Keef playing bass!

[wellREDman]

dunno if you guys have seen this before, but it was an eye opener for me...

[gweimer]

Isn't it Richards playing bass on the recording of "Sympathy For The Devil"?  My least favorite Stones song...

[Dave W]

Yes, it is. Whatever you think of Wyman (I really love some of his bass lines), Keef is not in Wyman's league. Yet some guitarists seem to think the bass on Sympathy is better than what Wyman did. No accounting for taste.

[Basvarken]

Ron Wood however, is a great bass player. He's played some nice lines with the Stones, Jeff Beck Group and Faces.

[Alanko]

I like the story that Wyman got a Mustang because Keef insisted he needed to start using Fender bass. 

I've added a link to the isolated bass part to Sympathy for the Devil. 'Loose' would summarise it kindly. Not a fan of the tone; presumably gained by using those Vox amps you see in the studio footage for the Goddard film (I tried to watch that film once and gave up). Importantly I don't feel like the bass is locked in at all with the drums, just a sort of mumbled sidetrack. Definitely a guitarist on the bass.

[Pekka]

On his new solo album he plays quite a lot bass. Producer/drummer Steve Jordan wanted Keith to do that. Great album btw.

[ilan]

Definitely a guitarist on the bass.

Still, works very well for the song. The sound is unimpressive when isolated, but so are so many of the Beatles bass tracks, and it's just what the song / arrangement needs.

[uwe]

It's less sloppy than some of his guitar parts! Overall it's more nervous than anything Wyman would have ever put down, but then the vibe of that whole song is edgy and it fits with the lyrics.

[slinkp]

Still, works very well for the song. The sound is unimpressive when isolated, but so are so many of the Beatles bass tracks, and it's just what the song / arrangement needs.

Isolated tracks almost always sound weird!
There are tons on YouTube, many ripped from Rock Band games. I love listening to them, but it's funny how surprising they can be. 

For example, this sounds way sloppier than I would have guessed. Does it matter in context? No!



Or this.  Bizarre tone, some of the chords are totally different than you might expect, but it works in context.

[uwe]

Entwistle was actually quite sloppy, probably had to do with the fact that a lot of his bass parts were made up on the spot and of course his sound is unforgiving. Likewise Chris Squire, he was sloppy with grandeur. Good sloppy playing is an art in itself.

[gearHed289]

Entwistle was actually quite sloppy, probably had to do with the fact that a lot of his bass parts were made up on the spot and of course his sound is unforgiving. Likewise Chris Squire, he was sloppy with grandeur. Good sloppy playing is an art in itself.

Yeah, it's funny reading the comments on some of the YouTube isolated bass vids. "THAT'S NOT GEDDY LEE! HE'S NOT THAT SLOPPY!" Yeah, he's perfect.  Isolate any instrument, and you'll hear plenty of slop.

[Pilgrim]

Entwistle was actually quite sloppy, probably had to do with the fact that a lot of his bass parts were made up on the spot and of course his sound is unforgiving. Likewise Chris Squire, he was sloppy with grandeur. Good sloppy playing is an art in itself.

In honor of the highlighted comment, I have changed my sig.

[Rob]

In honor of the highlighted comment, I have changed my sig.

[slinkp]

SLOPPY BASSISTS UNITE!

[Pilgrim]

SLOPPY BASSISTS UNTIE!

There you go - fixed it.