My last bass player (in my last band) simply coexisted on stage musically.  He played.  I played.

No real musical chemistry at all.  But then again, we were only doing covers.  I knew my parts.  He (more or less) knew his parts.

I'm not a real "drums and bass MUST be 100% in sync" kind of guy, but it IS nice when there is some osmotic interplay.

I'm all about locking in with my bass player, both musically and emotionally.

Just as drummers and bass players often have a musical bond, I've also found a social bond: I typically get along great with bass players. The bass players in my last few bands are among my closest friends. And with the bass players I encounter in one-off gigs or sessions, I almost always click at a musical and social level. It's instinctive, like the way a "dog person" (like myself) immediately befriends most dogs he meets.

And I'm really into the idea of a rhythm section. That takes more than a good drummer and a good bassist - it takes two people working TOGETHER. The end result is greater than the sum of its parts.

i think this was really what was at play here. i didn't respect the dude at a base level. i thought his motivations were off, and he also had some deeply embedded philosophies and beliefs that i thought were horrifically misguided. i won't get into them, but the end result was they drove his outlook and performance. i've concluded that the main reason he bailed was because of these beliefs.  

we've gotten some good response from some younger players, and i'm thinking this may be the way to go. they might not always have the musical foundation and history, but their outlook is generally very positive, and their enthusiasm and work ethic can be high. we're checking out this one dude next week who i took to right away. he's 24 and very upbeat. i liked that a lot. i mean, life can be such a bowl of suck; you might as well make music that thing that lets you escape suckdom.

Just get some stilts and buy the obligatory uncle sam costume, full beard and all and be done with it.

my bass player is half of our band.  he's just a beginner, but he writes some awesome melodies.  

he's also my best friend.  


heh, a band photo of us would be strange.  bill is very tall and looks anorexic, i'm around 5'6"-7" and have wide shoulders, making me look even shorter.

i play with a couple different bass players.. one of them also plays drums, and i also play bass, so we click pretty good. we play in a rock band together and it's tons of fun. we also harmonize together as the BG vocalists.

the other player i play with has really great feel and swings her bass lines a lot, so it opens up the groove to a lot of possibilities. we have a lot of fun figuring out where to lock in together, and where we can groove "together but apart" in parts of tunes. i quite like playing real straight behind her swung parts and holding it down.

i also agree it's crucial to get along personally because being the rhythm team involves a lot of cooperation and connection. finding the deep pocket is all about working together effortlessly. personal conflicts/differences in musical taste or approach only intrude and work against the vibe.

well, lets see...

my drumming side is pretty happy with my bass side, but my bass side doesnt dig my drums side nearly as much, so i guess i'm a bit conflicted.  

but seriously, on a personal musical level, i guess i do ask a bit much from the people i play with, cause i have an idea of how the guitar, bass, and drum parts should go.  but i've been learning a hard lesson that not everyone is exactly like you, and its those little quirks in their playing, which make the band "a band" and not the "Joker" clones.  

and, like most have said, being able to relate to bandmates on a social level is just as important, cause it will inevitably affect the group.  

i guess to offer up the flipside from the bassist POV:

in my last funk rock trio, despite having a blast playing with one another, i didnt really find too much of a place to relate with them.  they were hard drinkin', partyin' types, and i wasnt.  heck, half the reason i was late to our sunday rehearsals, was cause of my afternoon worship duties.  

still, they needed a bassist, and i fit the bill perfectly for them musically.  we did got along just fine, and tho things were pretty good for a while, we soon realized that post gig, i led an incredibly different life from them.

yet in my triphop group, i literally clicked with our new drummer, Steve, the moment he stepped into the room.  no real reason, but we've been best buds since, even outside the band.  he's actually a singer/songwriter, too, and soon, i'll be playing bass for his gigs in the summertime.  and all this despite him towering over me in height.    

then there's my worship teams, where i've been having some trouble with one of my praise leaders, who's a regular "know-it-all", while in another praise team outside of my church that i help out with, i can call each and every member a friend for life.

and my friend, who plays bass in a pretty popular band that's been playing alot of high profile venues, is just plain fedup with them.  despite making some good money, and almost getting a profile on HBO's "Reverb", he's sick of playing along side their onstage antics, offstage arguments, and awful songwriting, who despite all this, have some really deep ties in the biz that keep 'em plugged into the scene.  does it all matter?  not especially when the guitarist and drummer are unbelievably annoying and immature to be around.

just as in any relationship, chemistry is key.

btw, i've been thinking and dunno what it is, but it feels like that because bassists are sooo hard to come by, most bands just pickup whoever walks in the door.  oi...

