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Why the bass guitar?

#21
with the bass you have control over more musical aspects than other instruments. you can control the pulse as much as the drummer, as well as being able to play rythmically like a drummer. you can control harmony because you are playing the lowest note heard. a simple substitution in the bass note can dramatically change the sound and mood of the chord that the others are playing. you can also control melody - some bass lines are melodies in and of themselves, plus on the bass you can double a vocal melody underneath.
 
#22
In my case it all came down to one man.

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This is Henny Vrienten the bassplayer/Leadsinger of the Dutch Ska/Reggae band "Doe Maar" which means "Go ahead". Most of you know Vrienten as a film score composer for "The Vanishing" and "Stoneraft" But I'll always remember him for looking cool with that Big Bass guitar and I vowed that one day I would master the bass myself and play along with his records.

But my parents didn't share my vision of wanting a Blue Fender P-bass with a white plate as Vrienten was known playing or a Black Aria Bass like the one he plays in the picture. Instead, I got a Nylon string guitar for christmas and had to learn how to master that.

In my Teens, I bought my first electric guitar and through a multitude of trades ended up with my beloved 1989 Squier Strat which I bought new on my 15'th birthday and have used ever since. But my fascination with Bass continued, so I saved up some cash and bought myself a navy Blue Vantage P-bass knockoff, I didn't care that it was a Plywood bass, I didn't care that it was a copy, all I cared about was that I got myself a bass and a blue with white plate just like Henny Vrienten's

His basslines turned out to be rather tough and to think that he was singing while playing only widened my respect for him as a Musician. But in the recent years I have become a full time guitarist, it's the instrument I first learned to play and I'll always be faithfull to it.

My boss, luthier Jan Knooren, said to me that I have a very good ear for groove and melody and that I'm a better Bassplayer than I am on guitar. Maybe so but I just love guitarplaying just a tad more. But it was a big victory for myself when I mastered Henny Vrienten's bassline on "De Bom"
 
#23
IMHO, bass is and always will be the center of all things musically happening. In a great tune it may not be the first thing people hear, but it's definitely the last thing they feel. The bond between bassists and the groove is something other musicians just can't grasp, save drummers. The ebb and flow of the groove and the overall tune's vibe is the bassist's domain, us bottom feeders own this slice of sonic terrain. I consider it to be a privilage to be a bassist as we really can make or break a tune. We can make a tune feel anyway we want to. Perhaps the most humbling thing we do though is make everyone around us sound great. That's cool enough for me. For me, bass is the instrument that spoke to me over everything else.

Cheers,
Bassjones
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#24
1. Bass fits my personality. I don't care about the limelight.


2. I was a Beatles fan from a very early age and probably influenced by Sir Paul's cool bass lines (and tones!)


3. "Instruments are felt in different locations on the body. Guitar is for the head, drums hit you in the chest, and bass goes right to the groin" -- Suzi Quatro (paraphrased from an interview given nearly 30 years ago). Truer words were never spoken!
 
#25
I play bass because I got rhy......thm.

I actually started on drums, but was frustrated by a lack of coordination between my feet and my hands (I'm left handed and right footed). I just was not able to be the kind of drummer that I wanted to be.

I switched to elec. guitar but was not much of a soloist - however, I was good at rhythm and playing hooks. A friend needed a fill-in bassist for a gig and I thought it would be easy. Ha. It kicked my butt, but I was completely energized - it just felt like "my instrument".

i love playing rhythms and grooves - I love the low end - I love locking in with a drummer and making everyone move. I don't care about being the one in the spotlight - I'd rather be the foundation for good music.
 
#26
My reasons
Because Steve Harris and Pete Way looked so damn cool.
Seriously as I got older I found that all the songs that caught my ear as a child, were driven by or had a very strong bassline for a hook. I didn't know as a child that it was a bass guitar but somehow I ended up playing bass.No one in my family is musically inclined either.
 
