Not to derail this thread too much but I am slightly concerned. I'm almost 40 and have never seen such a gap in the rock genre... at least in the main stream. Starting with the 80's you had rock with synthesizers like VanHalen, you had thrash metal. Then in the early 90's you had hair bands and then grunge. Rock rap and pop punk helped cross into the early millennium. Then you had bands like White Stripes and the Killers, scream-o bands, and then some more synth rock lately. Anyhow since 2004, it may be around but it has the lowest profile that I have ever seen. Just went to Amazon and looked at the "Rock" top sellers and it was Daft Punk. A band which is more likened to disco. Well... thank goodness for new Black Sabbath and Megadeth CD's. In summary, I'm concerned about what I perceive to be a dearth of rock in the mainstream.
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Will bassists soon no longer be needed?
- Thread starter SlapPopBass
- Start date
Don't worry, as culture develops it will take the influence of past and fold it into the future as needed. There was great music before rock, and there is great music post regardless of the instrumentation.
The bass as we know it in form and function has been around for a mere five hundred years or so. Over the last 65,000 years instruments have evolved and disappeared with changes in technology. The voice is the first instrument and the most enduring. If you're really worried about your bass gig disappearing learn to sing well. There's always gonna be a gig for a great singing bass player. Otherwise it's not much to sweat one way or the other. None of us will be alive when the bass as we know it becomes extinct.
There is no need for any specific instrument. Every instrument is non-essential and replaceable, including the human voice, guitar, bass, keys and drums.
It seems like we just had this converstion a couple days ago.
Oh yeah. We did: Having a bass player is now optional isn't even off of the first page, yet.
It seems like we just had this converstion a couple days ago.
Oh yeah. We did: Having a bass player is now optional isn't even off of the first page, yet.
First, today's music isn't about music. It's about marketing marginally talented "personalities" to a demographic who have no understanding of music at all. Seriously, are you really concerned about ignoramuses (ignorami?) who make doofus remarks like that? Next time someone says it, ask them what instrument they play.
where do you even find people who are that ignorant?? I am always so amazed to hear stuff like that because my experience has been so much the opposite. sure I'm sometimes asked the difference between bass and guitar, and non-musical people can sometimes have a hard time understanding it. but straight up insults? never. usually I'm impressed by how much people appreciate the bass.
I don't think our instrument is going anywhere. the days of the funk bass heroes might be over, but there is still no substitute for a real human bass player in the vast majority of music. the bass guitar is the best sounding instrument for bass range notes, and I don't think anything is about to take its place. the whole world of bass guitar design is so full of vitality. these days we are practically besieged by master builders who have taken bass design to demi-god levels. and the mass producers are cranking out consistenly high quality instruments at every price point. bottom line the industry is healthy on all fronts.
My experience may be too limited or localized, but I tend to see offerings for a position as a bassist in plenty of up-and-coming local bands (a lot more than vocalists and guitarists, at the very least). So, no, I don't think the need for bassists is in decline.
True, every instrument or voice is replaceable by something and non-essential if you don't mind changing the form or substance of the music. So there IS no need, but there may be a strong want.
The original questions was "will bassists soon no longer be needed?" Following your logic they were never needed. My vote is that they will be wanted for a long time to come.
I'm think "soon" as the query was put is several decades away.When I was a toolmaker back in the late 70s-later 80s people thought CNC machines would replace all of us. Fortunately, most machines are still not intuitive enough to adjust to multiple variables as well as a human - it generally takes longer to program a machine then it does for a skilled machinist to make 1-6 parts.. I'm not losing sleep that something is going to jump from one playing style to another with anywhere near the speed or quality of a decent bass player. A canned track is a canned track.
Actually, it's "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt".
From Mike Dirnt's Wiki page-
During grade school, he would constantly play "air-bass", and while pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt". As a result, his schoolmates began to call him "Mike Dirnt".
