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The Role of The Bass

By: Branden Johns,

Bassist of Killing Rapunzel

 

    It all starts with the music. The Merriam-Webster dictionary states that a musician is “a person who writes, sings, or plays music”. This is the accepted definition by most of the english-speaking world of what a musician is, and becoming a musician is just as simple as the definition states it to be.

Because music is an art, one of the first steps is to find a medium in which you feel the most comfortable expressing yourself with. For some this is an instrument. An instrument is a tool that can be used to complete a task, and in this case, that is to play musical tones or notes. When selecting an instrument, you should think of yourself. What kind of person are you? Are you a leader? Are you a follower? What do you want your art to express? All these are things that people will be able to see about you as a result of your music.

I am an electric bass guitar player in a three-piece hard-rock band. My instrument is an electric bass guitar. I play the bass because I personally relate to what, traditionally, is the role of the bass guitar. The bass guitar is a rhythm instrument, which provides the strong backbone of a song. Without the bass guitar, in my music, the music would feel empty and have a lack of strength. I feel that this best represents my personality because I have always strived to be ready to help my friends and family so I could be there with them when they needed me.

I have always seen and felt that the bass guitar belongs in the background, in the dark spots of music where no one “looks”. The bass isn’t supposed to be heard, it’s supposed to be felt. One of the bass’ primary jobs is to cover the flow of the song for the lead instruments so they have support when they break from the melody of a song. Because of that, bass tends to be one of the parts of music that no one will notice until it’s gone. And this is where I think that the bass gets its personality. The bass controls one half of the rhythm section of my band, so if I were to, stop playing during any point of a performance, the show would be drastically changed.

The bass is one of the most powerful and central elements of most modern music. It is not “stupid”, “lame”, “boring”, or “easy”. Without bass, music would not be the same. The bass has just as much power to change music as any other musical instrument. It is just as difficult to play and learn as any other musical instrument. It has its own skill set that puts it in a category all to itself. To be a bass player, you need to understand what exactly your role is. You are the drive of the song. You are the one with the ability to emphasize the power of music. You are the rhythm. Without rhythm the song lack the ability to carry its message, whatever it may be.

The purpose of this article is to share what I have learned about my instrument and position in music thus far in my career. These are my opinions, and they are to be regarded as such. If you can relate and use my word to your advantage, please do so. Share this knowledge with your friends, family, and other musicians. The second we stop ourselves from learning is the true end of growth, and to be successful we must never stop.

 

Written and edited by: Branden Johns

© Killing Rapunzel 2016

 
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Fix the black on black formatting or I'm getting rid of these posts. This is certainly one of the more odd promotional campaigns I've seen here, not least because you guys haven't actually posted any music in the "Promote Your Band" section. I'd encourage you to do that. Feel free to join in our conversations here, but don't plug your band in the discussion sections.

As far as the role of the bass guitar, eh... obviously you have to do what's right for the song, but this "felt but not heard" business strikes me as dogmatic. Bass doesn't only have to be a supporting character. Personally I've always enjoyed hearing prominent and imaginative bass parts, as opposed to parts that just fill out the low end by following along with the rhythm guitar. Bass can be whatever you make it - gritty or mellow, technical or simple, melodic or rhythmic or both. It's got a lot of flexibility.

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Thanks for the instruction and tips, we're kinda new to pushing ourselves in the forum world, so please don't hold back if I screw up again, I don't mean to be pluggy...I'm just trying to start off here. Do you want me to remove this post from this forum and repost it in the "promote your band" section? The other two members of my band should of posted similar "articles" on this site as well, so I could tell them do the same. We just want to be placed in the right spot. We come in peace, we don't mean to muddy up things. 

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I've been learning to play my arpeggios all in a single position with a circular or looping around sense of scale degrees if it makes sense to put it that way. It's pretty gratifying. Also I'd like to add to skull crushing that it is the bass's obligation to always know what cord is up on the cord progression. Also bassists ought to define the outer edge of the bands overall look. It is the bassist who should look the coolest off all the band members in other words, if the band is generally cool looking.

b49f24d126744512b530c235b111b644.jpg

Case in point.

And as if that was not enough...

1480907656549.jpg

there is this dude here.

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