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What makes a bad bass player?


benh

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I was talking to the owner of my local music shop recently and this subject came up. He told me the worst bassist he ever played with was in a jazz band and he was actually technically very competent but he couldn't just play the bass part roughly as intended,  he had to put in far too many fills and tried turning the guitar solo in to a duet and was just difficult to play with. He said he'd much rather a beginner just playing root notes with solid timing than an over playing virtuoso.

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4 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Aren't you supposed to play the wrong notes in jazz? How do you tell its not in time when each member of the band is in a different time signature?

 

nice.jpg

Its easy to dismiss jazz like that but the truth is, the comping IS in time AND is playing the right harmony, in an ideal world. A soloist may very well be taking liberties with the note choice or timing but that's an entirely different thing. If the bass player is doing that (and not soloing), then its bad, trust me.

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1 minute ago, paul_c2 said:

Its easy to dismiss jazz like that but the truth is, the comping IS in time AND is playing the right harmony, in an ideal world. A soloist may very well be taking liberties with the note choice or timing but that's an entirely different thing. If the bass player is doing that (and not soloing), then its bad, trust me.

I was only joking. Beyond knowing I dislike it and don't have the talent to play it, I know very little about jazz other than it seems to have even more sub genres and sub genres of sub genres than metal. 

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57 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

... when each member of the band is in a different time signature?

That's ^^ not a problem, anyway, as long as they all have the same tempo. That's the glue that would hold it together. Having differing tempi, though... :swoon:

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Am I doomed ?

My bass has 6 strings and no frets, I like to play loads of notes, double stops and chords, I like to solo, I play very often on the dusty end and I am 182 cm tall.

So I'm a bad bass player with the good height. 😎 

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1 minute ago, Hellzero said:

Am I doomed ?

My bass has 6 strings and no frets, I like to play loads of notes, double stops and chords, I like to solo, I play very often on the dusty end and I am 182 cm tall.

So I'm a bad bass player with the good height. 😎 

Bad player and a shortarse!

:D

 

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On 25/06/2021 at 15:39, neilp said:

I'm not a huge fan, but U2 were and are the tightest band I've ever seen. Clayton undoubtedly has the ability to play lots and lots more notes than he does, but makes the CHOICE not to. No way a band can be that tight and powerful with a bad bass player.

Yeah, I often think of AC coming home after a gig…

”Hard day at the office dear?”

’not in the least bit taxing love - really chilled, nice and easy’

”Are we still filthy rich?”

’oh aye, increasingly so my little petal - INCREASINGLY…yurs.’

”Brandy?”

’Why not…hehehehe’.

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