At the youth group I play at, there's always been two types of bassists, of which I'm no exception. There's either the good bassist who knows what he's doing and plays bass, or there's the person who happens to be able to play bass and holds down the beat most of the time. The only other bassist that met the description of the first type didn't seem to know his role as bassist and hardly ever played a straight beat of root notes like the songs most often called for. That's not to say you can't add anything to the song and you have to stick to root 8th notes the whole time, but he rarely went below the 9th fret, you see, and hardly played a regular bassline. He managed to get kicked out of the band. Not for that reason, but for other reasons I've never been clear on.
So you see, the legacy I have before me leads me to either be the left hand of a keyboard player, or Cliff Burton. I've tried to balance the two and I think I'm doing a fair job of that. My knowledge of what I'm actually playing has been expanding recently and I'm thankful for that, because that means I'm on my way to being a very competent bassist. Because I'm gaining confidence, though, (and I had enough to get by, but not so much that I'm the aforementioned bassist) I'm beginning to start adding more fills and little things when I could be just playing the regular, straight beat and do just fine. I fear that I'm beginning to be like the only really good bassist that came before me.
I really came to this realization the other night, when we had a worship service at my church where the bassist that was supposed to show up, didn't. I was called to fill-in, and I was glad to oblige. He did manage to show up before it was time to play, though, and he'd actually practiced the songs beforehand. They were all songs I'd played before, though, so I knew them anyway. I had already gathered my bass and was ready to play, but when he showed up, I was at a loss. I managed to convince my band leader to, that night, have two basses. It seemed a little heinous, but we gave it a shot. After all, we did some songs that had actual basslines to them and not just plunking 8th note basslines, so I figured I could do the basslines, while he just followed the chords the guitars were playing (with me, effectively, being the lead bass. Spinal Tap references were had).
A couple of songs in, and all the songs with real basslines out of the way, I had nothing special to do and was set to play just a regular root note bassline. I thought, "Okay, I could play a different octave or the 3rd or 5th." I realized shortly after doing all these for a few minutes and not really adding many fills for fear of being like the bassist before me that I felt like a total douchebag up on stage, right in front of God and everybody. After the song ended I got off stage and left the bassing duties to my bassy brother who, I suspect, may have felt like I was stealing his bass-filled thunder.
The guy running sound wanted to just worship, so I took over running sound for the remainder of the set. After observing the songs for a while (our songs tend to last 10+ minutes because we like to flow and bring the songs up and down and such [contemporary Christian worship music is really wonderful music, it's like one big rock jam session]) I realized what simply playing the root notes, no fills, no 3rds, no 5ths, just the straight roots adds to the song. Sure, it sounds good to add fills and the like, but simple is just as good. Since then, I've kind of been thinking about my role as bassist and I think I'm starting to grasp it better.
So all in all, I've gathered this:
Having two basses is a neat idea, but it's not that great in practice, at least for that genre.
While Billy Sheehan, Cliff Burton and Victor Wooten are all amazing players, there's something to be said for the girl stuck with the bass, plunking away on root notes. (No offense, Tam)
I am a bassist. That may seem obvious, but even though I've played guitar first, and longer than I have bass, I'm better at bass and I play like a bassist. I am a bassist and I need to know my place. Not to say that's stuck at the back with the drummer, never playing anything but root 8th notes, but not always up front, playing past the 15th fret.
So I've been wondering if I'm considered a regular yet. I've not been playing bass that long, but I've been playing instruments for about three years. I post fairly frequently, but not crazy amounts. I rarely venture outside of the Bass Forum, and as such, I'd like to consider myself a regular, but it's hard to gauge.
I recently was surprised to find that I've been here longer than thefitz has. This really threw me, because he's a forum god almost and I've been here longer and not attained the status. I'm aware that it's not how long you've been here for, but I'm no noob, at least not anymore. I dunno, I want to be a regular, partially because I see them and respect them, but I also kinda feel like I deserve it for not being some stupid 13 year old kid with a keyboard.
I'm not sure if I just never noticed it, or it's only recently happened, but there's been an influx of posts that aren't by regulars. I remember times where for days, only regulars posted in threads aside from the TS. It seems like recently, there have been a whole lot of people posting that I've never seen before. It kinda worries me because it almost threatens my chance of being a regular. Then again, I'm paranoid.
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t3hrav3n's blogs, last updated : August 9, 2008
