Who are the real gunslinger virtuoso bassists?

[Pete Academy]

A great reader, an amazing technique, a unique sound and style, a great composer. That's why I chose Marcus.

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1363439172' post='2012702']
Lots of great bassist being listed here (Mingus definitely gets my vote).

Here's a curveball that the vast majority of you will [i]hate[/i] with a passion… Tom Jenkinson (aka Squarepusher) and 'The Modern Bass Guitar'. It blows my head that this track is played using a bass, albeit with a shedload of MIDI mojo going on. It's lightyears away from what most people consider to be 'musicianship', but for me, this guy is a modern-day gunslinger for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUet8XYs5dg
[/quote]

Hey Skol, good call. This is my favourite track of that album. I'm not actually a fan of his more 'straightforward bass guitar' songs, but love this. Can't wait to see him in 2 weeks!

[MilkyBarKid]

Nice playing by jimmy - it's really good to see holdsworth playing with a drummer who
doesn't drown him out I've been to two of his gigs where you couldn't hear him or the bass player
because of the drumer who obviously thought everyone had come to see him.

[Myke]

I must check some of these guys out

[W11ATO]

My current "favourite" is Pino, he's played just about every style out there and some of his fretless "pop music" work in the 80's is awesome.

Edited March 20, 2013 by W11ATO

[lojo]

I feel really stupid but I just don't get music where the bass starts doing much more than a good groove.

I watch these guys with awe , but I can only enjoy it when I see them playing with my eyes, if its listening only its not quite the same.

Should I be struck from the bass playing community ?

Obviously I'm not talking about the greats who play as part of a great band, but the ones who build a band around a lead bass

Edited March 18, 2013 by lojo

[xilddx]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1363632933' post='2015070']
I feel really stupid but I just don't get music where the bass starts doing much more than a good groove.

I watch these guys with awe, but I can only enjoy it when I see them playing with my eyes, if its listening only its not quite the same.

Should I be struck from the bass playing community ?
[/quote]

I totally get what you are saying. I think it's about doing what's right for the song, whatever the song is, but doing it with real attitude. If you only like bass doing a simple groove that's perfectly fine. I don't like a lot of the virtuosos I've heard because of what I see as a failing in their ability to transcend their exercises. Even players Hadrien Feraud and Jimmy Haslip seem to sound like they are doing exercises, ultrafast descending scale runs in fours and stuff like that seems prevalent in so much of what they play, the same little chords they use, they way they 'take it down' with the quiet little nippy notes, and so many of these players sound like that.

But when I listen to Scott Thunes or Tom Fowler, their lines are just so much more harmonically interesting, there's real harmonic and melodic depth in their lines, and they are played with fire, real energy. But then they had superb compositions to work with. I mean, where have the composition skills gone? All the new virtuoso chops jazz sounds much the same, same old progressions but nothing inspiring. And what's with all these daft effects they're using now, these comical dub step and auto wah sounds that seem so popular with so many virtuosos. I know I sound really prejudiced but I honestly think most of the new breed of virtuosos sound dull, boring, sparkless, and often the same as each other, all the old transcribed jazz trumpet runs on bass.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K59V8q74juc[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46vu25KByM[/media]

Edited March 18, 2013 by xilddx

[thumperbob 2002]

C'mon guys genius on bass started and ended with jamerson. He changed everything. Amazing what you can do with a sky high action, fender plankocaster and one finger.

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1363635685' post='2015123']
Even players Hadrien Feraud and Jimmy Haslip seem to sound like they are doing exercises, ultrafast descending scale runs in fours and stuff like that seems prevalent in so much of what they play, the same little chords they use, they way they 'take it down' with the quiet little nippy notes, and so many of these players sound like that.

All the new virtuoso chops jazz sounds much the same, same old progressions but nothing inspiring. And what's with all these daft effects they're using now, these comical dub step and auto wah sounds that seem so popular with so many virtuosos. I know I sound really prejudiced but I honestly think most of the new breed of virtuosos sound dull, boring, sparkless, and often the same as each other, all the old transcribed jazz trumpet runs on bass.


[/quote]

Great point . My sentiments entirely . So many of them are interchangable non - entities with no originality , wit or guile . As Shakespear famously described it , like a tale told by an idiot , full of sound and fury and signifying nothing .

( Myself , I wouldn't lump Haslip in with the newer guys , but that's your prerogative ) .

[Pete Academy]

I have to agree. Most of the clips were soulless. Give me Meshell every time. She plays from the heart. Sheehan is great but it's mostly technique. Many will no doubt disagree. Bona is never tasteless.
.

[Dingus]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1363639652' post='2015199']
I have to agree. Most of the clips were soulless. Give me Meshell every time. She plays from the heart. Sheehan is great but it's mostly technique. Many will no doubt disagree. Bona is never tasteless.
.
[/quote]

Richard Bona is the real deal .

