Right you are. When I first started playing bass, none of us had a stereo capable of recreating the bass lines well enough to be heard by me. I made up many of my own lines filling in the gaps based on what the chords were and what the drummer was doing on the record. Only in the early 70s did I get to hear all these great bass lines that I missed. It did make me more creative though.
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Why do the session legends all use P basses? (SBL Video Discussion)
- Thread starter citizenchris099
- Start date
Agreed. I’m sure when they were relatively unknown and mainly played notes other people expected them to play, I’m sure they were willing to play any bass to get the sound in a producer’s head. When they became stars on their own and started to play on the biggest stages in the world, by then, they developed a signature sound that everybody wanted, and I’m sure their rates went up, so people hiring them probably wanted them to be them.
I love a good P Bass with flats and if I hired a bass player to play for me, I’d be ecstatic to see one. But dang, if I paid for Marcus frickin Miller or Nathan frickin East to play on a session today and they came in with a P Bass with flats, I’d be livid, like why am I paying for big names if they’re not bringing their signature sound with them?
So yeah, when you’re famous and in demand, then you can make your own rules. Until then... really, it’s not as though only showing up with a P Bass with flats is completely 100% correct either. A session bassist should ultimately be willing to play whatever is necessary for the song.
This thread really does crack me up. I'm guessing most self respecting music lovers, let alone musicians wouldn't be in the slightest interested in what MOR sludge the average studio may wish to make to be played as Muzak in a local elevator. I'm surprised they care that much what bass guitar is used so long as it's generic enough sounding (I seem to remember my K Catalogue Bass recorded adequately for a generic bass sound).
I would wager 90% of Talkbass users aren't terribly interested in this stuff but may be either hobbyist musicians or musicians in bands. I suspect also that similarly low proportions of new bass guitars are sold to sessions musicians - in fact even fewer because I recall conversations with Nashville guys who referred to these people favouring the 'vintage' instruments for their sound (even though allegedly you probably can't tell once they're on whatever track or elevator soundtrack).
I can only presume people are trying to persuade us to buy Precision basses by association with a desire to make elevator music or some other form of consumable music where the player's sound is relatively immaterial, provided its generic.
Come on guys, what happened to music as art? Are we really saying the highest pinnacle we're seeking is elevator music - well I'm certainly not!!! (Although I might consider playing my SR5 on some if anyone asks - for a laugh if you see what I mean!! I understand they're quite popular in Nashville).
I would wager 90% of Talkbass users aren't terribly interested in this stuff but may be either hobbyist musicians or musicians in bands. I suspect also that similarly low proportions of new bass guitars are sold to sessions musicians - in fact even fewer because I recall conversations with Nashville guys who referred to these people favouring the 'vintage' instruments for their sound (even though allegedly you probably can't tell once they're on whatever track or elevator soundtrack).
I can only presume people are trying to persuade us to buy Precision basses by association with a desire to make elevator music or some other form of consumable music where the player's sound is relatively immaterial, provided its generic.
Come on guys, what happened to music as art? Are we really saying the highest pinnacle we're seeking is elevator music - well I'm certainly not!!! (Although I might consider playing my SR5 on some if anyone asks - for a laugh if you see what I mean!! I understand they're quite popular in Nashville).
I must be missing something. What's wrong with playing Muzak, elevator music or MOR?
Music is art even when it is imagined entirely in one person’s head and executed faithfully by drones. How is that different from a deaf Beethoven, through a conductor, telling the seventh cellist in a section exactly what to play and how to play it? The tone of a bass part is not necessarily the thing that affects the artistic quality of the music being made. It’s just a color, like titanium white. You can paint a room in a fixer upper with titanium white or you can paint a great painting that will hang in galleries. It’s just one thing.
Looking at people's faces in elevators, the music played there doesn't to entertain them very much...
I think we have Leo to thank for the design (which I love) and that has become the standard. There are however, so many good P basses not made by Fender these days so the dependence on the name is kind of misguided. Old habits you know....
