Let's talk about Fender's most unusual bass, the VI. And let's show the different ways that instrument can be used.
The fact was that when Fender released the VI, it seemed that everybody played one at some moment, high profile players like Rick Danko and John Entwistle appeared on stage with them but there were actually very few who could express themselves on the VI and make it work for them.
The Tielman Brothers for example used the VI to great effect, using two in tandem: one playing bass, the other twangy riffs with reverb. The result can be heard clearly in this cover of Elvis' "Bossa nova baby"
Fusion Bassplayer Barry Goodman employed his VI as the ultimate solo bass, making good use of the vibrato while playing both supportive basslines and flashy solos.
Can't do a topic like this without Jack Bruce who played a VI with Graham Bond and on the first Cream album "Fresh cream"
The Beatles used a VI in the studio where it was both played by George Harrison and John Lennon to provide the bass duties if Macca was playing something else. They got their VI when becoming Fender endorsers. In this track it's Lennon playing the Fab four's VI and making it heard that he could have been a great bassplayer.
It's perhaps ironic that one of the biggest fans of the VI loves it for how it sounds when you play it up at the highest frets. In that way, Robert Smith has been using a VI for 25 years and counting. He plays his VI through a Boss chorus and Delay pedals and a Peavey Colliseum bass amp unchanged since he first discovered that sound he's now known for and which he continues to use unchanged stating that he doesn't "want to change a winning team"