#27
i think what did it for me was that, no matter what is happening musically, if someone is boppin their head, they're doin it to the bass, not the old 6 string, or the drums, and definately not the lead singer (bobby mcferrin excepted)

that and its kinda like playing a drum shaped like a guitar.

the only thing other than that is that chicks always go for the bass player (extreeeme sarcasm) :crying:
 
#29
Every one has said the groove but it really comes down to this ..... In my band I am the one guy who listens to everything Vocals, Keys, Percussion , Guitar ,Arrangement ,harmony, melody, and groove . I get to glue it all together and see where it falls into place I totally dig the responsibility of being the sink or swim factor of the band cause if the bass player sucks they all suck.
:bassist:


If the future is now?..........
What was yesterday?
 
#30
To me, all instruments can be graded by 3 basic qualities. They are rhythm, tone, and notation/poly-phonics(notes/applied music theory). While any intrument can play complex rhythms, certain intruments have a greater influence on rhythm based on its ability to play rhytm with the right feel and greater complexity. Tone is simply how pleasing the intrument sounds. Notation is the ability to either play many notes at once or in succession, or have a large range of notes available and the chordal possibilities.

.............Tone



Rhythm..............Notation


Let's rate things on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being weak, and 5 being strong.

Drums are obviously a 5 in rhythm. They are also a 1 in phonics, and a 3 in tone (remember, only IMO though).

The guitar is essentially a 4 in notation, a 2 in rhythm, and if the right effects are used, a 4 in tone.

The bass on the other hand, is a 4 in rhythm, a 3 in notation (remember, this is based on the capabilities of the intrument, not the basic parts written for it. A bass in the hands of someone who knows what to do is real threat the guitar's 4 in notation.), and well, I can't possibly give you an answer for tone for this category because of personal and community bias.

For kicks...

The chapman stick or NS stick is a 5 in notation, a 4 in rhythm, and a 4 in tone. www.stick.com

But still, nothing can replace the bass.

All in all, the bass is VERY versitile. I have gotten sudden reactions from fellow musicians when I emulate a guitar sound when playing chords on my 6 string bass saying that "It sounds just like a guitar." Listen to samples of Victor Wooten's soul circus on amazon or another place, he demonstrates what a bass can do very well.
 
#31
1. i started to play to bass, because it was easier then guitar :eyebrow: . bass is easy to learn, but challenges are awaiting you.

2. bass is fun

3. i like the feel of it. its big and heavy, nice neck, good string-spacing.

4. i like the aspects of the bass, the sound and rhythm

5. i like to be that man who plays insane with his fingers (under development) :D :ninja:
 
#32
In my case I picked up bass for much the same reason you are thinking of: I was in a band, we couldn't find a bassplayer, no one in the area played bass and I was convinced to try it out.

It turns out I am a far better bassist than I am a guitarist, and I am much happier playing bass than guitar.

I suggest you just get a bass and try it out. You may not like it, and that's fine. There is nothing that says you can't go back to guitar later. There's also no law that says you can't play both. I do and I'm a better musician all around because of it.
 
#34
Cheers guys, all that helps.

I also got another question. I was thinking that bass only had 4 strings but ive been reading the forums and realised that you can have 6 string bass guitars! One of the other reasons, im ashamed to admit :), i wanted to start bass was because it had only 4 strings, meaning it was easier for me as there wouldnt be as many combinations as a normal guitar and making it easier for me as i have pretty small hands and can barely stretch across 4 frets (yes its sad).

So i got 2 more questions, is a 4 string bass good to use or should i go to 5 or 6 or what? and another important question is can you solo using a bass?
 
#35
Mummas said:
Cheers guys, all that helps.

I also got another question. I was thinking that bass only had 4 strings but ive been reading the forums and realised that you can have 6 string bass guitars! One of the other reasons, im ashamed to admit :), i wanted to start bass was because it had only 4 strings, meaning it was easier for me as there wouldnt be as many combinations as a normal guitar and making it easier for me as i have pretty small hands and can barely stretch across 4 frets (yes its sad).

So i got 2 more questions, is a 4 string bass good to use or should i go to 5 or 6 or what? and another important question is can you solo using a bass?
Click to expand...

if you have 5-6 strings, it doesnt make it harder than a 4 stringer. the reason some basses have 5, 6 or more strings is just to make more tonal variaty.
 