I won't discuss how much room for interpretation the conductor has over that seventh cellist and his colleagues, but the truth is that when a P-bas is asked for in a studio that probably means an office building room is being painted white. Which is not to say that every P-bass is used to paint dull rooms, I agree on that.
Yeah, get it straight, you schlockmeisters! Music as art has nothing at all to do with what you come up with, but what bass you play!
Also, live instrumentation today is almost an anachronism when music can be created through samples and produced entirely through software. It’s like even the tone of the instrument must produce a certain emotional response for a session bassist to be worth the hourly session costs. It is no surprise that producers almost fetishize a vintage sound when they hire a bassist in 2019. If they wanted to push the boundaries, they might just use a synth. A bass guitar needs to sound like a bass guitar. Certain sounds evoke certain emotions through their familiarity. There’s a reason why the TR808 bass drum is still used over and over again. It connects different generations of music together and likewise, hearing a P Bass is like smelling grandmother’s cookie. You’re not necessarily sure why it’s good, but you just love it. It reminds people of listening to old records and hearing that great bass sound.
Doesn't sound much of an art form to me - only one sound permitted, only one type of bass guitar permitted. Art forms tend to be rather more abstract than this music by formula approach suggested.
I'll stick with taking my inspiration from the great past masters (several of whom played P basses but some, like Andy Fraser, had the audacity to play an EB3 or even Paul McCartney with his Rickenbacker), good as some elevator music may be......
I also remain of the view that if asked to play finger style or slap, my ceramic SR5 would fit the bill far better
I'll stick with taking my inspiration from the great past masters (several of whom played P basses but some, like Andy Fraser, had the audacity to play an EB3 or even Paul McCartney with his Rickenbacker), good as some elevator music may be......
I also remain of the view that if asked to play finger style or slap, my ceramic SR5 would fit the bill far better
Engineers and Sound Men like them because the sound of a P Bass is a known quality. They already know how to record it. There's no guess work involved. It's the same exact reason they love Ampeg Amps-because the sound they deliver is so consistent from big room to small room or from stage to studio. God forbid that you'd want to sound different.
I used to have an American Deluxe 5 string P that I strung with Chromes. I didn’t like the 19mm spacing so I sold it. I arranged to meet at the buyer’s gig and do the transaction there. I said it had flats on it but I could swap them over if he wanted before I bring it. He said no, he would like to try them out. He was playing a Lakland or Sadowsky Jazz with rounds - can’t remember which brand for sure. He played very well.
He took the P up on stage and plugged it in to try it out. After playing a few phrases the first thing he said to me was, “Ahh the tone!”. Done deal right there. We both were happy. I got what I paid for it.
He texted me the next day saying how pleased he was and thanks for chance to own and play that bass.
He took the P up on stage and plugged it in to try it out. After playing a few phrases the first thing he said to me was, “Ahh the tone!”. Done deal right there. We both were happy. I got what I paid for it.
He texted me the next day saying how pleased he was and thanks for chance to own and play that bass.
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Haha!!
Forgive me if I misunderstood, but I thought we were being told that all the great masters of 'session musicdom' play only P basses and therefore if we're to aspire to that element of musical art form, we need to be following suit with such an instrument if our art is to be taken seriously?
However, you know us temperamental artists - hate doing what we're told!! And whilst understanding you particularly like this type of bass, you must realise it can have a limiting effect on some styles and performance thereof, even though it facilitates certain things well? But I guess there's not much call for jazz funk in sessions for this stuff etc.
Literally nobody said this.
I think you'll find the thread title is 'Why do the Sessions Legends all use P Basses'. Which seems to be what many people have been talking about.
Well clearly that statement is probably open to interpretation in relation to its accuracy (as it's likely they use lots of other basses as well and particularly if needing a 5 string) but it seems clear enough to me what the title means and intends.
Do you want to be a clone or an original artist. Producers ruin recordings all the time. They think they are in the band as master editor. That being said I love p basses on some of my recordings but prefer a jazz live.
