Leonard Smalls

Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk

As an object lesson in taking something simple and making far more complex while also elevating it to a whole new level:

This is often a BC way of saying "keep it simple cos that's the only way to do it that isn't blatant showing off!" 😁 I mean, there's all sorts of songs - Waterfront with its 1 note (though Simple Minds did far more complex stuff too), Rhythm Stick, School Days... But there seems to be lots of folks who are instantly turned off if music is at all complicated (Rhythm Stick excepted!) - this is why Mr Sheeran and Take That are multi-millionaires and Mörglbl are at best niche despite being completely awesome musicians. In the UK there's a weird sort of anti-intellectual thang going on; when I was a kid you should have heard the jeering from my 13 year old classmates when they discovered I'd read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. If a red-top newspaper ever reports anything scientific it's always prefaced by "Boffins have discovered", as if Boffins are a different species from yer average Joe and somehow to be pitied. I mean why would you tinker about with all this cleverness and not be watching the footie or enjoying the X Factor? The only sorts of knowledge that are acceptable under this scenario are an ability to recite every FA cup winner since 1921 or the exact exhaust valve clearance of a 1968 Ford Anglia. That's proper bloke stuff innit, not wishy-washy wet swot stuff! I blame The Beano...

Aye... I think it's a shame that complex music isn't more widely appreciated and that incredibly simple little ditties make the money! In terms of bass this is illustrated in our band. We've got two bass players - me playing far too many notes and R, who's from a purely punk background, playing easy root note stuff. However, this doesn't work in all our songs so I've taught him some chords above the twelfth fret to do effectively rhythm guitar stuff. First time he did this live a guy in the audience who knew R from his previous band shouted "Oi! Flash W4nkr!"

I remember a memorable gig at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford... We had this gang of twenty something lads (the Bromley Boys) who used to follow us, and being a bit influenced by our own craziness, all dressed up as women. However, this meant they all looked like the Monty Python crew in their lady-guises. I was just loading out my bass amp (still dressed in my wedding dress with black stripe painted vertically over my nose) when two local blokes came running past with the biggest Bromley Boy, Malc, looking the spit of John Cleese, in hot pursuit brandishing an iron bar and shouting "We're from faahkin Laaaaahndon!" Never found out what it was all about, we just got in the van with our obligatory Jack Daniels...

I don't give a fork - Suicidal Tendencies

Handcuffs - Parliament

A triple tie at the top! Well done all!

Wot,even Sid's masterful version?

Shurely shome mishtake? As everybody knows a bass player is musical if they only play root and fifth (and maybe a third or even a grace note if it's their significant birthday), always stand at the back (preferably mostly hidden behind cymbals, or better, a pillar) and absolutely never do anything that draws attention to either them, or God forbid, to their bass playing!

The Beat Goes On - The Whispers

Take a lift (off my spliff) - Jacob "Killer" Miller

Even Stan's none-more-80s version? 😁

Not sure I agree with this! Having seen them on their first few gigs in the UK - the first of which was in a 200 capacity pub in Hammersmith - he was always awesome, and the backbone of the band. They wouldn't have been the Chillis without him! Not liking them is a different matter entirely., but I most certainly wouldn't call Flea's playing "struggling"! I remember seeing them at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden - their 2nd or 3rd UK gig and and perhaps 500 capacity - with Hillel Slovak on guitar. Hillel was in the depths of heroin addiction and he was definitely struggling for the first couple of songs. Then the struggle became too much for him and he left the stage, leaving the other three to finish the gig without him. And it was one of the most memorable gigs I've ever seen - Flea somehow managed to completely cover for him while leaping all around the stage like a dervish and doing his super-speedy slap thing at the same time. Hardly struggling! However, the Superbowl thing was rather embarrassing and should probably be forgotten by anyone who ever saw it 😁