Back in the '80s, my good friend was demo-ing his new Ensoniq Mirage keyboard; he showed me some real killer bass tones/samples, etc...and then he said-
"See, you can be replaced".
What my myopic friend failed to see-
The whole damn band can be replaced....and it was.
I see the same thing Carl: Everybody thinks they can sing because they have a voice. And many think they can play guitar because chords plus rhythm sound like a song. Good bass playing is different - the bass line that works good for a song often wouldn't stand on it's own very good and wouldn't be identifiable as being part of a particular song. I've heard a lot of bass parts filled in with canned tracks, piano players and guitarists with low-strung guitars(or guitarists playing bass). Some are quite good but very few are great because the person doesn't fully understand or appreciate the subtle possibilities of bass playing, even when out front in the mix.
Can't agree more with what you said. That very way of thinking, in tandem with the popularity and notoriety of both instruments in popular music, make for a pretty big number of wannabe singers and guitarists. Hence the demand of bad or mediocre ones. But bassists, we're in short supply because we often do not shine just by jamming chords away, but more by actually understanding our role in music.
Roy Vogt
Supporting Member
- Sep 20, 2000
- 4,433
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- Endorsing Artist: Kiesel Basses, Ampeg Amplification, Hotone Ampero II effects
Just taught a couple of weeks at this camp:
Link Removed
With students from 14-19, every band had a bass player and just like the old days, they were in short supply. Same as it ever was......
Link Removed
With students from 14-19, every band had a bass player and just like the old days, they were in short supply. Same as it ever was......
THIS is why I think guitarists like to noodle between songs - because they can.
I can relate to what the other poster said about bass players being in short supply at band camp - my high school orchestra had 12-14 violins,8-9 violas, 5-6 cellos. I was the only bass player in 9th and 10th, then two guys who played electric bass thought they could just step in and play upright. I remained 1st chair by default.
We have a job in music that, unfortunately, most people don't notice we're doing until we screw up or aren't there. I don't play bass like that, I make sure people hear me and know I am playing, and not by screwing up lol.
Some types of music don't necessarily NEED a bass player hip hop and industrial coming to mind right off the bat, but that's only two styles of music out of xxx genres. We'll always be needed, and we will always be in demand, because there just aren't a lot of us out there when compared to guitarists, vocalists, and drummers.
Some types of music don't necessarily NEED a bass player hip hop and industrial coming to mind right off the bat, but that's only two styles of music out of xxx genres. We'll always be needed, and we will always be in demand, because there just aren't a lot of us out there when compared to guitarists, vocalists, and drummers.
Umm OK.
First of all, country IS the dominant genre (at least in certain parts of the US), and the electric bass is loud and proud in that genre today, both in studio and on stage. In fact I would say -- from experience -- that if you want to be a steadily gigging bassist then country is where you should be looking before anything else.
So this assertion baffles me.
Second that...and I don't even play country anymore.
Umm OK.
First of all, country IS the dominant genre (at least in certain parts of the US), and the electric bass is loud and proud in that genre today, both in studio and on stage. In fact I would say -- from experience -- that if you want to be a steadily gigging bassist then country is where you should be looking before anything else.
jazzyitalian
Supporting Member
Relax, Junior. It's just adolescent angst. And you don't exactly have a great deal of life experience yet. The bass isn't going anywhere...
IMO, bassists need to start thinking more in terms of "Bass - the musical function", and less in terms of "Bass - the musical instrument". Whenever there has been music, nearly right from the beginning, there has been bass - whether it be the figured bass of classical orchestral music during the Baroque period, or the tuba of a John Phillips Sousa march - or the synth bass of a Gary Numan tech/pop piece. Bass is a fundamental element of music - and likely will always be so.
That said, electric bass guitar is still a very fluid & functional instrument - scarcely even 60 years old! It still has a long, productive life ahead of it...
MM
Well put from a seasoned bass dude.
If the kind of basslines you are doing can be replaced by a synth or a sequencer, reconsider the way you play your instrument an the kind of music you play.
