no problem with playing the signature basslines properly and giving my bandmates a good, solid bottom on the songs we take some liberty with and jam on. And when I catch our singer/BL looking my way and smiling or when she tells me she loves dancing around to what I'm playing, then I'm happy to simply sound like me.
 
#68
Interesting question, OP.

It would be an enormous insult to anyone I admire for me to compare myself to them.

I mean, when I'm playing a Joy Division or New Order song I hope I sound a little like Peter Hook. When I'm playing a Peter Gabriel song, I hope I sound a little like Tony Levin. When I'm playing a Police song... etc., etc. you get the point. But these are just hopes.

We'll see what happens if/when I ever get to composing originals.
 
#69
DirtDog said:
Man....that’s a great question. I’ve been playing for a very long time through a wide variety of gear setups. I don’t think I’ve ever sounded like anyone. Maybe I just sound like me?
Click to expand...

Me either, and me too. I tend to play with larger ensembles with FOH support. I send a flat signal to the boosted, and let the sound engineer figure it out for the good of the band. My sound on stage is designed not to give the sound engineer something to have to work around. Generally speaking, it’s flat with a slight bump in the 130-150hz range. My cabs are well tuned so I can live with that setting, and it sits very well in the mix, both on stage and in the house.
 
#75
The guitarists in three different bands that I played with during the late 1980's and 1990's have told me that I sounded like John Entwistle. I don't think that I ever sounded anything like Entwistle. I definitely do not today.
I suspect that to some rock guitarists, any bass player who plays anything more than a few root notes and ventures above the seventh fret sounds like The Ox.
I've also heard from one other musician (a fellow bass player) a comparison to Mick Karn of Japan.
Nobody involved with my current band have ever said such a thing. I think that I just sound like me playing the bass, and I sound a little bit different depending upon which bass and which tune I happen to be playing.
 
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#78
I sound like myself, but this sound is shaped by the bassists that have influenced me the most. So my individual style of playing sounds most like a combination of Geddy Lee, Michael Anthony and Geezer Butler. My tone has a bit of Geddy and Geezer, but sounds close to the tone of Roger Waters.
 
#79
Trabeen said:
My point seems largely misunderstood, I am in no way talking about someone’s equipment or the sound that their amp ultimately creates. What I mean is, who do you hear when you play? I understand that this is for the large part a gear-oriented community, ignoring all of the myriad of machines involved who’s style and humanity do you feel most comes through in your playing? Apologies in advance if this isn’t clear, I am simply talking about people and what they do with their skills and how they present them.
Click to expand...

For years I deliberately learned theory and methods and sought to apply those to borrowing real life means of expression by other players - to improve my capacities.

But your question shows me that I long ago abandoned that and hadn't really be conscious of it. I have found my tone, and have matured my way of interpreting (we improvise over changes and also do our own stuff). So now I sound like me.

Peace.
 
#80
Hell, I don't know! Nobody's ever said "You sound like..." to me. Although I did have a trumpet player buddy who sat in with us on Stevie Wonder's I Wish, and I invented a little line to play in the bridge, because, me reproduce Nathan Watts? Get outta here! Anyway, he looked at me and said "That's a signature riff." Which I understood to be a compliment. If I could, I'd like to be like Michael Rhodes, who can build a deep groove on a verse and then invent some melodic line to play through a chorus, and just project a ton of physical and emotional energy. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: He's grooving, at then at the chorus (1:15) he starts playing chords. Tasty. I shot this video:

 
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