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2 Bass players per band . . . Why not?!?!


4 mild bill

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I've seen bands with 2 drummers and bands with 2 Keyboard players and bands with 2 (or more) vocalists and bands with 2 (or more) guitarists etc., so why not 2 bass players? I mean that the 2 bass players are performing simultaneously for the same piece of music. Help me understand why or why not.

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If they could play the excact thing perfectly together than it would work. Otherwise one bassist would have to play higher and play something that doesn't interfere with the guitars. The upper bass could also be the rythem guitar.

 

It would work well if there were no guitars in the band.

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It's been done. James Brown used to use 2 bassists, Miles Davis had two for a while (Fieldy on lead bass) and guys like Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke usually have a second bassist. I've also seen bands with two bassists that switch off - Zap Mama and Ziggy Marley.

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Originally posted by nofret

It's been done. James Brown used to use 2 bassists

When and on which album ?

Miles Davis had two for a while (Fieldy on lead bass)

Damn right, Fieldy played with Miles Davis. :D

Whatever you smoke, I want the same. Miles toured at some point with a bass player and a picollo bass player (named Foley) who replaced the guitar player.

and guys like Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke usually have a second bassist.

Same case as with Miles. One plays the bass part while the other soloes.

 

There can be several bassists but there can only be one bass player.

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2 bass players in one band seems to be rather useless to me unless it's an orchestra or something. I know Duke Ellington used 2 bassists at one point, but I believe they both played the same thing and did that just to thicken up the low end.

 

Then as mentioned, you have Stanely Clarke playing with a real bassist so he could show off and do his damn piccolo wanking.

 

There just aren't that many good applications for more than one bassist in a normal band.

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