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Why is the bassist/singer such a rare thing?

N

No Coast Rider

Jan 1, 2013
75
3
Hartford, CT
#1
Now I'm not looking for a list of bassists who sing, we all know those rare few and they are awesome. But there's no doubting that it's a very rare thing in your average rock band. It always seem to be the guitar player if anyone is pulling double duty.

When you do see a singing bassist, it's someone who is just a legendary musician, like Sting, McCartney, Jack Bruce, Geddy etc...

Is it just because playing the rhythm and locking in with the drums while singing the melody at the same time is really hard? Is it really easy to play guitar while singing? Or are most bass players just anti social weirdos who prefer to hide in a corner?

Personally, I have the voice of a rusted out transmission and I'm an anti social weirdo who likes to hide in the corner. So no singing for me. :hiding:
 
#4
Rhythm guitar usually follows the vocal while a bass part often plays counterpoint to it or at least connects more with the drums. It's way easier for me to sing when I play guitar than bass.

good luck!
 
#6
BioWeapon said:
I sure feel like it.
I, listening to metal, have not once noticed a bassist singing lead.

It seems it's harder to play bass and sing than it is to play guitar and sing.
Click to expand...

Troy Sanders of Mastodon although he shares vocal duties with guitarist Brent Hinds while their drummer, Brann Dailor, sings lead vocals on a few songs. Like the other 3 members of Mastodon, I happen to think that Troy Sanders is very talented. His voice ranges from clean to harsh and he doesn't hesitate to sing melodies instead of just shouting. He's versatile bass player. Instead of just playing the root note of the chord he creates bass lines that are rhythmic, melodic and often harmonies to the guitar parts. He's pretty damn good.
 
#8
I sing a lot with guitar, but have to really simplify bass parts to do it well with bass. The simple answer is that most of the time, the rhythm of the guitar parts doesn't have to be nearly as precise as that of the bass parts. You strum a guitar somewhere in the vicinity of the beat and you are fine. With bass you have to exact, and that's hard to do while singing.

It also has to do with how the baseline and melody fit together. Some McCartney stuff is fairly complicated, but when you play it and sing it with the melody, the fit is fairly intuitive.

This isn't to say there aren't guitar players out there who do complex stuff and sing over it. There are.

But to do cool baselines with the rythmic precision demanded by bass and sing at the same time...well, you have to be kind of a badass. I'm not, so I dumb down the bass parts to sing over them. (which, for the kind of indie rock I'm doing with folks these days, is not always a bad thing.)
 
#9
I play bass and sing lead. So, according to this thread I'm rare and legendary!!! HELL YEAH!!!!! ;)

To answer your question, a lot of it may have to do with the genre of music. Some music may be easier to sing than others while playing bass. then again, look at Geddy and company. So that may not be the answer.

Perhaps as well, subconsciously many bass players buy into the bass being a "background" instrument? (I'm just throwing out possibilities)

I've had people actually say to me "I hate when the bass player is the lead singer". I would assume that that, again, would have something to do with the (mis)conception of the bass players role in a band? (I have to admit that, although I admire drummers that can play and sing lead at the same time, I don't often enjoy watching them do it).

As a bass player/singer I absolutely love it when I see bands whose lead singer is also the bass player, but I'm biased.

This is a good topic. I hope we get some more opinions added to it. Sub'd.
 
#11
I've tried it, and it is quite the undertaking. Then I watch Esperanza Spaulding play these CRAZY lines, while singing, and not missing a beat. She, and Fred Hammond are the two that inspire me to continue on in my endeavor to do both.
 
#13
BioWeapon said:
I sure feel like it.
I, listening to metal, have not once noticed a bassist singing lead.

It seems it's harder to play bass and sing than it is to play guitar and sing.
Click to expand...

Seriously??? What kind of metal are you listening to???

Do...

Slayer
Motorhead
Mastodon
Venom
Possessed
Type-O Negative
Spiritual Beggars (well in the past)
Biohazard
Sodom

ring a bell???

But seriously the reason that are not that many I think is because of the rhythmic aspect of things. Sometimes the lines we play can be really syncopated and hard to sing on top of them. It takes a lot of practice.
 
#15
Very much depends on the style of the bass part and the melody of the lyric. On a lot of songs the cadence of the vocal is different from the bass line and it's really hard to hit each properly - each throws the other off. It's like trying to write different letters with both hands simultaneously. But if they synch together nicely, it's not so bad.
 
#16
while it can be more difficult to play the bass and sing instead of playing guitar and singing, i guess it hast to do with the mind of the musician, too.
I never was good as a singer and all i did was backing grunts in a doom band.
But i know quite a few people that chose guitar over bass to be able to solo.
These crave to shine on their own when on stage with a band.
And who gets even more attention than the guitarplayer? Yes, the guitarplayer when he sings.
The bassplayer's job is to keep things tight, bridge the gap between rhythm and melody and if done right, the result is a groovy band with no one noticing the bass.
So if you cose that path of musical career it is less likely that you choose the main vocals on top.
 
#17
I think a lot of it also has to do with the individuals abilities.

I remember hearing or reading a quote about Sting, where the person said (I'm paraphrasing): "Sting can play one rhythm, while singing another, while dancing another".

I remember when, years ago, I just couldn't play and sing at the same time to save my life. Now, those songs are a cake walk, and I find my self playing even more intricate bass lines while singing. I can't say, however, that they are the easiest or the hardest bass lines. It's just what feels right, to me.
 
#19
Most of my lead vocals are while I'm doing guitar gigs. Some songs are just as easy on bass, others not. Great part of playing in originals bands is you write what you CAN play & sing.


Interestingly, I seem to intonate better on upright while singing than on Fretless EB.... probably coz head angle doesn't change as much.
 
#20
el murdoque said:
while it can be more difficult to play the bass and sing instead of playing guitar and singing, i guess it hast to do with the mind of the musician, too.
I never was good as a singer and all i did was backing grunts in a doom band.
But i know quite a few people that chose guitar over bass to be able to solo.
These crave to shine on their own when on stage with a band.
And who gets even more attention than the guitarplayer? Yes, the guitarplayer when he sings.
The bassplayer's job is to keep things tight, bridge the gap between rhythm and melody and if done right, the result is a groovy band with no one noticing the bass.
So if you cose that path of musical career it is less likely that you choose the main vocals on top.
Click to expand...

That's kind of what I was getting at when I jokingly said anti-social weirdos. I think maybe the kind of personality that gravitates towards an instrument like the bass that plays more of a supporting role just isn't the kind of person who really wants to stand up in front of a crowd and be a frontman. If I wanted to do that I would have learned guitar or accordion so I could play by myself while singing around a campfire.
 

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