Archive for the ‘Bass Guitar’ Category
In most of the great bands from the 1960’s through the 1980’s their has always been that crucial element that made them great. Some bands were lucky enough to have more than enough of those elements.
Take Queen for an example had John Deacon playing bass guitar who was more than competent when it came to carrying a song while Brian May showed us what an outstanding electric guitar solo can do for a song, and then there’s Freddie Mercury. Freddie was in my opinion the greatest front-man that has ever graced the stage.
How about Fleetwood Mac and their all star cast. They had three outstanding vocalists in Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham. With Christine providing the writing for many of their most popular songs, along with playing keyboards in my opinion she was the catalyst for the band. Of course they had an outstanding drummer in Mick Fleetwood, along with John McVie who provided the driving bass guitar, and Lindsey Buckingham playing electric guitar. What attracted me to the style of Lindsey is that he plays an electric guitar with the finger-picking style of an acoustic guitar.
If your thinking of purchasing an acoustic or electric guitar, or maybe a bass guitar don’t thing you have to plunk down thousands of dollars to but a top notch electric guitar. Cheap electric guitars have come a long way and what makes them cheap electric guitars is the price.
Like anything else there are degrees of cheap guitars with the cheapest made affordable for the beginner, and the more expensive available for the person who already plays. As with many other things you get what you pay for and what you will find with one of the more expensive models is a guitar that will be with you for life. The finish is as good as the guitar that you will pay thousands for and the action isn’t bad also.
A great way to purchase one of these is in with cheap electric guitar packages. If you do I think you will agree if something did go wrong with this guitar you replace it in a heart beat.
Have you ever given any thought about the music you listen to? I was brought up listening to what is now called classic rock and I have often wondered what is it about a song that you like, is it the electric guitar solo, the bass guitar riff, or is it the lead singer?
For me it depended upon the band. Take The Beatles for instance, it is my belief that what makes them great is the music as well as the vocals. They all did a great job on the songs they sang, and likewise on the playing. Paul brought his inventive style of bass guitar, while George gave us a great jazzy kind of electric guitar that we had never heard before. The Beatles are a sum of all their parts, and that’s why they are the greatest band of all time.
How about AC~DC, when Bon Scott died Brian Johnson did a more than adequate job at replacing him, but how about Angus Young. Can you picture AC~DC in concert without Angus’s patent duck walk, dress in his school boy clothes and playing his custom SG electric guitar, I don’t think so.
Whether you play an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar, or perhaps you don’t play guitar at all, the elegant look and finish of these fine instruments just kind of draws you in like a magnet. Guitar bodies come in all styles and colors and unlike automobiles that change body styles every year they have stuck with several shapes that are tried and proven to be successful since the 1950’s.
Telecaster, Stratocaster, LP, SG, and Jazz style guitars have kept their shape and appeal for many years, being played by professionals to the beginners their popularity continues to grow. Guitars can be found in many wild shapes from machine guns to stars, but the four mentioned above have been the staples and will continue to be.
You can purchase these guitars alone or in electric guitar packages, bass guitar packages or acoustic guitar packages.
I have listened to music since the 1950’s and played music fr0m the 1960’s and I have been facinated by many of the bands from the 60’s on. Some bands like Pink Floyd, and the Vanilla Fudge had kind of an identifying sound. From the electric guitars to the base guitars once you heard the music you could tell it was them.
The Beatles had a great electric guitar package with George Harrison playing electric guitar and Paul McCartney playing bass guitar. George had a distinctive style that is copied by others but never truly duplicated, and Paul made us aware that the bass guitars can do more than just play root notes.
The classic rock that is listened to today is filled with that great electric guitar soundthat is still loved by all today. The bass guitars of Geddy Lee of Rush, Paul McCartney The Beatles, and John Deacon of Queen among others filled rock with the creativity that makes rock what it is. How about the electric guitarsof Jimi Hendrix, or Eric Clapton that made everyone want to play electric guitar.
Those are just a few of the things that made rock great enough for us to have a classic rock today. People of all ages relate to rock from the 60′ 70’s and 80’s. When I listen to the music that fills the air ways today I can’t help but wonder, who will people be listening to forty years from now?
I consider myself very fortunate, I was teenager when Beatlemania marked the start of the British invasion. I have been around to see electric guitars take over the music scene like no other instrument has ever before it. There have been some pretty great rock bands during that time, The Who, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Creme just to name a few.
There was the great sound of Chicago Transit Authority who later became just Chicago who mixed a brass section with the sound of an electric and bass guitar. Let’s not forget the garage sounding electric guitars of Boston and the unforgettable Freddie Mercury with Queen.
After Chicago their great electric guitar package of Pete Cetera on bass guitar and the incomparable electric guitar of Terry Kath they should have renamed the band or started another band because the Chicago you hear today is a band based on the sounds of the past. How about Queen, can you imagine going to see Queen without the greatest front man of all time Freddie Mercury. I believe there are some bands that should be left for us to remember as they were originally.
Any band you listen to has someone with an electric guitar playing rhythm. If you pay close attention you will notice that behind the rhythm there is a bass guitar holding everything together.
This is one of the reasons I love bass guitar. Have you ever heard your favorite song without the bass line? The next time you listen try bringing up the treble and turning the bass all he way down, you will hear an entirely different song without the bass guitars deep tones and snappy bass lines. When I played gigs I used to play around with the people and every so often I would stop playing just to see their reaction. Whenever I did this I would notice everyone looking around because they would know something was missing but didn’t know what it was. The guy or girl playing bass guitar is the unsung hero in any band, that’s my opinion and I am sticking to it.
Desire, with desire anyone can be a rock star. Don’t think this is just for someone with an electric guitar package because it is not. There are quite a few stars that play acoustic guitar packages.
There is no trick involved, it takes hard work. You need to practice allot. Just remember you don’t need to sell a million records to be a star. There are many rock bands that tour that you have never heard of but have a great sound just the same. Find yourself another electric guitar player, a bass guitar player, a drummer, and maybe a keyboardist who shares your passion to play music and your off. How good you are will be determined by your ability and those in the band. You will be surprised how little it takes to impress the average person who listens to music. If you have a good sound they will like you.
Bass guitar is not the most powerful thing in the universe but to me it is. The powerful tones that bass guitars emit is one that drives all music and holds it together. It’s a fun instrument to play too.
I’m proud to say I have been playing bass guitar since the mid 1960’s. I took lessons as a teenager that taught me starting with the basics, and that gave me the foundation I needed to apply my imagination to the music that I play so I never get bored.
Today there is something called Tabs where someone just starting out can go and learn a song real easy. While this is easy it really does the person an injustice because they are learning the song but not the structure of the music. What I would recommend to anybody starting out playing bass guitar, first thing is to go out and get yourself a great bass guitar package then take some lessons to learn the basics. Mix this with tabs and you will find you will understand much more of what you are playing.