Chapman Stick

Hee!

Theo, a standup bass (for my kind of music) pretty much needs to be plucked. The strings are thick. Although you can also bow a standup bass.

So music theory is Theo's math?

Dude, music theory *is* math. That's why I love to listen in on both types of conversations. Even though most of it is waaay over my head, it's always so damn sexy.

Bass is deeper and, uh, rounder (if that makes sense*) than the bassiest guitar line.

* And if it doesn't, picture the visual representation of the sound a string makes when picked. A guitar will typically rapidly ascend to a sharp peak and then slowly trail off, like a hill with a cliff on one side and a slow decline on the other. A bass, because the strings are thicker and range longer, will typically make more of a rising sound to the peak (which is more of a rounded than sharp peak) and will even more slowly trail off, like a bell curve with a long right tail. Guitar: say "pah." Bass: say "buh." Of course, this is only in situations of picked or plucked strings. Strummed and bowed strings are a completely different ball o' wax.

Heh. This is almost as much fun as teaching Allyson about Lord of the Rings.

Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is a very melodic bass player also. He tends to support the singer (Stipe), and Buck plays with the drummer. Usually it's singer/guitarist, bass/drums. Andy Rourke of The Smiths - also melodic.

Funkier, more rhythmic bass players tend to use their fingers and thumbs. There's a whole plucking thing going on. More melodic players tend to use a pick. (cf., Peter Hook always with an extra pick between his teeth)

The first guy I think of when I think "melodic bass" is Paul McCartney. He often played contrapuntal melody. Colin Moulding is like that at times as well.

I remember that Mike Mills said that he always looked to Sir Paul, James Jamerson and John McVie when constructing basslines.

Can't believe Hec hasn't mentioned mentioned Richard Davis's playing on Astral Weeks. I thought that was your favorite album. And it usually takes a lot less than a spate of posts to get you to mention Larry Graham.

And I guess I'm gonna have to add Chic to yet another Buffistamix 'cause I'm just not feeling the requisite love for the great Bernard Edwards.

Also, my decision to use Charlie Haden has been sealed, time limit or no time limit. It was going to be a little joke. The track I'm going to use for "starts with a bass line" is a solo bass piece. [I won't tell it, but you couldn't ask for a better set up for the old "If drums stop... very bad. Very, very bad" joke.] Haden is not a virtuoso a la Mingus or Scott LaFaro, but his playing is more lyrical than any other bass player's that I can think of. It practically sings, and I think that the track I'm going to use bears that out.

I'm not joking about my inability to tell what's technically going on. I don't have enough music training to put what I'm hearing into technical terms or classify it appropriately. Hence the blackboxness of it all.

Nothing to be ashamed of, Theo. Like coding a web page or a piece of software, or planning construction of a high rise, it's not something everybody can or wants to do. Some people will have more of a natural inclination than others, but there's usually some study and training involved, too.

Can't believe Hec hasn't mentioned mentioned Richard Davis's playing on Astral Weeks.

I was thinking more in terms of rock band dynamics. Also, it's sort of like what my poetry professor said about great poets versus mearly very good poets. "You can't learn much from great poets in terms of style, because they bend things to their will and pull off shit that shouldn't work. Whereas really good poets you can see how they did what they did."

I thought that was your favorite album.

Hmmm. Some days it is. Usually it's the NY Dolls in Too Much Too Soon. Sometimes it's been Fairport Chronicles. Today it is definitely the first X album. Oftentimes it's all three albums of the Frank trilogy.

And it usually takes a lot less than a spate of posts to get you to mention Larry Graham.

I was gonna talk about his popping bass style and how it influenced Bootsy! But I got distracted.

Theo, sometimes I have trouble picking out the bassline too. I had to pick a song with a really obvious opening bassline, just to be sure.