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Bass. How hard can it be ?
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Dog 3000
Dog 3000
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Re: Bass. How hard can it be ?
Aug 12, 2008, 17:03
zphage wrote:

Motown's single most important act was standardizing the rhythm section. They showed the power of a tight rhythm section, no garage band lurching, all British invasion bands learned this lesson thru covers and showband experience.


Berry Gordy famously applied "quality control" techniques he learned in the auto industry to the record biz. And that's sort of my beef with Motown -- their records had a slick, somewhat assembly line feel to them (especially the Supremes and Four Tops.)

As opposed to the Memphis Stax/Volt crews who played with more "barbecue sauce" or something (Booker T. & the MG's with Donald Dunn on bass.) Though I'm sure that the Memphis gang was influenced by the Detroit label, if for no other reason than they had a very successful formula for making hits.

Similar situations in New Orleans and Muscle Shoals . . . and then there was the James Brown organization, another little fiefdom all it's own in the soul community.

Back to the bass playing angle: most important thing a bassist can do is mesh well with the drummer -- what kind of licks you can or can't play by yourself is sort of irrelevant. Bass probably gets less respect than the other instruments because it's more of a "supportive" role, negotiating between the melodic instruments (guitar, keyboard, horns) and rhythm (da drum, which is the MOST important instrument in rock-type music.) Nice bass melodies without the rhythmic aspect doesn't really work, but you can get away with minimal melody as long as the groove is in the pocket (see dub reggae style.)
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