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Why ???

#21
We're in a post-hipster phase right now. P basses were required by the fashion police for a while there.

After putting a lot of time into getting your tone right with a P bass, it's not really worth it to change to another bass until your endorsement deal runs out, and until you see what the next big thing is.

Hell yeah I'm cynical!
 
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#22
0FC232B0-52A3-46E2-B4C1-2F78DEFAF54C.jpeg
Thumpin6string said:
I guess it matters what type of music you watch. I very seldom see a P bass in the stuff I watch. I think that is because they don't have enough strings.
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#23
Bluwaterbob said:
Aight guy's, I've been around for a while and though I'm really only a recreational bassist at best I'm still a bassist thru and thru. But I got a question : Why, in the last 5 or so years is it that anytime you see a video or live TV, is the bassist playing a P bass (or one that looks like it) ????? And, if that's what it takes for a pro bassist, WHY the hell would you spend $3k + on a bass of a different flavor ?? Just another FAD period? There was a time when if you saw a Funk group, the bassist was probably playing an Alembic or the likes.... and a washburn or Jackson on the Metal scene..... Anybody ???
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Every time I look at a late night TV show, the bassist is playing a Sadowsky Jazz. I think Will Lee is responsible for that for all the years he played on Letterman.
Every concert I have been to in the last year the bassist was playing a J-Bass. Except when the Thunder tour came through town - Alembic, Sadowsky, Fodera.
And most times I go to a local club, the bassist is playing either an upright or a J-Bass.

I guess I'm looking at the wrong video and tv stuff, and going to the wrong clubs. And when I do go to a club full of millennials I see a bassist playing a P-Bass that is all muffled and inarticulate. Are we going backwards?
 
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#25
First, as you say yourself, you are not a pro bassist.

So why then should you worry about what the mainstream music industry dictates pro bassists to do at the moment instead of what you like?

Second, if you like a P bass, and you are perfectly fine with only owning a P bass, you are right, there would be absolutely no reason for you to spend money on a different bass.

Though has anyone told you otherwise or are you trying to get people to prove you wrong, or why are you making this thread?

I am getting confused here.

Damn right, "Why?" is exactly the question I am left with after reading your OP.
 
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#27
Bluwaterbob said:
Aight guy's, I've been around for a while and though I'm really only a recreational bassist at best I'm still a bassist thru and thru. But I got a question : Why, in the last 5 or so years is it that anytime you see a video or live TV, is the bassist playing a P bass (or one that looks like it) ????? And, if that's what it takes for a pro bassist, WHY the hell would you spend $3k + on a bass of a different flavor ?? Just another FAD period? There was a time when if you saw a Funk group, the bassist was probably playing an Alembic or the likes.... and a washburn or Jackson on the Metal scene..... Anybody ???
Click to expand...

Dude! Broaden your musical horizons. Almost none of the music videos I watch feature a P-Bass.
 
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#30
Turnaround said:
.... And when I do go to a club full of millennials I see a bassist playing a P-Bass that is all muffled and inarticulate. Are we going backwards?
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That's because the younguns are obsessed with pedals. On reddit you see countless threads from total neophytes asking which pedals are Required and which ones should they should buy as they're about to get their first bass and a Rumble 15.
You Gotta have a compressor and an overdrive and ring modulation and fuzz pedal to play bass dontcha know.
 
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#31
Bluwaterbob said:
Aight guy's, I've been around for a while and though I'm really only a recreational bassist at best I'm still a bassist thru and thru. But I got a question : Why, in the last 5 or so years is it that anytime you see a video or live TV, is the bassist playing a P bass (or one that looks like it) ????? And, if that's what it takes for a pro bassist, WHY the hell would you spend $3k + on a bass of a different flavor ?? Just another FAD period? There was a time when if you saw a Funk group, the bassist was probably playing an Alembic or the likes.... and a washburn or Jackson on the Metal scene..... Anybody ???
Click to expand...
You've been around a while and you don't know better??? ;)
 
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#33
When I watch videos I'll checkout the bass, but bass gear is only interesting up to a point.

The one thing I'm always going to notice is what lines the bassist is playing. That's where I'm looking for ideas and inspiration.
 
#35
tekhedd said:
We're in a post-hipster phase right now. P basses were required by the fashion police for a while there.

After putting a lot of time into getting your tone right with a P bass, it's not really worth it to change to another bass until your endorsement deal runs out, and until you see what the next big thing is.

Hell yeah I'm cynical!
Click to expand...

P-basses were hardly part of the hipster, or even post-hipster aesthetic. Those instruments were/are primarily short scale, or imported oddities from a long ago discarded era of Japanese and Eastern European imports. Only the most elite (signed) hipsters were/are rocking Fender, because the labels were/are paying engineers and producers that knew/know better than to try to put a Teisco to wax. That's what eventually happened when Kim Deal brought her Aria to a recording session, but after laying down classics on a P switched to a Musicman for a bit. Not sure if she ever recovered :)
 
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#36
The guys with the 3k basses are thinking ahead: "I need a cool bass wth at least six strings, just in case one day I need the other two, and eventually when I no longer play, I'll have an extremely nice looking coffee table".

So it's actually a kind of roundabout way of spending more money to maybe save some money in the long run (on extra basses and coffee tables).

Or, just buy a P Bass and become a successful studio ace immediately. Either scenario is fine.
 
#38
jmon said:
Ps sound good with a band for any kind of music. Simple and to the point. End of discussion. There, I saved you hundreds upon hundreds of posts and debates. They sound good with a band. Very true. And very simple.
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Doesn't work with a Fusion Jazz band. When I'm doing remakes of Rachmaninoff, a P doesn't work so well. Same with most of the Samba I do. And the Cuban stuff. Or cool Jazz. etc.

Other than that, I agree. Sorta.
 
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#39
Turnaround said:
Doesn't work with a Fusion Jazz band. When I'm doing remakes of Rachmaninoff, a P doesn't work so well. Same with most of the Samba I do. And the Cuban stuff. Or cool Jazz. etc.

Other than that, I agree. Sorta.
Click to expand...

And here we go.......I'll bite.

Not the best. Not the worst. But sounds good. Even in those situations it works effectively. You can totally play a PBass in a fusion band. Tom Kennedy. Snarky Puppy. No I'm no jazz expert but it took me 2 pages of a search on Google to find him. You can find P players in all styles. To address the OP question....that's why you see so many. They work.
 
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