Originally Posted by MarioD
It shoots the hell out of Eddie's version of bass players doesn't it grin grin

Really? One cherry picked video negates what I said? Why not post Jaco himself? Or Vic Wooten? Or Larry Graham? Or go back to Stanley Clark, Charles Mingus, James Jamerson... That one kid who knows how to play doesn't undo how many horrible bass players I have seen in my decades of doing this, most of whom got into bands to drink on a band tab and get girls. (I mean, that's why I got into it....)

About 8 or 9 years ago I was at a wedding. The band played their dinner set and then took a break before the dance music started. The bass player ate a big chunk of a 6 foot sub that had mortadella in it. He apparently didn't know mortadella has pistachios in it. He DID know he was deathly allergic to nuts, and 2 songs into their show he started to swell up like a mutant from the planet Glorp and had to be rushed to a hospital. These guys were FRANTIC because the keyboard player couldn't play left hand bass while also playing the other side of the page too. I went up and told them "I can play the bass parts. Let's go on like nothing happened." When we finished about 3 songs the singer leaned over and told me "Wow. Not only CAN you play the bass parts but you are actually better than ________." Whatever his name was. I just smiled and said "I've been at this a little while."

I will double down on what I said. Most bass players that are not featured players like Jaco and Victor (to name just 2) are subliminal and it's the easiest instrument there is to play. It's only 4 strings (I am aware you can 5 or 6.) and the parts are not complicated. You CAN play complicated, but a bass player is supposed to play with the drummer and stay out of the way, so basics will do. Toss in a 3rd and a 5th every now and then (and just for Thump, maybe a 7th) as part of the measure before the chord progression changes and then get back to root notes. Those 2 sets I played had about 12-15 songs I did not know, but I told them to give me a key and count it in and I will feel where the changes are. You could do that too, Mario. Herb, David, EtcJoe... Any guitar player worth his weight in salt could do that. Now, with some experience in Motown and funky bands, I also tossed in some thumbing and in the songs that needed it some string snapping. Played a really nice Guild Starfire bass through a Hartke rig. With an MXR flanger and a Big Muff distortion box (that was set up WAY wrong).

And as a bonus for "whatever his name was", I didn't accept their offer to pay me. I told them to pay the guy his full share and consider it a sick day. The best laugh of the night was when we were talking during a break between the 2 sets I played and I told them some of the bands I had played in one of the young men said "Oh yeah! My father mentioned that band a few times." And in my mind I thought "Thanks a lot ya little [*****]!" He called his father and told him who was playing bass and he said "I remember him being the keyboard player in that band." and then of course I had to talk to dad for a minute and when the kid showed me a picture I did remember the guy despite that being 20 years prior.