The bass guitar appreciation thread

[Bassic]

Yeah, cause bass kicks ass, and the world needs to know about it!

So come on, shower the bass with love and admiration :D :headbang:

[swag]

1. A versatile and essential instrument. Wonderful to hear and to hold.

I love my little Gretsch Electromatic:

[Bassic]

4. And I my Ibanez BTB1005

Looking for a Yamaha 6-string for my next instrument (eventually)

[dolo amber]

53. I have that too!

It's so wee and cute! :bounce:

[Bassic]

2. Shameless kick

Somebody out there has got to like the bass :kick:

[NashVegas]

3. How Do You Know There's a Bass Player at Your Door?

Pizza's here!

[wildhorses]

5. my brother plays standup and I love him...

and yeah you're right...He needs to take a shower:P

[Bassic]

6. A love and admiration shower?

:D :hi:

[wildhorses]

8. sure thing...he's the greatest, he even has put out his own cd

B-)

[Bassic]

9. Sweet.

We're working on that as well. That is to say we're working on getting money and a potential distributor for a possible indy album.

[wildhorses]

13. how cool is that!!! Good luck with it and, let me know when it

comes out:thumbsup:

[Bassic]

14. Sure will, though since we sing in French,

I doubt it will be sold in the US.

[wildhorses]

15. ya never know...

with the internet, anything is possible:bounce:

[Bassic]

16. That is quite true.,

We did sell a few singles through our website.

[cleofus1]

7. i don't know jack about bass

but i do appreciate the sound...



and some of them are pretty cool...

[Bassic]

10. That is one sweet fretless. nt

[cleofus1]

11. and such a cool name

dragon eddie "dragonetti"

[Bassic]

12. That must be an expensive instrument.

Like the Alembic Rogue 6-String I'd get if I ever won the lottery. I mean :wow:

[southpaw]

17. I love the aesthetics of Bass Guitars

From the sublime to the extreme:

Alembic Custom (Bird of Prey)


Conklin 9 string (No grouped octaves here... 9 uniquely tuned strings and 36 frets)


Curbow 8 string/4 string double neck


Ritter Jupiter 5 string


Warrior 15 String (5 fundamentals, each with two octave strings)

[Bassic]

18. That 9 string Conklin is effin' awesome!

:wow:

[southpaw]

19. Yeah, it's pretty and all that...

but I'm not sure it has the range I'm looking for. ;-)

[Bassic]

21. How is it tuned?

B E A D G C F Bb Eb ?

[southpaw]

23. It could be tuned various ways...

but I think this one is set up as follows:

F# B E A D G C F Bb


On Edit: Don't make the mistake of thinking I actually OWN any of these. My bass is a 1987 model Spector NS-2A. The Alembic alone is worth more than my car.

[Bassic]

24. F#..

Is that done with a downtuned B string or does someone actually make 9 string sets?

[southpaw]

27. My Guess...

You would probably have to assemble your own set starting with the biggest low B string you could find for the F#.

[Bassic]

28. That could be problematic, if you want to get all the same kind of strings

Especially when you get to the higher ones.

[Magrittes Pipe]

20. I have a fretless Mexican Jazz Bass.

I like it.

[Bassic]

22. Sweet.

I've never played a mexican bass.

[Magrittes Pipe]

25. It's just a Fender made by NAFTA-labor.

:shrug:

[Bassic]

26. Oh I get it.

I like the Jazz Bass. It's too bad they don't make 'em in 6 string.

[sakabatou]

29. EB

[Bassic]

30. A cartoon Rickenbacher

cool!

[sakabatou]

31. you're welcome

[ghostsofgiants]

33. A cartoon LEFT HANDED Rickenbacher.

[southpaw]

34. I noticed that...

Images of a post-apocalypse Paul McCartney mutant creep into my mind when I look at that pic.

[Bassic]

35. Meh, it would have to be a Hoffner then.

[ghostsofgiants]

32. A video of my favourite song to play on bass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqsNR5pI6bw

[Bassic]

36. I can't open videos at work.

What is it?

[ghostsofgiants]

37. "Quarantined" by At The Drive-In

[Bassic]

38. Never heard of it. I'll be sure to check out that video

when I get home. thanks!

[Jamastiene]

39. I'm a guitarist, but I have one bass guitar too.

Its name is Sideedee. The name is a mixture of two of my most favorites bass guitarists, Sid Vicious and Dee Dee Ramone. It is a purple (Fender can call that color midnight blue til hell freezes over, it's purple) Fender P-Bass, Mexican Standard. Great bass, sounds so sweet. I have to play it through my mixer using headphones, because I'm a guitarist. I cant' afford a kickass Mesa/Boogie bass amp too, unfortunately.

[Bassic]

41. Buy an Ampeg.

Almost as good, and much much less expensive.

