You don't let the gee-tar player tell you which bass is right.
Don't let the parishoners tell you, either.
Don't let the parishoners tell you, either.
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Even then, Andrew Gouche said in his interviews he still detunes his basses 1/2 step, and has played like that for decades.
Is it heretical to play P-basses or what? It can't be about tone. What is the deal?
It's the tone. Wrong sound for most Gospel. An active 5 or 6 is WAY more common.
You can't touch your P in church. You'll go blind!
Seriously though I would have never thought gospel bands had such stringent tonal requirements for the bass player. Sure there are a handful of mainstream guys using modern sounding active 5 or 6 but why do they need to be copied? Play thee p bass!
Well, this oughta put all the rumours to rest!Here is a clip of a Pro Gospel Bass player using a P bass and it sounds good!
Well, a P-Bass is not all 'thump & mud'. It does have a tone knob and can give a pretty clear sound as well. You also have eq at your amp. Dial in what sounds best. You can also put try different pickups (while still keeping the bass passive).Gospel is a lot of different things to a lot of different people but when I am asking about whether a P-Bass will work, I want to know if it can work in THIS idiom:
This is not my choir but this is very indicative of what we play and how we play it.
This is a pretty dense sonic mix and the bass player is definitely playing a Jazz (They show a shot of him in the second video.)
I believe that the real question being asked when this comes up is "Can a (passive) P cut through this dense of a sonic mix in a LIVE setting?" You can do anything in the studio -- but what about in a big church sanctuary filled with hundreds of people behind a 50-100+ voice choir?
Will the bass be clearly articulated or will it turn to thump-mud-thump-mud? (And forget about talking to the sound man about properly eq-ing the bass -- in a church, he'll have his own ideas and he really doesn't want to hear yours.)