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Bassists who play like guitarists ......


NeverTheMachine

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The main difference for me is in how the groove is approached.


When playing bass, you are CREATING time and how it feels with the drummer. You create and command the pocket for the rest of the band to deal with. When pushing and/or pulling to make the pocket sit right, the WHOLE SHEBANG moves.


When you play guitar, you play INSIDE the time the rhythm section lays down. If you push or pull, nothing should move. You just are creating tension/energy (push) or a a laid back feel (pull).


Everyone knows me as a guitarist but I do get calls to play bass. And I HATE playing guitar at bass gigs. It is about keeping that GROOVE mindset. Time, time, time.....

 

 

That's like poetry! Thanks, I learned a lot from this.

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There are a few Bass players that over play but personally i don't think they are impressing anyone except there own ego! What gets me unglued is keyboard players playing Bass lines. If your thinking about playing Bass go back and listen to some old James brown tunes to get you in the Bass frame of mind, now that is grovin!!!

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I am a guitar player who picked up bass almost entirely because of JPJ on Led Zeppelin II. So I hope not to fall into the annoying category :o

 

However I think it's actually kind of cool, and a little different from the norm, to throw a nice tasteful bass solo in here and there. And my previous group would have me play bass solos fairly often simply because we didn't have another guitar to fill in the solo breaks :D

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I'm mainly a guitarist, but have played bass a few times in live situations. I really enjoy it and in fact like providing part of the rhythm section, with some occasional licks that sound through nicely, but without being out front in the same way. I find it to be a more physical instrument somehow - you have to put more elbow into it, for want of a better expression. I like that. In fact constantly struggling with my bassist over who is going to play the bass parts on some songs.

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You're very right. There's nothing more annoying than tapping bass.


I'm an electric guitarist. I don't have much opportunity to play bass, but when I do mess around with it I find it extremely enjoyable in a totally different way than guitar, because of it's use as a tool. Also from a mixing and producing music standpoint few non-bassists realize how important it is to the overall sound dynamic of a studio recording.

 

Yeah, you should probably tell this guy not to play so "guitar like" and to quit annoying us with his tapping :p:p

 

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There are a few Bass players that over play but personally i don't think they are impressing anyone except there own ego! What gets me unglued is keyboard players playing Bass lines. If your thinking about playing Bass go back and listen to some old James brown tunes to get you in the Bass frame of mind, now that is grovin!!!

 

 

There's nothing worse than being in a band where the keyboard player is "telling" you what to play with their left-hand - usually it is purely harmonically derived and doesn't groove - just like the auto-accompaniment on a cheap home organ. I don't think I ever met a keyboardist who knew how to lock with the drummer let alone rock with the drummer.

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I don't really think there's "playing like a guitar player" or "playing like a bass player." There's playing what works for the situation, and playing what doesn't.

 

 

True, but what might work on guitar and what works on bass can be rather different in the same situation. I think what we're talking about here is a guy playing, on bass, what would work if he were playing it on guitar, but doesn't work on bass.

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