bass players: how do guitarists play bass wrong?

[foomanfat]

what happens when you try to bass like a guitar when there is already a guitarist
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8sK7Uww38[/youtube]
pay extra attention at 1:40 on

Wow. That was just frustrating to listen to.

Fuck y'all I <3 Dino jr.

I don't mind them, but did you watch that video? His picking was awful.

[snipelfritz]

^Yeah, Ima be honest, my headphones have very little bass so I couldn't hear it too well. I'll listen again through my speakers with the 5ubw00f3r

It takes... restraint

THE GOLDEN AND FINAL RULE OF MODERN MUSICIANSHIP




C

Exactly, and it applies just as much to guitar as it does bass.

But you can never have too much percussion, just so long as it isn't too loud, but that's just me.

[sevenSHARPnine]

John Paul Jones' playing on The Lemon Song = legend

[unownunown]

^Yeah, Ima be honest, my headphones have very little bass so I couldn't hear it too well. I'll listen again through my speakers with the 5ubw00f3r

It takes... restraint

THE GOLDEN AND FINAL RULE OF MODERN MUSICIANSHIP




C

Exactly, and it applies just as much to guitar as it does bass.

But you can never have too much percussion, just so long as it isn't too loud, but that's just me.

only drummers say you can't overdrum.

FACT!

[snipelfritz]

Who said anything about drums? I waz talkin' aboot MOAR COWBELL!

Dense Latin percussion is where it's at.

[dubkitty]

speaking as someone who started on guitar and plays both, and had to learn to work around these habits myself:

the first fault of guitarists who try to play bass typically is to play way too many notes. guitarists have to generate a lot of note events to fill space unless we're heavily amplified; one low G on bass can fill up a room. bass also requires a subtle difference in the way you phrase parts because the huge fat strings respond differently to fingering and attack, and translating guitar phrasing directly to bass often results either in a weird kind of out-of-timeness or in the kind of stiffness typified by native guitarist Noel Redding's bass playing in the Jimi Hendrix Experience. since it's easier to adapt guitar phrasing to the higher strings and we're more used to hearing notes in that range, guitarists also tend to play too much on the top two strings of the bass and to spend too much time above the 7th fret...say it with me: it's a BASS. and finally, guitarists who play bass don't stick with the drums enough. i don't mean that the bass should slavishly play every accent along with the kick, but the bass should at least maintain a consistent rhythmic relationship with the drums given that you're the two instruments that are going BOOM THUD WHUMP. otherwise your band's going to sound like three pairs of sneakers going around in the dryer. what i'm saying basically is learn to deal with the inherent qualities of the instrument for what it is...it's NOT a detuned guitar, it's an entirely different instrument.

[CBA]

^Yeah, Ima be honest, my headphones have very little bass so I couldn't hear it too well. I'll listen again through my speakers with the 5ubw00f3r

It takes... restraint

THE GOLDEN AND FINAL RULE OF MODERN MUSICIANSHIP




C

Exactly, and it applies just as much to guitar as it does bass.

But you can never have too much percussion, just so long as it isn't too loud, but that's just me.

only drummers say you can't overdrum.

FACT!

Yikes. If there is anything that is overplayed/played poorly and because of it harmful to a song, it's the drums.

C

[warwick.hoy]

poor plucking technique be it with the fingers or with a pick.

[Gearmond]

Who said anything about drums? I waz talkin' aboot MOAR COWBELL!

Dense Latin percussion is where it's at.

if that were true, The Mars Volta wouldn't be a terrible abomination and quite possibly the best case against maximalism ever.

latin percussion isn't about density, its about fitting things in. if you remember the post where i totally owned you on this before, simplicity built up ofte gives the guise of complexity/density :P

[jfrey]

Who said anything about drums? I waz talkin' aboot MOAR COWBELL!

Dense Latin percussion is where it's at.

if that were true, The Mars Volta wouldn't be a terrible abomination and quite possibly the best case against maximalism ever.

latin percussion isn't about density, its about fitting things in. if you remember the post where i totally owned you on this before, simplicity built up ofte gives the guise of complexity/density :P

... Mars Volta is awesome...

[Gearmond]

for like an album and a half at best :B

[Monkeyboard]

Jon Theodore never sounded like he was overdrumming.

Pridgen though........

[warwick.hoy]

I have a bunch of TMV on my hard drive,...listened to a few songs and never really saw the appeal.

[theavondon]

Fuck all of you. Play it like you want.

This, this, forever this.

Although I'm a bass player that has never had interest in playing anything but bass, and a bass player that does get mad when guitar players see bass as a demotion, who am I to say they're doing it wrong? What if I'm the one who sounds wrong. Who's to say there's even a wrong at all! It's all just different shades of grey, man.



Also, Prigden ruined the Mars Volta with his hyper jacked up drums.

[snipelfritz]

Who said anything about drums? I waz talkin' aboot MOAR COWBELL!

Dense Latin percussion is where it's at.

if that were true, The Mars Volta wouldn't be a terrible abomination and quite possibly the best case against maximalism ever.

latin percussion isn't about density, its about fitting things in. if you remember the post where i totally owned you on this before, simplicity built up ofte gives the guise of complexity/density :P

Yes, it's about the interplay between multiple rhythms aka not the simple boom chick boom chick boom chick boom of folk music. It's not necessarily about density, it's about the willingness of the musicians to work outside the framework of a predetermined genre rather than staying deeply rooted in the same rhythms and chord progressions. That conversation was specifically about folk music, and you didn't win; I decided you were a lost cause

By avowing yourself to simplicity, you are limiting the conceptual framework that is allowed. Simplicity built up is no longer simplicity. Putting two simple, different, complementary rhythms over one another enters the realm of complexity. A single note is the most simple thing in music and every song is a group of built up single notes(with the exception of 4:33), but that doesn't mean every song is simple. A house is not a brick.

EDIT: also, there is a difference between simplicity and subtlety.