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Bass. How hard can it be ?
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Re: Bass solos that don't suck
Aug 13, 2008, 19:33
IanB wrote:
What is it about the English that they are so suspicious of technique? Whether it is centre halves, painters, bass players or opening batsmen. God forbid you should be seen to be ... y'know .... make an effort at developing your craft.



There's definitely a school of technical suspicion in America as well, though maybe not omnipresent. I have to fight it a bit from time to time as I have been playing for about 28 years (since I was four or five years old) and curiosity has inevitably taught me some things, but there's the occasional person that takes some kind of offense and says, well, you're one of those TECHNICAL guys (I'm really, really not!) ...

What the hell, it's all music! And I do know people who take the technique to a point where it kills the content, but others (or the same people at other times) who really use their advanced ability wonderfully! Also folks who can pick up anything and bang around on it and make a lot of noise that sounds great (others who can't, somehow) and also some that can string together a mess of effects and make beautiful digital abstractions but couldn't pick out a tune or beat out a rhythm to save their lives. Such a wonderful continuum it is!

I have only ever known one person who, despite all his striving for a sustained period of years, never really advanced more than slightly on his chosen instruments. He still plays, and still loves to do it, so more power to him! Wonderful heart, that man. I'm sure there's some less-mainstream avenue of musical expression that would come to him more naturally, but evidently he hasn't run into it yet.

Which, if I may continue to rave, reminds me of another point: I teach guitar from time to time, and there have been a number of students who naturally played in 7/4 or whatnot, who really really wanted to play "normal" music and it took a lot of beating their heads against the wall to straighten themselves out enough to do it! This always strikes me as very sad - if you naturally, genetically, do something different that many people work their whole lives to master, why try so hard to beat it out of yourself? Sort of a mass-cultural perspective domination I guess.
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Re: Bass solos that don't suck (IanB)
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