Depends on your definition. What for one person is a bit of mild frottage is for others a full-blown bag-over-the-head-and-a-bottle-of-poppers-cuffed-to-a-radiator scenario! What fills me with horror for any solo is where the band leave the stage, put on a bath and a baked potato leaving said muso (whether he/she/it are bass, guitar, drums, whatever) to fill the time with a cacophony of a-musical onanism. Like that Cliff bloke out of off of Metallica who seems to be so revered! It's only forgivable if it's completely amazing - frinstance I saw Sheila E do a percussion solo for about 10 minutes which had at least 2 minutes on the triangle, and it was awesome - or completely hilarious - like Nigel Tuffnell and his violin-guitar thang. As for bass solos, I absolutely love a good funk-bass one... Like the one Big Tony does for Trouble Funk. It's there to complement the song, and it's groovy, entertaining and full of showmanship.

They are indeed excellent! I bought my Sandberg from them quite a few years ago and pop in whenever I'm in Newtown... Also recommend my local music shop, Knighton Music, though only really for guitars; they have a huge selection of just about anything you can think of! Not much bass unfortunately, but I bought my Parker from them.

Movin' and Groovin' - Redds and the Boys

In a degrees of separation brush with greatness, my mother is a piano teacher... Her first teacher was the German pianist Emil von Sauer, who had been a pupil of Franz Liszt!

Talking of TV appearances, I managed to get 2 tracks from our home-recorded demo on the telly. One was background on a John Craven's Newsround piece about raves (!) and the other was on Crimewatch as the music playing at a party while someone got murdered. Fame!!!

Talking of Stu Hamm you can see how he stacks up against some other bass players in this ultimate widdle-fest! For me he's nowhere near the best in this group - top 3 for me (apart from Stan) are Bunny Brunel, Billy Sheehan and Jimmy Johnson - none of whom do slappyclappy stuff...

Indeed! There's jazz and there's jazz... 😁 I know that in certain jazz circles (i.e. the more acoustic end) electric bass (or anything electric!) is either kind of frowned on or not acknowledged as being suitable for use in "proper" jazz. Use of one demotes the music to "fusion" and not worthy of attention by "serious" jazzers. I had recent experience of this when I asked a local jazz promoter if he would be putting on any more electric jazz or fusion gigs. His reply, dripping with condescension, was "You’re clearly an authority, perhaps one might suggest attending one of our sessions, we’d certainly appreciate your opinion...then perhaps you’d have a better understanding of our Jazz performances!". With a reply like that I wouldn't feel like I was welcome at any of their sessions - all of them (for the last 3 years at least) have been quite straight head "traditional" (not trad!) with brass, piano, double bass and drums with Julian Siegel perhaps being the most "out there". No electric anything... And none were really in any way swinging, none were really about groove, which is what I want in any music, from punk to Vivaldi!

It strikes me that the bass players most BCers don't get is the ones wot play a bit jazzy... The usual criticisms are "no musicality or feel" but I reckon much of that dislike is due to a hatred of jazz! The bass players I find over-rated are those who simply lay down the bottom end with minimal flourishes - in other words are basic bass-players allowing the rest of the players to be the actual musicians 😁 Calling Mr. McCartney!!

Back in the early 90s when I was a trainee boom-swinger I worked on "Keeping Up Appearances". I found I got on very well with the late Geoffrey Hughes and after a few whiskies in the hotel bar we'd go and play on a couple of acoustic guitars, him strumming and warbling, me just using the bottom 4 strings. Gawd help anyone listening!

Sticking with quirky instrumentals, and staying away from jazz (for the moment), early indie-new-wave pioneers featuring Andy Warren on bass:

I done one! Remembering the Babycham ad with a bit of jazzyfunkyrock... Bass is the trusty Wal with a touch of chorus. Guitars are a strat through various Helix programmes. Horns courtesy of Loopcloud, and drums programmed in EZ Drummer. All rolled in a spot of Neutron 3 and Ozone 9.