mentalextra Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Maybe that sounds a bit harsh, but with "traditional" Chinese, Japanese or Indian music there seems to be a lack of "bass" or bass stringed instruments; plenty of drums? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Interesting question. I have no idea, and I intend to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 don't know what you mean? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd2pSLFjOas"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd2pSLFjOas[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1374565996' post='2150080'] don't know what you mean? [/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1374564543' post='2150061'] Maybe that sounds a bit harsh, but with "traditional" Chinese, Japanese or Indian music there seems to be a lack of "bass" or bass stringed instruments; plenty of drums? [/quote] you may have a point there [url="http://youtu.be/QH3uJc8K8qg"]http://youtu.be/QH3uJc8K8qg[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Can't listen to it , because off the sitar. Ding ding ding, all the bloody time . That instrument alone ruins everything for me. Yes a bass would be way cooler . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [sub]More seriously, I assume its the fact that Western popular music has evolved around dance and rhythmic forms whereas much 'traditional' Asian music (and i have some Indonesian gamelan music and japanese music in my collection) has less rigid rhythms and where rhythm was needed it has been provided by drums? A list of Chinese instruments on Wiki lists just one bowed instrument with a bass string: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traditional_Chinese_musical_instruments"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traditional_Chinese_musical_instruments[/url][/sub] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 A total guess: bass instruments tend to be really big, and were impractical for traditional musicians who tended to travel from town to town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoombung Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Because music (any music) sounds perfectly fine without bass instruments. Adding a baseline is usually the easiest way to ruin the harmony and make music dull and uninteresting. We have masses of boring Rock bands here in the west and a catastrophic cloud of unimaginative musical thinking. What's so good about that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Mostly because of the melodic tradition. There are many drone instruments. Harmony is not given the prominence it has in western music. Most Asian music has much more complex timing, rhythm and melody than most western music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Quite a bit of Ethnic music is improvised, at times over a (Bass) drone, leaving plenty of freedom. Then there is Rhythm from percussion instruments (with various time sigs) and varying tunings/pitch from very low to quite high. Seems like they have everything covered to me, and without the aid of a twelve bar [size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cytania Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I'd say Western music prior to symphonic orchestration and church organs also lacks bass for the same reasons. Early bass instruments are large, low in volume and difficult to play. Cathedral organs would have been the only time many 17th/18th century Europeans felt a deep rumbling low note. Howard Goodall places the first proper bass run with the Waltz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoRi Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXtrD9Oz2eE[/media] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquipment Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I would rip it up with some amazing disto bass on some chinesey music. The kind where there is dulcimer and sitar etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero9 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 It's a bit like saying there's very little bass in traditional Gregorian chant. The double bass didn't start until the early 15's in the West and Leo's creation didn't get going till '51. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowender Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 (edited) [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1374571325' post='2150158'] Mostly because of the melodic tradition. There are many drone instruments. Harmony is not given the prominence it has in western music. Most Asian music has much more complex timing, rhythm and melody than most western music. [/quote] I'm not so sure about this. Traditional Asian is actually pretty simple -- almost entirely pentatonic and within a couple of octaves. It's actually very similar to cowboy music. Play the melody to "I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle" on a koto. It's very Chinese sounding. Now if by "Asian" you're including Indian music, yet, there you'll find the use of the drone. And because of it, there isn't much chordal movement. And the tabla creates a bit on "low end" whereas in in "eastern oriental" music the tonality is thin. That could be for no other reason other than they like it or no one came up with a bass instrument since it seemed impractical. That was even the case in Western music until 1650 or so. (A tradition carried on with the "Justice For All" album). Why are there no cymbals in western music until the late 19th century? (Oddly enough, cymbals were in Asian music since the beginning). Edited July 23, 2013 by Lowender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1374586100' post='2150503'] I'm not so sure about this. Traditional Asian is actually pretty simple -- almost entirely pentatonic and within a couple of octaves. It's actually very similar to cowboy music. Play the melody to "I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle" on a koto. It's very Chinese sounding. Now if by "Asian" you're including Indian music, yet, there you'll find the use of the drone. And because of it, there isn't much chordal movement. And the tabla creates a bit on "low end" whereas in in "eastern oriental" music the tonality is thin. That could be for no other reason other than they like it or no one came up with a bass instrument since it seemed impractical. That was even the case in Western music until 1650 or so. (A tradition carried on with the "Justice For All" album). Why are there no cymbals in western music until the late 19th century? (Oddly enough, cymbals were in Asian music since the beginning). [/quote] Well Asia is f***ing HUUUUUGE, and there are folk and classical traditions to take into account. The OP's question was way too broad really. Stringed bass instruments don't feature in much music anywhere historcally unless I'm mistaken. As far as rhythmic and melodic complexity goes, and highly nuanced execution for the purposes of evocation for that matter, I'm talking more about the classical traditions. We could extend this to Africa and the Middle East too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='cytania' timestamp='1374573380' post='2150197'] I'd say Western music prior to symphonic orchestration and church organs also lacks bass for the same reasons. Early bass instruments are large, low in volume and difficult to play. Cathedral organs would have been the only time many 17th/18th century Europeans felt a deep rumbling low note. Howard Goodall places the first proper bass run with the Waltz. [/quote] This is the correct asnswer . Bass instruments require a certain degree of technology and inovation in order to work properly and be audible . Nige is also right that much Asian music uses a drone which functions in much the same way a Pedal Tone does in Western music . That drone combined with the low frequencies that are generated by the drums and precussion create a sense of "bottom end " in much Asian music . As Nige also points out , Asia is a big place , but I suspect that by Asian music the O.P mainly means music from the Indian subcontinent . From personal experience ,there are no bass instruments in the Brazilian samba bands that parade at Carnival , but the bottom end generated by the drums is so massive that you can literally feel the air hitting you and the bass is massive , so in practise it is quite possible to have a susbstantive bass prescence in many forms of music without neccesarilly having dedicated bass instruments , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1374586100' post='2150503'] That was even the case in Western music until 1650 or so. (A tradition carried on with the "Justice For All" album). [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 A lot of bass in popular music is descended from the military marching bands, from wind basses. Later with improved recording techniques the string bass came into its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggiesnr Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Umm, "traditional" English or Scottish music tends to be "bass light" as well. Arranged/composed/church music from the same era is a bit different but traditional music seems to have been melody led and you don't tend to use bass for that. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentalextra Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 [quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1374566648' post='2150091'] Can't listen to it , because off the sitar. Ding ding ding, all the bloody time . That instrument alone ruins everything for me. Yes a bass would be way cooler . [/quote] Yet as a counterpoint the drums are full of "body" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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