Bass Player-less band?

For the style you are talking about, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that depending on the gigs you get, small bars and stuff, most people won't have the foggiest idea. The bad news is that that music really does need bass, and if you get into bigger places with sound guys, etc, they will want to pump the bass to ungodly levels, so that could be an issue.

You have a few options:
- Start working together now and keep looking, but don't turn down gigs.
- Run the rhythm guitar through an octive pedal to create that bass sound (this is common)
- Learn midi and work with a click track and sequencer (one of the top bands in our area does this for their keys, horns, and bass, as well as occasional symphonic sounds, etc...they are a three piece band that sounds however they want, though it takes away the ability to jam, etc).
- Start auditioning keyboardists who can add bass lines with their left hands.
 
I really hope bass players don’t become obsolete …

Drums are new to me, but in a band situation “I am” the bass player.

I’m blessed to work with a really great drummer for the last few years who was my inspiration to even take up drums. We know each other’s style and nuances so well that if I hear him hit just one beat different in a groove I can feel exactly where he is going and it works in reverse too, he can follow anything I do. No matter what form of technology one may try to cover the bass part you just can’t beat that kind of human groove factor!

We try to stay working as a team much like "Double Trouble" or "Fleetwood Mac" under the name Blackkat Bone ... actually just today we are meeting with new singer and guitar player on a project where we will be the rhythm section.

WCandMe.jpg


backstageHardRock2.jpg
 
The first thing that comes to my mind when I read the

Bass Player-less band? / Does anyone here play or have you played in a band where you had no bass player?

Is the question Are we talking about function or instrument?
"bass" is really a range or musical function - could be a bass guitar, a 'cello, a tuba, a doublebass , tuned drums etc

I don't mean it as just some flippant semantic cleverness, I mean thinking about those aspects can help clarify our thoughts -- like in the keyboard examples, there may not be a separate bass instrument, but that musical function can be supplied by the left hand.
In classical guitar, the harmonic role is often supplied by the thumb.

I'm of the opinion that any set of instrumentation can "work", but we have to keep in mind good orchestration/arranging and the expectations for the sounds -- a band without a vocalist will sound this way, a band without drums will sound that way, a band without dedicated bass will sound yet another way
 
You can find someone like (a version of) Ray Manzarek (The Doors), who played bass-line notes on a keyboard bass. The Doors never had a bass player, never did. Look all the music they created and invented.
 
I need bass guitar. Bass pedals, basslines played on a keyboard, are OK but have NEVER got me off. Yea gimme a bass guitar with a funky ass player thumping on it. The bass guitar is such a cool instrument. It perfectly bridges the rhythm to the melody. I would love to be a great bass player even more than a great drummer. (because I could get out front and be more a part of things).

So put me in the camp that needs low end in their songs, if not from a bass, then from something. I wouldn't play in a bassless band unless there was no other choice.
 
The Doors never had a bass player, never did.

kind of yes and no on that -- in the studio they used session guys like Jerry Scheff . Pretty much after "The Doors" debut album they had bass players in the studio
I don't mean that they hid bass guitar players or that there's a bass guitar on every track but they supplemented with a bass player a decent bit, esp on the harder driving numbers.
 
The point of my initial post was that we haven't been able to find a bass player for a long while and in order to play we are looking at trying it without one. It wasn't that we don't want one, we just have not had any luck finding one that either plays the style of music we are doing or is just not compatible with us personally (want to use practice as party time, wants to practice seven nights a week and go on tour, etc). Do we want a bass player? Yes, and if we do find one this will all be a moot point. But as it is, after about nine months, we have not found anyone. So I wondered if anyone had tried it without a bass player, and what they did to compensate for it. I know that a bass will be missed...hell I would miss it, but sometimes you have to try different things when the need arises. Several intersting and helpful answers here on how to accomplish this.
 
FWIW - The Doors, as ian was talking about, went through this. very very early on when they were still growing out of Rick & the Ravens they actually had a bass player (Patty Sullivan), they even cut an early demo (go insane, and I think something else)
but it didn't work out
I think they tried a few others (auditions, not performances) but nothing gelled

so...it happens and people compensate.

since you have an extra guitar player, they may be able to pick up bass guitar duties (but probably not doublebass, but it doesn't sound like that's part of your deal) on some numbers
Schecter makes a "tic-tac" bass sort of like the old Fender Bass VI -- these are guitars tuned on octave down from a std guitar, but has 6 strings and the scale length is a guitar friendly 30in or so.
They actually have a decently rich sound for their scale and they don't intimidate guitar players
 
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the model -
I'm not sure if they list it as a bass or a guitar in sales literature, so it might be a little hard to find w/o it

It's the Hellcat VI (there is a regular hellcat)

it looks like it has singles, but they are actually tappable humbuckers
 
you have to have solid time to play without a bass player, but in a way it can be easier and more comfortable, YOU are in total charge of the rhythm
 
I've been playing duos lately with:

1/ piano & drums - don't miss the bass here

2/ guitar & drums - bass would be good here

3/ sax & drums - bass would be very good here.....
 
Get one of the guitarist to play bass

This is exactly what I would suggest. A good guitarist can pick up the bass easily. Or maybe a keyboardist who can add some low end or an effects processor on one of the guitars to add bass.

In high school my friend who played guitar and I went through a lot of bass players. But that was in Seattle and we could always find someone in a pinch. Nobody seemed to work out long-term, though. We also tried a couple different singers before my friend decided he could handle vocals and guitar.

Anywhere you live, it seems guitarists are the most abundant musicians, followed usually by drummers. Nobody wants to play bass because of the perceived lack of glamour and nobody wants to sing because it seems like it would be the most difficult and embarassing to do in front of people.
 
Well, guys thanks for all the responses but it seems it is now a moot point. One of the guitar players is joining another "band" so won't have time for us. It may have worked out for the better as the other group of guys I play with are starting to step it up an I don't know if I would have time to do both projects anymore.

I do appreciate all the responses and ideas.
 
Anywhere you live, it seems guitarists are the most abundant musicians, followed usually by drummers.

I'm not sure where/how he got the numbers (so grain of salt, I can't validate), but in "Guitar : An American Life" Tim Brookes states that guitars currently (2005 for the book) outsell all other instruments...combined.

I assume this was for US or maybe western industrial countries, not sure.
 
nobody wants to sing because it seems like it would be the most difficult and embarassing to do in front of people.

could be worse

finding a (French) horn player is a bitch or a tuba for a "secondline" sound

and like DMC mentioned on the "band ad" thread - cellists for a pop-music context (seem like abt 80% of the time the search is really for -- , yeah, I want you to be good - and after paying the dues on that instrument can outplay me on that thing, but I still just want you to play weepy legato lines behind my wanking)
 
Back
Top