[southpaw]

40. The Classic Basses of Rock and Roll?

my nominees:

Rickenbacker 4001/4003:


Fender Precision Bass:


Gibson Thunderbird:


Music Man Stingray:

[Bassic]

42. Great basses all around nt

[ghostsofgiants]

55. My next bass is going to be a Stingray, I think.

Fuck, they're nice.

[Bassic]

57. They are but make sure you take your time to shop for it.

A good Music Man sounds like a ton of bricks, but it seems that they also put out an unusually high number of "lemons". So you have to be careful of the one you buy.

[ghostsofgiants]

59. Duly noted.

Thanks.

[Bassic]

62. My pleasure. nt

[ForrestGump]

43. Blessed by the King

Jailhouse Rock session, 1957

:D

I couldn't find it, but there's also a cool picture out there of Elvis playing bass on one of the long, white couches at Graceland, maybe around 1963. I'm guessing this is the same bass Elvis dragged out when the Beatles visited him in 1965. He'd been teaching himself how to play it for quite a while and surprised the Beatles when he began playing it as they played a couple of his guitars. He was a quick study with instruments and as early as 1957 played bass on the Jailhouse Rock recording session (the song was "Baby, I Don't Care") when his original bassist couldn't do the part right and stormed out of the studio. When the Beatles visited, Paul McCartney gave Elvis a few more pointers on the bass and among the titles they jammed on was a then-current Beatles song that Elvis surprised them by picking out (can't recall the alleged title).

This factoid brought to you by the Great Moments In Bass History series... :D



American Sound studios (Memphis), 1969

[Bassic]

45. Sweet, I was not aware Elvis played the bass.

That's pretty cool.

[ForrestGump]

48. The instrument he was best at was actually piano

Self taught on piano, too, I believe...he was just one of those people who could play things by ear (my father's like that...I am decidedly not like that, at least with piano). He played piano on many sessions from the '50s through the '70s, especially the gospel ones, and played it on stage at least a couple of times in the '50s and several times in the '70s. He was a better guitarist than many credit him, though it didn't help that -- in concert -- he would say things like that he only knew three chords. On those Sun records, for example, his was the only guitar, and you can hear his distinctive style (lots of bass runs) on many subsequent recordings. He tended to thrash his poor guitars, though, and many a beautiful and expensive preimum guitar fell before his onslaught.



And then there's his little known polka career:



It's worth noting that historians are wrong when they say that Elvis was one of the inspirations that led John Lennon to pick up a guitar...John was actually more interested in the little known polka aspect of his musical hero:

[tinfoil tiaras]

44. I can play bass pretty good

... :D

[Bassic]

46. Me too

:D :toast:

[tinfoil tiaras]

47. i *heart* bass players

especially my mayunn M ² (Mike Mills of R.E.M...hells yes).

[mikeytherat]

49. My personal stash:

mikey_the_rat

[Bassic]

51. Impressive. nt

[Ariana Celeste]

50. I can play a few songs :)

I :heart: the bass guitar! And bass players! I :heart: the neck thing bass players got goin' on when they play. It's so freaking funny and cute.

My SO taught me some basics so I can read tablature and play some of my fave songs- I'm not really learning for any reason other than to have fun, play some songs I know, and have something to do when I'm bored. :P

:loveya:

Me:

[Bassic]

52. Good choice of instrument

:D

[unpossibles]

54. yes indeedy

I play a variety of string instruments, but the bass is my favorite!

I think it's funny that a lot of the music I listened to as a kid (my older brother and dad are musicians too) had very prominent bass in them - The Who, Zeppelin, The Beatles, Cream, and more - which I had not really paid attention to until I started playing bass. Then I discovered a whole world of even better bass in all kinds of genres...

Here's a recent discovery for me: Graham Maby from the Joe Jackson band! That guy freaking rocks - he is fairly aggressive but knows how to hold down a groove too and he's played on a ton of albums. I heard the first Joe Jackson Band album, Look Sharp! and was floored by his playing! Amazing!

http://www.jj-archive.net/band/maby.html

EDITED for spelling

[driver8]

56. Graham Maby is an amazing bass player.

I love his playing and sound on "Look Sharp."

[Bassic]

58. All right, I'll check him out then. nt

[midnight armadillo]

60. If mentioning the bass, we must discuss Tony Levin

He is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and since I'm listening to Peter Gabriel's Up album I'm listening to him right now.

I played bass for like 12 years. Then got to grad school and ran out of time and money to play in bands so I switched to classical guitar. Then I had kids (nearly 3 yrs and 4 months) and now don't have any time or space to practice :(

[Bassic]

61. Tony Levin is one kick ass bass player.

He amazed me not only with Peter Gabriel, but on the Liquid Tension Experiment albums as well.

[Dangerously Amused]

63. I don't play bass, but I appreciate those who do. So...

...here's a little ani for you: