Misdee

Those RD Artists sound amazing but weigh a ton and are a bit ungainly to play. I remember when they were new in the shops around the time I started playing and they were ridiculously expensive, much more than a Fender or Rickenbacker, none of which I could afford.

I very strongly disagree with this version of history. If you or anybody else enjoys Hooky's playing and find it inspiring for whatever reason then good luck to you, nothing wrong with that. If you like and enjoy his style that's good enough reason. But that doesn't mean that objectively he is an accomplished musician or indeed qualified in any way to judge other exponents of the bass. He's just someone who people who don't play the bass think must be important because they've heard of him .Whenever I hear him interviewed about playing the bass he seems to be full of self-regard, mainly for his own lack of ability, something which he mistakenly sees as a great asset. That's why I think he is a conspicuously bad choice to present this series. I was passionately interested in music in 1979, just like you were, and in playing the bass. I thought Peter Hook was a crap bass player then, and I've heard nothing to change my mind in the interim period. Listening to him thrashing away was depressing back then, and it takes me right back whenever I hear it now. Lots of kids played like that in those days, I think that Hooky was just the one who ended up being famous. In the early ,1980's most bass players not playing slap or fretless were not influenced by his style. He still wasn't that well-known by then, and there were plenty of other role models. For post-punk bass players in the early '80's (and I know because I was one of them) bassists like Sting, Bruce Foxton Horace Panter and JJ Burnel were far more influential than Peter Hook. The idea that Joy Division were such an important band at that time is a classic example of a tale told in the telling. They had a cult following and a certain profile in the music press, but their "legend" is something which has been created subsequently by people with an agenda which necessitates rewriting history to their own ends. When they were together they were a moderately well-known post-punk band from Manchester. Nothing more than that. And regarding any equivalence between Mick Karn and Peter Hook, there isn't any. The crucial difference between the two is that Mick Karn's style is defined by his imagination, not by his limitations. It's also wrong to claim that Mick Karn wasn't a trained musician when he had a background in playing the oboe in orchestras ect. I know he claimed to have no knowledge of scales and chords ect, but in practise he clearly did. His facility on the instrument is in a different stratosphere to Peter Hook (and most other bass players, for that matter). That should be obvious to anyone who listens.

Kim Jong Un, maybe. Make sure you wash your hands after touching those strings.

Great basslines can also be one-off phenomena, like Slave To The Rhythm by Grace Jones, played by Luis Jardim (RIP). You couldn't really point out much of a body of recorded work as a bass player for multi-instrumentalist Luis, but he was obviously a terrific player and that track alone must be one of the standout bass parts of the 1980's, and that was the decade of the standout bass part. Players like that will most likely be overlooked, as will session musicians who were guitar and bass doublers, like the late great Tommy Cogbill. But like I keep saying, I'll be watching avidly and enjoying whatever crumbs of comfort and inspiration this series has to offer. Bear in mind I regularly spend an hour or more watching brain dead British couples deciding if they want to sell their pre-war semi in Slough and move to Post-war semi in Swindon with a bigger garden and sufficient room to add an incontinence-themed extension ( pending planning permission). I'm sure I'll be glued to this bass fest.

No not a virtuoso, but he makes the most of his abilities in a really musical way. Adam Clayton knows how to play to the strengths of the instrument, and that's something that can elude some very technically-able players.

Anthony Jackson Pino Palladino Gail Anne Dorsey

Just wait until it's on. See if I'm wrong.

Those Chromes are pretty stiff flats in the scheme of things. Looking at the problems from the reverse angle, is there anything exceptional about the P Bass that makes them so playable on that bass? A non-angled headstock, yes, but I would still expect Chromes to be pretty tense on a typical Fender.

It'll inevitably be the same old hoary favourites, Seven Nation Army, Smells like Teen Spirit, Peaches, Runaway, Walk On The Wild side ect. Also, expect revelatory and hitherto unheard anecdotes about how Bernard Edwards didn't know what strings came with his Stingray and such like. Such a great opportunity wasted. Still, a crap series about playing the bass is better than no series at all.

To be fair, the programme is called Greatest Bass lines, so I'm judging it by how great the basslines are. Peter Hook's basslines are sometimes memorable and therefore "iconic" to some people, but to me it does not follow they are necessarily great because of that. Dairylea is an "iconic" cheese but that doesn't make it a good quality one. If people enjoy it good luck to them, but don't try and tell me it's of the highest standard.

Don't shoot the messenger! I'm sorry to break the news but in wider society being a bass guitarist is not regarded as the prestige occupation which it ought to be. Although I would concede that in Jamaica I expect that might be a bit different.

I think Kris Novoselic and Adam Clayton are both decent players who've come up with good basslines on great records. I certainly don't understand why Adam Clayton is considered a poor player by some people. He's got a style and sound that works really well.

Well, Peter Hook prides himself on not knowing how to play the bass, whilst at the same time clearly regarding himself as one of the all-time greats. He's a well-known bassist, not an accomplished one in any musical sense. He's a personality, not a significant bass player. People will point to Love Will Tear Us Apart, Blue Monday et al. Talk it up as much as you like, I don't like his playing or any of those records, never have done. It never sounded good to me. His biggest accomplishment is playing bass in the two most overrated bands of all time ( except for maybe the Velvet Underground). As for the other two, they're not even personalities. What qualifies any them to judge other bass players is nothing to to do with their skills or knowledge of playing the bass. It is because they tick the right boxes for the editorial criteria of a TV show aimed at people who are even more uninformed. That's only to be expected, not everybody is a bass player or even that interested. It's all depressingly inevitable. I'll be watching, though.

This all sounds too much for ordinary coincidence to me. Can you think of any reason why you might be targeted for a hate crime?

To be fair, many would say a bass player is nothing special as far as music goes.

If indeed any such construct exists.

Does me good to look at such a perfect example. Wow.

It's not on for nearly two weeks yet and I'm already getting annoyed at who the inevitable candidates will be.😄 Let me put it to you this way, I can already see three bass players who definitely shouldn't be included. 🫢

I've got a 2012 Am St Jazz with the Custom Shop pickups that I bought new at the time. Sounds as good as any Jazz I've ever played, vintage, boutique, Custom Shop or whatever. The neck profile is a bit of an acquired taste, but I get used to it after half an hour or so. Otherwise the best Jazz Bass ever for me.

As Duke Ellington famously said, if it sounds good, it is good.

As opposed to agonizing over just about everything except how to play the bass well in a musical way.

Could I just say how refreshing it is for someone to ask a question about actually playing the bass.

I'm really getting into that classic Spector sound. I love that strident, wiry tone. I like aggressive-sounding basses, and the NS2 definitely falls into that category.

I nearly bought one of those Hellborg basses. A local shop had one at the time ( around 1997/8)) and it was a a powerful beast of a bass. Apparently Jonas asked Status to make him a bass that was as close to his Wal 4 string as possible, but with one or two tweaks, the 36 volt circuit probably being one of them. My main bass in the mid-1990's was a headed Status Empathy, and I think the tone-shaping controls on the Hellborg were essentially the same with switchable sweepable mids ect. My bass teacher at that time had a Wal Custom and when I plugged in my bass into the same amp his Wal was literally about twice as loud as my Status, despite the fact that the Wal was 9 volts and my Status was 18 volts. Maybe the 36 volt circuit in the Hellborg was to address that disparity. Difficult for me to say with any certainty because "headroom" has always seemed like a bit of a vague concept to me, and it's all a long time ago now! In terms of sheer output though, there was no competition. The Wal was way more hot than my Status.