#36
I play guitar and Violin, but nothing gives me more pride then sitting in my room with my amp and bass with me, and just jamming out a nice groove by myself. I feel the bass has more personality then any other instrument. the guitar to me is VERY fake. the violin has a lot of personality, but no room for run. The Bass is fun and has tons of personality. And if you go up to a women and say "I play guitar" she'll say "who doesn't?" If you say "I play drums" she'll say "and?" And if you say "I play bass" she'll say "oh baby!!" .. well maybe not. But at least your amp will make a nice seat for them *ahem* ;) guitarists can't do that!!!!
 
#37
IMO there's much more to bass than there is guitar.

It's technologically more advanced... bass gear is always being reinvented while guitars seldom see something so new and groundbreaking. When humbuckers came out, there hasn't really been a big improvement since then. With bassists, we're seeing new things all the time: chambered bodies, semi-fretless necks, new materials, etc. but with guitar, it's the same thing over and over. Gibson, Fender or a variant of one.

Second, there's always new instruments to learn as a bassist. I play upright bass and electric bass. Upright I play both pizz and arco, French Bow and German Bow. Electric I play fretless or fretted, four string, five string or six string. Standard tunings, drop D tunings, etc. There's always something else to learn.

And there always seems to be something missing without a bassist. That's why drum and bass is much more popular than guitar and drums. Guitar and drum is two people doing their own thing, drum and bass is about interaction.

Bass is the cement between the cracks of a good band, the translator between rhythm and melody. A good bassist moulds both together.

And of course, they look cool.
 
#38
My brother-in-law had played bass most of his life and had told me back in my trumpet prime that I should take up bass (he was also a trumpeter at one time). Really not much to do for me after high school on trumpet, so I joined two jam bands for a year, the one I spent most of my effort on being one of those bands with more promise than any other band that never went anywhere with it, toyed around on bass once in awhile, then finally during this previous March made the decision to pick up the bass full time in this band so the then current bassist could play guitar, which he excelled at, and then the band could branch out into more musical styles. The drummer, then bassist, and I were content with it, but the origional guitarist had severe problems with there being another full time guitarist, and the guitarist responded with a whole list of standard locus of control type stuff, and it wasn't even his band (gee, go figure).

The band then split apart after a disasterous gig where the bassist/guitarist picked up his guitar during a jam, I picked up the bass, and the drummer, I, and the bassist/guitarist locked solid and the guitarist botched the jam. He blamed it on the fact that the three of us were clueless as to what we were doing and he was the only one who knew what was going on with the music. He was booted, and I eventually left, committed full time to the fretless bass (good choice so far), practiced hours upon hours a day honing my technique over the summer (I've payed attention for quite some time to bassists given my bro-in-law exposing me to bass, so having the music in my head was no problem), attempted to join a band in which I thought I would be allowed creativity, yet became a yes-man to the lead guitarist (deja vu?), attempted to form another band with the old drummer until he partially reformed the old band with the bassist/guitarist and a new guitar player, and have since been working on forming my own experimental Gothic band (everything from metal to industrial to ambient trance) and have left off now having a drummer, guitarist, and singer that share my dream. If it works out, this band will be the dream I didn't dare think of in my younger years but way deep down wished I had, and I'm definately excited as to the future of this group.
 
#40
Mummas said:
My question to you is why did you choose to play the bass guitar and not the standard electric guitar

If you were able to give me the advantages and disadvantages of playing bass over normal that'd be sweet.
Click to expand...

to be completely honest, I started playing the bass because I wanted to be in a band, wanted to play music and I tried guitar and it hurt my fingers and, without any guidance from anyone, was too difficult to get anything that sounded like music out of...

I picked up a friend's bass and found I could produce something that sounded almost musical, pretty much straight away... so I guess you could say either

A. I started playing bass because it was the easiest instrument... or...

B. I had a natural innate aptitude for the bass

I'd like to think it was B but it's probably a bit of A too :)


I'm glad I made the right choice now... if you're not an egomaniac (not a good character trait anyway), bass is a rewarding instrument.. you get more control over the band with the bass than any other instrument... you're the glue that holds it all together
 

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