Considering it was the only electric bass to work with for so long, it’s a well known quantity. The few times i’ve been in a studio i aways took my regular bass and borrow or buy a P bass to take as well. I always start with my regular bass, usually a jazz of some sort, and i’ve only been asked once to let them hear the P and even then they chose the jazz.
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Why do the session legends all use P basses? (SBL Video Discussion)
- Thread starter citizenchris099
- Start date
What we do now in the studio kind of isn't relevant in a thread about legendary players of the past. Of course, what's "past" is subject to dispute. To me, the legendary session players were the people doing studio work in the 60's and 70's and, to a limited extent, the 80's. After that, the total sound of a band became more important than the song. Bands were recording their own stuff, not being directed so much to play certain songs that other people wrote. Again, there are exceptions, always. Chris Squire was playing his Ric in the studio then, I do know that.
So everything I say in this thread is from that perspective. There's a whole lot more going on now, and studios are very different environments, not nearly as expensive, often in people's homes. The bass in some genres has a central role today, not like it used to be.
So everything I say in this thread is from that perspective. There's a whole lot more going on now, and studios are very different environments, not nearly as expensive, often in people's homes. The bass in some genres has a central role today, not like it used to be.
Amen. 6 pages and here's the full gospel in this post. There are always exceptions for certain players and music styles but after 63 yrs of life on this planet, I've learned that the 80/20 rule is valid. In this case, 80% of the time a P bass will get the job done well. For J bass guys, bridge pickup off (or on a smidge) gets it done too.
Glad that I spent the last few hours practicing rather than following this thread. Happy new year to all of my fellow bass brothers!
It’s part of the new “anger economy”. I think shock jocks were the first people to really manipulate this. They learned that an angry listener was a loyal listener and would tell all of his friends.
There are multiple SBL videos titled “Why 5 Strings Suck”, and “ Why 6 Strings Suck”, and “Why Fretless Sucks”, Then you watch the video To discover that none of these things actually suck, there are just certain considerations that you have to have when playing them.
It’s really society’s fault in general, you can’t just tell people “hey here’s some information that you need to know about this thing” anymore. You have to appeal to the emotions. Everyone’s attention span is getting smaller but the demand for that attention is getting greater.
I would substitute the words "really well" for "predictably" and be very much in agreement.
lol, im recording some of my own stuff while replying in this thread....when i take a break from tracking, i minimize the screen and go on the net for a few minutes....its not like im sitting here salivating for responses
My p bass has a j neck.. So understand.. Thick necks aren't my favorite either..
So you know more than Leo Fender did, 81 years of waste of time, at the end he was completely wrong. Poor Leo.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,796
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,796
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
Two, maybe three of the guys you listed are session players. Did you watch the video and listen to what Sean Hurley said?????
Nolly may play 5-6 he's very mid based.. Not a lot of bass.. So he knows what works.. Plus those guitarist play Drop A and Drop C..
To make it simple, I'd say because a P bass was the 'standard' that is, unless you were the late Joe Osborn and his ancient and accepted J. At least Lakland 10th anniversary concert, I was so fortunate to ask mr. Jerry Scheff, why he had his Lakland signature bass loaded with lipstick pickups. He told me that when recording for Elvis or The Doors, etc, he liked the sound of the Danelectro or Jerry Jones. But when on stage, with Elvis, it was demanded that he play nothing but a P "Fender bass" Because that was the norm for Elvis. On camera, it had to be a Fender. Inside the studio walls, it could be what ever you wanted it to be.
Carol Kaye always played a P bass with exception of some Musicman or Gibson sessions, because that's what she started with .
That's my uneducated opinion. YMMV
Carol Kaye always played a P bass with exception of some Musicman or Gibson sessions, because that's what she started with .
That's my uneducated opinion. YMMV
How many of them are session bassists and don't have their own extremely popular act?
Scott (or whoever makes the titles for his videos) definitely uses clickbait titles but I don't think this video really qualifies. I own a 5-string Fender P but I don't really play it. I'm not angered at all that lots of studio engineers/producers would rather work with a P Bass than others.
If you can't make an Alembic sound good in the same time that you could a P bass, you're not much of an engineer. The onus there is on the player to have the bass sounding good. Alembic may have some complex electronics on-board but that doesn't change anything for the engineer. The Alembic is not an Enigma Machine that needs a book of ciphers to operate, as much as some luddites may enioy that idea.
Standard SBL video "script" goes something like this: "Here I am just getting home from the shops. Now here's my daughter - say hi to the viewers. Now I'm going into the kitchen. There's my wife doing something or other. Now I'm in another room and I've actually picked up a bass, but wait: my kid wants to watch TV in here, so let's go into yet another room where, OK, now we can actually talk about the thing the video title said we'd talk about. Wait, I forgot something, let me get it. OK, seems we're at the five-minute mark, so *now* we can talk about bass."
At that point there often is some useful information.
So do *all* session legends use P basses? Of course not. But I think it's fair to say *most* session legends have a P bass as an option.
At that point there often is some useful information.
I don't bother watching the ones with over-the-top click-bait type titles. Obviously five-string and fretless don't suck, even when combined in one instrument, and obviously he's not really going to make that claim once he gets into the details.
So do *all* session legends use P basses? Of course not. But I think it's fair to say *most* session legends have a P bass as an option.
Perhaps you do not understand my response. I have been playing a P bass (the same one that I acquired when I was 12 yrs old) for 51 yrs. I believe that validates that Leo got it right.
Not meant to offend, tongue in cheek! Multi-tasking is always a good thing.....lol, im recording some of my own stuff while replying in this thread....when i take a break from tracking, i minimize the screen and go on the net for a few minutes....its not like im sitting here salivating for responses