IMHO, more than anyone else in the band, the bassist makes a HUGE difference in how the band grooves.  she/he is the glue that brings the outlandish guitars and meandering keys in line with the rock solid drumming.

EDIT: sorry for the 3am rambling...

Ditto on your ditto.....  

The most enjoyment I get playing music is with a bass player I get along with on and off stage.  

I love playing in the blues band that I'm currently in because of the bass player.  We grew up on the same kind of music and we get along great off stage.  

I'm still in the "new girlfriend" stage with my 80's band.  I love the music we play but I just don't feel any kind of "connection" off stage with the bass player or anyone in the band yet.  We'll see - it may still be early.

DC

I've always had  a very strange relationship with bassists, mainly because coming up in my early days I rarely played with one.  A bassist was hard to come by in Kentucky, let alone one that was good.

Since I've been in Seattle I've been blessed to have worked with some incredible bass players, each with something different that lit my fire.  One guy who had the hard rock thunder who could play the hell out of open-A 8th notes; one guy who played some of the most melodic basslines I've ever heard; another one (forum member 563) who uses the pedal tone and contrapuntal lines to move a song; and the current guy.  Levi, The Luna Moth's bassist, is probably the finest bass player I've worked with.  His groove isn't great, but the melodies he comes with stacked together with his raspy Chris Squire-esque bass tone fits the band better than any other situation I've ever been in.  In The Luna Moth the bass has more of a guitar role, whereas 563's guitar playing is more like the traditional bass player.  

And me, as a bassist on the home recordings of my own songs I gravitate more to 563's style of bass playing: solid with lots of pedal tones and counterpoints.

i have a new rule: NO GUITARISTS-CUM-BASSISTS ALLOWED IN SMOGG.


there is definitely something distinctive about a person who plays bass, versus someone who doubles on bass.

you've got to have a bass player sensibility, or else it ain't gonna happen.

a true bassist knows when to dig in, when to let up, when to embellish, and when to just groove. they think like a bassist. guitar guys who double on bass are more wishy-washy.

that's a generalization, but i've noticed this to be true very often.

i'm a bit jazzed, though, coz we got a call from a real bassist -- one who plays the same bass [same year, even!] as john paul jones. that could be sweet. i would hope he use another name for stage, though. his name is kyle. that's too soft, and positively screams 'suburbia.'

 

Yeah, that can definitely be a problem. I'm with you. I generally feel by BD line should be folowing the bass line not the other way around. This works well with a strong bass player...not so well otherwise  . The current band I play in plays mostly covers (not exacts covers but covers none the less). In this environment, the feel and pattern of the bass line is a given so there's no problem. In a more creative setting, knowing who's going to be "leading the parade" is important.

BigBill

I'm ditto with the ditto, ditto on locking with my bass player. Grant and I are like an old married couple. He and I have been friends since about 1990 and started playing music together in 1992. I haven't had another bass player since. We've been through several bands and certainly the guitar players have come and gone. But he and I are still together and still great friends. We read each other very well on stage and we play like we do. I love the guy and he's one of my best friends in the world! Yeah I'd say I have a huge comfort zone going and I love it!

Yeah, me and my bassist, not only because we are best friends, but becuase we know each other musically as we know ourselves, just flow.
It's really cool, he just throws a glance my way, and i understand exactly what he's gonna do next, and it's like one person playing two instruments, it's very cool!

I now in the (IMHO) enviable position of being in two bands with the same bassist. One that rehearses one night a week (that we've been doing for a couple years) and a tougher gig that practices two nights a week (that we've been doing since the end of December). The great thing was, the new band was thrown together at the last minute - a friend of mine got a call and needed a band, called me and I told him I'd take care of finding him a bassist. So the bassist and I came into this new band very comfortable playing with each other, which was a great way to start things off. And, in the last few months, working on this more difficult material, he and I have gotten way more locked in. I'm the stronger player of the two of us, and his trust in me (as far as cueing changes, blocking out rhythms, etc.) has deepened profoundly.