In Defence of Bass Guitarists

Note: The following is not just an article but a statement briefly compounded by facts and personal statements – an account of the most undervalued instrument of all time: the bass guitar.

Also note: Lead guitarists and fans, please do not judge me.

Let me start off by stating this:

I’m a bass guitarist.

People familiar with instruments will say: Seriously?

But for those not well accustomed to guitars or instruments in general, you will ask me: What on earth is a bass guitar?

An acoustic guitar has six strings, wherein you can play chords, lead, bass – in fact, the very first time you set out to learn a guitar, the very first guitar you set your hands on is the acoustic- the standard or basic version; un-electrified, authentic and simple.

After you master – or you think you master – the techniques of the acoustic, you have the option of choosing either the lead or the bass guitar.

The lead guitar, in simple terms, is the amplified version of the acoustic; comprising of six strings, you get to play melody lines, chords, guitar solos, and riffs.

The bass guitar, though, comes in various types; the standard version is a four-string. A standard bass consists of the upper four strings of the acoustic, tuned about an octave lower.

You cannot play chords or melody lines on the bass, however; you can play notes and occasionally jam in riffs and solos that mostly will be covered by the lead guitar and left practically unheard – unless the audience is really listening for the bass, they won’t be able to hear it.

So, which guitar would you choose?

“What a silly question! Of course; the lead! I want to be the future Joe Satriani or Kirk Hammett or Slash or Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix - not some loser with a four-string guitar! I want to be able to play chords and melody lines and play solos at the same time. Bass is practically useless.”

Sure, buddy. Sure.

The reality is that this idea has been disputed for years. Why does bass seem so easy compared to the lead? And why is bass considered to be useless in a band?

We’re going to get down to ground zero of this issue. First of all, get this straight in your mind: bass is not easy. You may think playing a few notes on a four-string guitar is easy but I assure you, it’s not.

And secondly, stop going all Eddie Van Halen over me:

Starting off with your basics on all types of guitars will make the instrument sound uncomplicated. For instance, playing three notes on the bass will seem easy to you. You may even think, after playing a few simple lines on the bass: “Man, this is lame. Do I have to play three notes on a loop? Where’s the fun in that?” Playing songs like ‘I love Rock n’ Roll’ on the bass with just basic notes and without improvisation may make you adhere to the fact that playing the bass is undemanding and asinine.

But open your eyes – or rather, ears - to the fact that even playing the lead will sound ridiculous if there are no riffs, no melody lines, and no improvisation: playing chords on an electric lead is ten times more tedious than playing three notes on electric bass.

The bass is mostly played in sync with the drums, thus throwing in the extra work for bass guitarists who have to play riffs and solos and maintain the original tempo of the song. This is not specifically necessary for the lead, though playing solos out of tempo tends to rack in the official slam and irritation from the audience. Do you sometimes jam your head or tap your foot to the effects of the guitar? Which guitar do you think you’re getting into the groove with? It’s the bass. Listen to a song without the bass and you’ll realize how hollow and uninspiring the entire piece sounds.

“The bass, no matter what kind of music you're playing, it just enhances the sound and makes everything sound more beautiful and full. When the bass stops, the bottom kind of drops out of everything.” - Charlie Haden

Have you ever tried singing while playing the bass? You haven’t? Get a bass guitar from someone, play a few notes and try to sing along. You'll find it exceedingly hard. You're sure to fumble at even the simplest of bass tabs.

Other than the famous fingerpicking techniques – which also happen to be the easiest, unless you’re going it the Esperanza Spalding way - the bass also has multiple techniques such as the slap-and-pop, octave rise, strumming, and fretting techniques such as muting and two-handed tapping. Good luck trying out these styles on a lead.

One of the most important parts of a band or an orchestra is the bass – and no, I did not make this observation myself but it is the result of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Of Sciences in America, which concludes that: “The low-voice superiority effect for encoding timing explains the widespread musical practice of carrying rhythm in bass-ranged instruments and complements previously established high-voice superiority effects for pitch and melody.”

No matter which genre of music you’re looking at – rock, metal, jazz, reggae, country, blues – there always will be the bass to accompany a band (even if it’s in the form of double bass).

Looking at famous bass guitarists, the most popular - to musicians and non-musicians alike - will most probably be Paul McCartney, the lead vocalist and bass guitarist of the Beatles. Other highly influential bass guitarists include Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, John Entwistle of the Who, Cliff Burton of Metallica, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Geddy Lee of Rush, Les Claypool of Primus, Sting of the Police, Christopher Wolstenholme of Muse, Esperanza Spalding and Tina Weymouth.

India's leading bass guitarist - Mohini Dey.

So, before you set out to judge bass guitarists and call us ‘useless’ in a band because we indulge your last-minute call for the bass by playing a few amateur notes, please check out songs like YYZ, The Electric Grapevine, Hysteria, Tommy the Cat and generally all songs by the Queen – man, I still can’t play those complicated notes John Deacon effortlessly slides into songs – and then come back. If anything, we’ve learned to be patient with your judgments and believe in our hearts that someday you will change your opinion of us.

“The bass player’s function, along with the drums, is to be the engine that drives the car... everything else is merely colours.” – Suzi Quatro

Hey, if you do have the time, please do check the following link to see a very easy bass solo by Stuart Hamm at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1988:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmO2xqBnceg

Cheers.