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Bass heaven, bass hell


Barking Spiders

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For me: 

Bass heaven = The Enormous Room played by Michael Manring on his Zon hyperbass; Jaco's basslines on Joni Mitchell's Hejira; Percy Jones weaving beautiful chaos on Noddy goes to Sweden .. and you know, now and then, Mark King playing Sandstorm.

Bass hell = some bloke, in a covers band, thumping out roots and fifths on a (relic-ed) passive precision fitted with flats

But it strikes me that we're arguing more about tastes in music than about what bass players should do.  If you like Jazz you want to hear a complex,  ever moving bass-line that weaves around the harmonies of the music.  If you like Rock then you probably want to hear a solid foundation with few frills or thrills - and doing either really really well, is heaven in its way. 

There are of course people who manage both kinds of playing almost simultaneously, for which I finger Richard Sinclair, Tony Levin and (a little left field) Steve Swallow - who's playing is never flashy and often harmonically weird, but all the same, somehow very special.

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Bass heaven = A grinding, growling Spector (a la Eddie Jackson of Queensryche on Operation Mindcrime/Empire albums). Melodic, supportive grooves and basslines of classic 70's bassists like Peter Cetera, Tiran Porter, John Deacon, Paul Goddard, Dee Murray, Rutger Gunnarsson, Joe Puerta, David Paton etc. Active PJ style basses. Beautiful mwaaahhhing fretless tones.

Bass hell = 6+ string basses, slappers demoing gear and making it sound like they're falling down the stairs, players more concerned with showing off technique/note count than locking the groove.

Edited by cetera
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20 hours ago, NickA said:

But it strikes me that we're arguing more about tastes in music than about what bass players should do. 

Ooh, can't really agree with you on this - many of the posts are criticising specifics, not attacking different genres. My post was about inappropriate bass playing - one highly skilled and respected player doing the wrong thing in the wrong song.

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On 05/02/2018 at 15:07, Barking Spiders said:

other bass heavens and hells 

heaven - basslines loaded with 16ths played fingerstyle a la Rocco Prestia

hell - solo bass stuff when whatever's being played might as well have been done on a guitar

16ths are called semiquavers in the real world...

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3 minutes ago, neilp said:

I think your real world must be different than mine. What is this "snack" of which you speak?

They’re like a poor relative of Wotsits.

I reckon if you took a straw poll of the ‘great’ British public the majority would mention cheesy snack than a musical note.

As an old man it’s another reason to shake my head.

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