In your opinion what is the job of the bass player in a rock band?

Question

In my opinion, the bass players job is to help keep the rhythm and hold the root notes of a chord while the guitar players play the melody and play a few fills WHEN APPROPRIATE. Now, our bass player (who wishes he was the guitar player/lead singer/sideshow act) likes to throw in fills throughout EVERY F'ING song, doesn't keep the rhythm all that well, and to top it off doesn't always "solo" in the right key (while I'm trying to sing).

My bass player and I got into a big argument at practice today because he was playing one of his famous garbage fills in the wrong key which threw off my vocals a bit. I'm ready to just kick him out and play bass myself. Why are good bass players so hard to find?

Answer 1

Yeah man I agree somewhat I had the same problem in my first band my bass player would always turn up his bass when we would start playing live and would drown me out he would rig it that way before the show and he was a Bass Fill Nut yeah annoying he wouldn't do his Job and he was an EGO MANIAC. I know how you feel tell him straight up that he needs to calm the ego and do his job what makes you position worse is he isn't even doing his fills in the right key so he is a FALSE EGO MANIAC tell him, and if he keeps doing it its time to get another bass player to do the Job. Some bands like Tool, Korn and of course Primus DEPEND on the wicked and over dominating Bass structure but in your case it sounds like a Root Chord and Percussion Support system, tell him to do his Job or head to the streets to be a Bum and a SLOB

Answer 2

Style & ability may dictate the actual answer to this...Steve Harris doesn't just keep a beat or fill space while Adrian Murray et al shred. He's ridiculously good in his own right and is (iMO) the key to Maiden going to the top of the metal heep ahead of Priest. Also, Bob Daisly is HIGHLY underrated on Ozzys work and isn't just pluckin on fat, juicy "root" chords...



that said, I think ANY musician needs to know his/her limitations and not become a distraction. There are plenty of good bands with just average bass players...but they know it and don't try to take the lead. Nikki Sixx is a great example, however he wrote virtually all of the Crue's songs, so he knew that was his primary value to the group.

Answer 3

Yeah I agree with Zelda. Everyone keeps citing John Entwistle Jack Bruce, Geddy Lee, et al. But those were the greatest EVER. Um... EVER, ok? This is a frickn garage band we're talking about. The bass player should keep it simple unless he is REALLY good.

Answer 4

Listen to My Generation to see what the true role of a bassist should be, and when John wasn't making killer basslines, he was assisting Keith with his drumming by keeping beat with the drums with his bass as well as accentuating Pete's chords. Entwistle was a bass genius.

Answer 5

I beg of you to ingore all other answers. At least the ones so far. Although they have made decent points, they aren't really understanding.



Yes, some bass players drive the sound: Geddy, Sting, Claypool (those are only the obvious ones). But it doesn't sound like your bass player is up to the task of driving the sound, or for that matter executing the very fundamentals of his instrument. In short: It sounds like you will have to find a new bass player.

Answer 6

to have cool riffs like john entwistle an amazing skill at writing music And singing like paul mccartney

Answer 7

between the two i would go with the red epiphone for serious playing since it is full scale. to bad you can't get to the place and look, you could probably find a used one real cheap.

Answer 8

Oh lord band in-fighting.Work it out. It's music for F*&%'s sake not world economics. It's supposed to be entertaining. Notorious lead singer ego. " I can do it all myself." well you can't... there is no "I" in band.

Answer 9

Sorry but some of the best Bass players off all time either totally outshine the Band's Guitarist (Geddy Lee) Or play amazing walls of notes that the Guitarist has to batter through (Jack Bruce), thus improving said Guitarist's (Eric Clapton) chops.



Improvisation wins, staleness kills, IMO.



*Edit*

Shreder, are You aware that Your first sentence has 62 words in it? 62 words for the love of Christ. You have the grammatical skill of a small Albanian child learning to speak English.



And keep it up with the TD's cause I know someone that has about 14 more accounts than You do and is two Levels higher. So just keep it up.