Would you rather hear piano or bass tapping?

[Flatwoundround]

Assuming equal skill at a pretty good level would you rather hear a song played solo on piano or played by someone doing two hand tapping on bass.

The reason I ask this question is as follows:

I have 2 hours a day to practice

I need to spend 1 of those hours on normal bass practicing my Funk R&B band stuff (you know basslines and fills).

The other hour I typically spend on two hand tapping because I have a strong desire to play music by myself so thus the need to do two things at once by playing bassline with left hand and right hand play melody and double stops.

I also play some piano but i can't decide where to my put my full 1 hour of energy to keep getting better, either the two hand tapping or piano - I love them both but I don't want to squander too much time and energy between the instruments. And for me playing two hand tapping is almost like playing another instrument compared to playing regular bass.

The two hand tapping sounds cool but as we all know the bass makes non-musical noises such as fret clack, buzzing, and ringing strings and the tone can sound sort of unclear compared to the piano.

So give it to me straight and let me know what you think.

Thanks.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

This is coming from somebody who listens to and plays solo bass, including two-handed tap: everybody prefers to hear the piano. I am sure some will come on and say "not me" but those people are filthy liars.

 

[Flatwoundround]

This is coming from somebody who listens to and plays solo bass, including two-handed tap: everybody prefers to hear the piano. I am sure some will come on and say "not me" but those people are filthy liars.

Very interesting thanks. The other day I asked my wife which one she prefers and she gave me the standard PC answer of "well, they are just different" - and I kept pressing her for a straight answer and she finally said "well, the piano was made to played that way, the bass was not".

However, when I play say Tequilla, or Lo Rider, or the theme to jeopardy on the bass tapping everyone is always like "wow, that is so cool" but on the piano I don't get that response almost like it is not a big deal at all.

 

[lz4005]

If you want to ever get paid to play in public solo absolutely piano.

If it's only for your own personal satisfaction, then do whichever you enjoy more.

 

[MCS4]

I can guarantee you'll get better results by figuring out which instrument you prefer, which is more comfortable for you, which is more expressive to you, and which inspires you more to play, rather than by taking a poll of what other people prefer.

All things being equal, if we're talking cover tunes or arrangements of existing songs, I'd prefer piano to bass tapping on average. However, there are a lot of excellent bass tapping tunes from the likes of Michael Manring, Zander Zon, etc. that I wouldn't change for anything.

 

[brianrost]

I wish I could play piano well enough to be a solo performer. No question: work on the piano.

 

[MrLenny1]

Piano !
No one wants to hear solo bass.

 

[Flatwoundround]

Piano !
No one wants to hear solo bass.

I thought so. The truth is liberating though

 

[swooch]

"wow, that is so cool"

Yeah... but that's about it. My 2c is that it's a novelty techique which can impress people if done once in a concert.

Of course, if you get really good you can probably do solo bass concerts (which will be attended by fellow bassists), but you still won't get any girls.

 

[fearceol]

With absolutely no hesitation, I'd much prefer to hear solo piano.

 

[two fingers]

It is no different from a band. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't pick the RIGHT SONGS nobody will care.

I would rather hear fingernails on a chalkboard than sit at a coffee shop and hear original wankery on a solo bass. But whip out some "Yesterday" or "Just My Imagination"or Bach or blues or something I am familiar with and I'll sit there with my jaw on the floor all night. Prolly put a 20 in the tip jar.

Rule #1 (whether you like it or not). Your set list is about THEM, not you.

Best of luck with it.

 

[Flatwoundround]

Today I am leaning more towards the keyboard route for solo satisfaction. I was goofing around with a cheap yamaha last night going through a bass amp (so not a real good keyboard and not even a keyboard amp) but guess what? The tone was better than my $600 bass with $40 copper nylon strings and $180 EMG pickups and $1000 Markbass amp. I am blown away with the tone they can get out of these things, and imagine if I get a good keyboard and keyboard amp.

I figure with keys I lose the articulations that the bass has but I gain the tone that I could never get from the bass and I have tried alot of things over the years short of spending $10K on a bass and rig which I would never do. I also gain more access to notes and best of all i don't have to use a hair scrungy or gruv gear wrap to mute the open ringing strings.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Dunno this is pretty nice musique ...





Tapping shouldn't be the end goal but a tool to put out music.