Bands without bassists

[MacDaddy]

There's a band in that London called Violent Offender, no bass, the 2 guitarists have 7 string guitars.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1470820091' post='3108660']
And the best of the lot - Hound Dog Taylor and The Houserockers:
[/quote]

Quite so. Mr Taylor's oeuvre suffers in no way from the absence of a bass.

IIRC, in the early-mid 1950's Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Elmore James and a host of other name Chicago R&B artists at times dispensed with the services of a bass player and employed a second guitar to deliver the low-end shuffle. Their output didn't seem to suffer.
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Edited August 17, 2016 by skankdelvar

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Rubbersoul' timestamp='1471462778' post='3113276']
Let's go the other way : Evil Blizzard have 4 (that's FOUR) bassists. Epic.
[/quote]

I must go and look them up just to make sure that they don't have an individual bassist for each string...

[Jazzneck]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471470904' post='3113350']
IIRC, in the early-mid 1950's Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Elmore James and a host of other name Chicago R&B artists at times dispensed with the services of a bass player and employed a second guitar to deliver the low-end shuffle. Their output didn't seem to suffer.
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[/quote]

Yes, Mr. Delvar - no bass that I'm aware of in those early Chicago recordings apart from the occasional thud of Willie Dixons dog house bass.
Those lovely grooves seemed to come from sh*t hot drummers, top flight second guitar and a great pianer.
Of interest is that the said Willie Dixon, bassist supremo, was in the studio doing the writing, arranging, engineering etc. whilst a lot of those tracks were cut, but he wasn't actually playing.

Another for your delectation without bass - it certainly motors on....
Recorded live with Baby Face Leroy playing guitar and bass drum simultaneously with vocals whilst Muddy Waters and Little Walter do their thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pca_S6sj_SE

[chriswareham]

The Cramps recorded and performed without a bassist quite often.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1471507976' post='3113470']
Another for your delectation without bass - it certainly motors on....
Recorded live with Baby Face Leroy playing guitar and bass drum simultaneously with vocals whilst Muddy Waters and Little Walter do their thing.
[/quote]

Why, thank you! I'd not heard that before.

Quite the pocket rocket, isn't it?

[Callumjord]

The only band I actually like that doesn't have a bass player is animals as leaders.

https://youtu.be/-DzKjuYh5ZM

[Painy]

[quote name='Rubbersoul' timestamp='1471462778' post='3113276']
Let's go the other way : Evil Blizzard have 4 (that's FOUR) bassists. Epic.
[/quote]

Just checked them out on YouTube. Shows you really can form a band with 4 bass players.
On the other hand (IMHO) it also gives a very good argument for why maybe you shouldn't.