[lowdown]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1363640195' post='2015211']
Richard Bona is the real deal .
[/quote]

Richard B goes that extra mile for me.
Composing and vocals are also part of his extraordinary arsenal of soul, talent and emotion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jnjt-dyego

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1p3GbiPNR4


Garry

[Myke]

I love the way that Bona can sing everything he plays! Pure genius!

[arthurhenry]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1363639652' post='2015199']
I have to agree. Most of the clips were soulless. Give me Meshell every time. She plays from the heart. Sheehan is great but it's mostly technique. Many will no doubt disagree. Bona is never tasteless.
.
[/quote]
Sheehan is great and it's mostly great rock bass playing in rock songs, unless of course you choose to focus only on his solos.

[leadubblebass]

I agree Jamerson is the main man Althrough he died young, pennieless and alone Where does that leave the rest of us?

[spencer.b]

just listened to the feraud and gwizdala clips and i think that's a bit harsh on the latter to lump them in together, for me feraud is just finger wiggling nonsense but I thought gwizdala has a sense of harmonic development and space and has tons of modern jazz vocab. Isn't all bass shred music a bit bollox though?

great shout for thunes and fowler

[xilddx]

[quote name='spencer.b' timestamp='1363652037' post='2015457']
just listened to the feraud and gwizdala clips and i think that's a bit harsh on the latter to lump them in together, for me feraud is just finger wiggling nonsense but I thought gwizdala has a sense of harmonic development and space and has tons of modern jazz vocab. Isn't all bass shred music a bit bollox though?

great shout for thunes and fowler
[/quote]
You're right, some of Gwiz's passages are really nice, but most of it sounds like faux Coltrane, too many of em sound like that sheets of notes thing, but it sounds like dad dancing because you can learn the artifice and the techniques, but unless you have a well developed aesthetic that incorporates your personality it can come across as a too stylistic and without nuance and real personal expression. No real fire. I know this sounds a bit poncey and above my station, but you know what I mean?

[Judo Chop]

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1363553888' post='2014099']
at the risk of being shot down how about Brad Russell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZMaGex14kg
[/quote]

That's quite good actually

[Conan]

No mentions for Stan the Man? (Clarke, obviously...) Or Julian Crampton?

Less swagger than some, certainly - but more charisma in the little fingers than some of the "faux Coltranes". Another great band name there BTW...

[spencer.b]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhOI6bZwCsk

nice jumper

[EssentialTension]

When I hear the word virtuoso, I tend to switch off. I'm not really interested in virtuoso, I prefer music and songs.

Most of the stuff posted here leaves me totally cold.

[risingson]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1363719246' post='2016547']
Most of the stuff posted here leaves me totally cold.
[/quote]

Same for me, although I suppose (for example) that we can all be into different authors but at the same time loathe reading Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, modern guys like Michael Chabon or Franzen, it's just good to keep them in the back of your mind when we read because they're the ones that set a lot of the benchmarks whether we consider it to be interesting or not.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1363720695' post='2016571']
Same for me, although I suppose (for example) that we can all be into different authors but at the same time loathe reading Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, modern guys like Michael Chabon or Franzen, it's just good to keep them in the back of your mind when we read because they're the ones that set a lot of the benchmarks whether we consider it to be interesting or not.
[/quote]
I like and read both Shakespeare and Dickens - I would never think of them as 'virtuosos' but great storytellers. I've never heard of Chabon and Franzen - I looked them up on Wikipedia now.

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1363635685' post='2015123']
I totally get what you are saying. I think it's about doing what's right for the song, whatever the song is, but doing it with real attitude. If you only like bass doing a simple groove that's perfectly fine. I don't like a lot of the virtuosos I've heard because of what I see as a failing in their ability to transcend their exercises. Even players Hadrien Feraud and Jimmy Haslip seem to sound like they are doing exercises, ultrafast descending scale runs in fours and stuff like that seems prevalent in so much of what they play, the same little chords they use, they way they 'take it down' with the quiet little nippy notes, and so many of these players sound like that.

But when I listen to Scott Thunes or Tom Fowler, their lines are just so much more harmonically interesting, there's real harmonic and melodic depth in their lines, and they are played with fire, real energy. But then they had superb compositions to work with. I mean, where have the composition skills gone? All the new virtuoso chops jazz sounds much the same, same old progressions but nothing inspiring. And what's with all these daft effects they're using now, these comical dub step and auto wah sounds that seem so popular with so many virtuosos. I know I sound really prejudiced but I honestly think most of the new breed of virtuosos sound dull, boring, sparkless, and often the same as each other, all the old transcribed jazz trumpet runs on bass.
[/quote]
yeah i totally agree, I feel like that about most players, it's just like the guitar shredders now, but on bass. That's not to say a shred doesn't have it's place. It just needs fire and not to be done all the time.

[Lord Sausage]

Not much mention of Jaco around here! Is he Passe !