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Not everything about the bass is great .....


Barking Spiders

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😱...no sirree . That sounds like sacrilege but over the weekend I heard two songs from yesteryear that have always bugged the hell out of me and one of the main reasons is each have dull, repetitive, undemanding basslines that simply hurt my eardums . One is the irritatingly twee ditty Lovefool by The Cardigans, a half forgotten and unlamented pop band from Sweden

and the other is this tedious noodelthon by the terminally terrible (IMO) Ted Nugent

So what basslines do you think are a poor advert for the instrument? I'm not saying simple basslines are bad by any stretch but monotonously repetitive ones  are.

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This one literally makes me angry:

An Eric Clapton-assembled tribute to his friend JJ Cale. Slavish attention to detail, capturing and recreating the rhythm and soul that made those original recordings so great...

...until Nathan East (who I've never been a fan of) puts his bass part down, at which point QC mysteriously flies out of the window.

GAH!!!

It's an insult to what we bring to the table.

 

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I like The Cardigans - First Band On The Moon and Grand Tuerneo are both good albums.

I also like the ethos behind the band which was essentially four metal musicians decide to write pop songs and recruit an art school student who's not sung before to front it. Sounds daft, but somehow works

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I think if you play rock or pop you usually have to accept that some bass parts will be pretty easy. Personally as long as I have a moment or two in any set or in any album where I can stretch out a little, I don't mind having a few songs that are relatively simple or repetitive. I guess if I didn't like that I would be playing another instrument or genre.

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Hmm. We were recently asked to do Sweet Child Of Mine for a birthday party. Expecting some dull root note plodder, I didnt give it a proper listening until the night before. A good bassline in fact, which I struggled with!

The bloke out of The Manic's bores me sh1itless.

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16 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

I think if you play rock or pop you usually have to accept that some bass parts will be pretty easy. Personally as long as I have a moment or two in any set or in any album where I can stretch out a little, I don't mind having a few songs that are relatively simple or repetitive. I guess if I didn't like that I would be playing another instrument or genre.

Tony Levin said exactly this

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34 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

I generally don't mind - and am happy to play - simple lines. It only bothers me when they detract from the song.

U2 for example: people slag Clayton's lines, but they work fine. It's march-y anthemic stuff.

 

 

48 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

I think if you play rock or pop you usually have to accept that some bass parts will be pretty easy. Personally as long as I have a moment or two in any set or in any album where I can stretch out a little, I don't mind having a few songs that are relatively simple or repetitive. I guess if I didn't like that I would be playing another instrument or genre.

Both of these.

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47 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

I generally don't mind - and am happy to play - simple lines. It only bothers me when they detract from the song.

U2 for example: people slag Clayton's lines, but they work fine. It's march-y anthemic stuff.

 

This.

Think about the song, not the bass playing. The bass playing is supposed to be there to support/enhance the song.

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1 hour ago, upside downer said:

All those unimaginative lines played by the chap from Coldplay. I can't be bothered to look up his name in much the same way that he can't be bothered to make his playing more interesting.

See also Snow Patrol.

At least the basslines they play are consistent with the rest of the band - which is to say, tedious beyond belief!

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Are you guys actually bass players?

Call Me The Breeze and every thing else by JJ Cale, has great, simple and effective bass lines that push the song along perfectly.

Never Met A Girl Like You, anything by U2, Status Quo or ZZ Top and many others. . . all simple bass lines that are nothing by themselves but are exactly right in their place.

If the bass line is good for the song then it's a good bass line.

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3 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

😱...no sirree . That sounds like sacrilege but over the weekend I heard two songs from yesteryear that have always bugged the hell out of me and one of the main reasons is each have dull, repetitive, undemanding basslines that simply hurt my eardums . One is the irritatingly twee ditty Lovefool by The Cardigans, a half forgotten and unlamented pop band from Sweden

and the other is this tedious noodelthon by the terminally terrible (IMO) Ted Nugent

So what basslines do you think are a poor advert for the instrument? I'm not saying simple basslines are bad by any stretch but monotonously repetitive ones  are.

Got to disagree on Stranglehold admittedly the Bassline is virtually same hypnotic groove throughout but the song and Teds solo are legendry probably the best solo of all time but each to there own

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