"THE ROLES OF BASS PLAYERS..." -By Me!

[dpresti]

So yesterday I was in my local music store talking to the employees as I often do, and we began to discuss who as the most important role in the band. I am a bass player in the band "Free Henry", however I do play all instruments. I'm making a thread on this because they said some stuff that I found interesting and wanted to get the opinions of other musicians. The one worker said 1st of all, "the key to any good band is a great drummer, after that the bassists because he has the tough job of molding the drums and guitar together, good bass is essential..."

the other worker said "i can fake playing guitar well, but bass, theres no faking, you have to be on your game all the time!"

This really hit home to me, because there are so many people out there who feel bass players are just up there playing root notes and not doing anything hard or talented. However, personally when my band comes up with a song, I attack it with the mindset of finding a groove and sticking to it, while just being solid! In other words, I feel its more important to be a SOLID, in the pocket bass player who comes up with awesome grooves. As we all know Stefan is great at this. But, after hearing these guys talk about how bass player are so important to a good band, i really go tthe urge to practice with my band and make sure all my stuff is tight!

What are you thoughts on bass player roles? and their talent? what makes a bass player good, and solid to you? are you looking for a slapper or a groover?

[bassman462]

someone like flea is really good at this too, he is amazing at coming up with good lines to groove, and knows when to bring his bass out of the mix to fill in. he also knows when its right to slap and so on.

[carter29]

You know what man, I have been thinking about this alot lately actually. When listening to live music you can really take notice to the bass. When there's a mistake it's heard. I feel a great drummer it important to a band's overall sound/mood/groove/identity. Neil Peart dwarfs Nick Mason in talent...but would Pink Floyd's sound be so unique and defined if these drummer's switched places? They would be a very different band if Nick Mason didn't contribute what he did to the band, as with Peart and Rush. With the pop/punk/emo bands today, you could switch drummers and no one would know, they are generic.

Ok end of stoner rant and back to your point...

Bass players provide the most underlaying element that keeps the whole sound together and complete. Guitar players can all the fancy stuff but bass keeps the melody of the bass of the song the whole way through. I don't know if im making any sense

[Machtimus]

The bass establishes the groove. In jazz, and particullary small group jazz, the bassist is the bus driver in just keeping time while outlining the chords (the drummer keeps time as well as lay out the major hits of the band).

[i am sam2]

i think having a good bass player is important because whats most important about the bass is that it is performing the role it needs to be performing. in dmb, thats mostly backing up dave and being with the groove, but in rhcp, a lot of it is pretty much being the funky groove melody. look at led zeppelin. jpj was amazing at distinguishing when to mirror jimmy page and when to do put a little more melody to the bass. when the blend in and when to cut through. thats what makes a good bass player, in my opinion.

a good drummer is important because a) i dont care what you say, his mistakes are MOST noticable and b) you cant get by with a half-assed drummer

[bassman462]

ya, i even tell jeff(youth pastor) not let any person with sticks in there hand play drums for youth, because its hard to play when the person is like screwing up half the time.

[Machtimus]

ya, i even tell jeff(youth pastor) not let any person with sticks in there hand play drums for youth, because its hard to play when the person is like screwing up half the time.

So your drummer plays with his hands?

[violenticecream88]

thats why DMB rocks, because everyone is solid. carter is the man
stefan is jammin
butch is just smart
dave is.... dave
leroi is coltrane
boyd has awesome faces..