A bass rant

Because many more people wish to play guitar than bass............ I prefer to play with bassists who do not play the guitar at all.

Too true.

To be able to develop proficiency and skill on the bass, and yet approach the instrument in a very un-basslike way, is a strange one indeed.

There is no foundation and somehow were are reasonably musical.. very odd.


boom ...problem diagnosis

:)

You nailed it, Doc ! : )

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Abe, you mentioned Victor Wooten, which might implies that your bass player is a big fan of him, which is good, there's plenty of bass monsters who can play melodic patterns, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Mc Cartney, Jack Bruce, just to name a few... but, he needs to see further than the melodic parts that these pro guys can play, as they can groove like hell too, it's a common mistake to be influenced by a specific part of a player, you tend to emulate and play what inspire you from such players, but there's much more than this into their playing, if your bass player is a big fan of Victor, perhaps you could mention that he focus now on the groove side of Wooten, he has digested and applied the melodic parts, now it's time to explore the other side of VW, it might work, as it's a compliment linked with (good) advice..

Henri, he likes all those guys and is actually a special fan of Patatucci, who happens to be a very busy ( but also very good ) 6 string bass player, so BOOM... there ya go : )


I cant help but attribute this to a very immature attitude towards playing in general. He wants to be a star, I guess and groove gets in the way and gets boring after 8 bars, right? ( A great exerpt from John Mayer's Berklee clinic on this )

In any case, to limit oneself in a limited approach AND to say "this is the way I play" defect the purpose of playing "music", you need an open mind and to re-invent yourself all the time, it's called evolution, furthermore, if the whole band share your view, he should really consider this as "good advice" and not as "a blame", once his "ego" managed the critics, he might change his view, and ultimately change his approach, or at least, compromise, the music "needs" groove...

I think the bit about the " I play this way" is his defence mechanism protecting his pride.. but unless he stops getting bored of playing ..well, simpler and deeper - with more sensitivity towards making the others sound good, Im afraid we've got a horse with a different feather.


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