When is a bass not bass?

[4stringer77]

That's some great flat picking from Paul!
The Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets tune reminded me of this

Another great intro from Eric Avery. Great bassist who didn't have to solo to stand out.

[nofi]

i agree with rick on the abg thing.

[Father Gino]

I just can't resist wading into this...

I think appreciation of all art comes down to: "I like what I like". One can come to appreciate things that one did not before due to more time, age, education, experience, phase of the moon, whatever. I'm not overly fond of solos of any instrument when they cross the line into wanking. What is or is not wanking to me is a fine line that I define for myself and it constantly and momentarily changes depending on my whim. The worst wankers by far play them six stringed geetars.

Who cares what you call the thing that's being wanked? It's a bass, it's a guitar, it's a Tuba. Wanking is Wanking.

The electric bass  guitar is not even 70 years old. It's intended function was to mimic an upright. It's evolution in the hands of players soon left that limited, intended function behind and changed the face of popular music. Every step of that evolution was reviled by some and praised by others and it's no different now. If no one had gone outside the envelope with the bass guitar, we'd all be dreading playing Hold Tight, Hold Tight every night instead of Mustang Sally.

Jaco was a phenomenon in my mind. The first time I heard him with Weather Report I wasn't even sure what instrument he was playing. I think he mastered alternate possibilities of his instrument in an amazingly short time and put a big dent in legitimizing it in the minds of the snooty jazz world. Good for him.

[mc2NY]

There are two (2) bass solos that makes it for me. As mentioned earlier on, My generation, of course. The other is Chris White's opening, and middle short bass part in The Zombies She's not there. I don't crave more!

I wouldn't classify Chris White's part as a "solo."  it is the musical hook of the song. The arrangement just happens to have the song begin with it, like "Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.

The Zombies had some great singles. Way ahead, musically, of most of their Brit peers of the era.

[Hörnisse]

[uwe]

I know it's a running joke that people don't like bass solos, but in my experience it is simply not the truth. People like bass solos - the less muscially experienced they are the more because they find it revelatory to focus on a bass (they can't really single it out in the music). I've heard that so often from people who are just off and on music listeners: "Oh, that sounds really melodic, never knew you could do that on a bass".  And the percussive slap style bass solo (despised by many here and I'm not a fan either) is always a crowd pleaser, especially with women. I have my theories about that ... they all think "if his thumb can do that to a bass and eleicit these tones, the possibilities of what he could do ...". Are endless of course, fill in the blank spaces! 

In my experience bass solos top guitar solos and drum solos in popularity and are only beaten by keyboard/piano solos. I sometimes doodle for an hour or so and then Edith says: "That was really nice, it has such a calming effect." Same thing with my daughter, when she was a child there was a time where she would ask me to play bass when she went to bed because it made her find sleep better.

That's me, I'm great at either calming down women or putting them to sleep. 

[Granny Gremlin]

I was just going through old songs to find samples where I used some pedals I am trying to sell and I came across this one (Boss OD and Ibanez PH99 classic phase).  I've had people ask me 'what bass' about this one, including musicians/prospective band members (it's the thing other than the keys; nothing else there).  Minor fail I suppose, but I like it.

[Highlander]

Sorry, but solos are somnambulistic moments for me, unless it is an integral part of the song, and I don't mean the self-indulgent all except the drummer walk off for a ciggie times either... imho...

[uwe]

I was just going through old songs to find samples where I used some pedals I am trying to sell and I came across this one (Boss OD and Ibanez PH99 classic phase).  I've had people ask me 'what bass' about this one, including musicians/prospective band members (it's the thing other than the keys; nothing else there).  Minor fail I suppose, but I like it.

Hey little punk, me like! Also the singer, talkin' about a revolution alright ...

[Granny Gremlin]

You honour me.  Kinda making me rethink selling that Ibanez phaser that one.  We'll see after I give it's prospective replacement (Earthquaker Devices Grand Orbiter v2) a thorough comparative test drive tonight. 

[Dave W]

I know it's a running joke that people don't like bass solos, but in my experience it is simply not the truth. People like bass solos - the less muscially experienced they are the more because they find it revelatory to focus on a bass (they can't really single it out in the music). I've heard that so often from people who are just off and on music listeners: "Oh, that sounds really melodic, never knew you could do that on a bass".  And the percussive slap style bass solo (despised by many here and I'm not a fan either) is always a crowd pleaser, especially with women. I have my theories about that ... they all think "if his thumb can do that to a bass and eleicit these tones, the possibilities of what he could do ...". Are endless of course, fill in the blank spaces! 

....

I remember seeing a video review of a local gig by Victor Wooten. As soon as he went into his atonal slap and pop routine, a bunch of yokels started whooping and hollering. It was about as unmusical as could be but they just ate it up.

[uwe]

People like percussion (and that is what slapping essentially is), it's a primal tribal remnant in us all.

[the mojo hobo]

Primal Tribal Remnant

Now there is a great name for a band