Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

That is funny! I would imagine that poor drummer, the rest of the band, the manager, ticket takers, roadies, janitors, anyone with a daughter, and NASA were frightened when our boy Keith rolls through town.

There is no one like him, and every time he is on stage, my eyes are glued to his whereabouts. It seems as though you never know what he'll do next. Even his interviews are fun.

I recall a particular TV event where he was asked how he knows where they have had a good show. He replied," When I don't fall off the stage". There are times I wish England had kept the good old USA.

If you invest the time to learn the instrument, I have no problem with that. It's just my opinion anyway. Like what you said, someone picking up a bass and playing a flurry of notes, does not make a bass player. Some of the best bass players and playing goes unnoticed, unless your listening for them. Someone once told me that if a bass player is doing there part you won't know they're there. I don't totally agree with that, but I understand what he meant by it. I love conversations like this!

I agree Chris, the more I think about it, learning to play an instrument and performing in a band may be two separate skills. It appears to me, that a musician may be good at one and hopeless at the other.

I worked with a keyboard player who was classically trained, taught at an exclusive music academy, best sight reader I've ever seen, and would knock you out with a Beethoven's No. 5 in E flat Major. However, throw it to him for Jerry Lee Lewis add lib, and watch the beads of sweat start to form. The subtle nuances of blending with and following the group were difficult for him. Great guy, wonderful talent, nick named "knuckles". The drummer, in charge of nick names with a razor sharp wit, eventually drove knuckles from the band. Hmmmm...come to think of it he used to call me Peter.

I must say that I am far better with a drummer and guitarist than I am solo. I'm not saying that I'm actually any good....but I am certainly better with a band. Locking in with the drummer works sometimes and sometimes it is better not to IMO/situation. I think I just enjoy playing in a band and that makes me relax which brings out the best in my playing.

Whether I am an actual musician......who knows?!?!?!?

Yeah, there's definitely a difference between being able to play an instrument well and being able to play an instrument well with a band. Depending on the type of music you're playing and the type of people you're playing with, you've gotta do different stuff. If you're playing dance-rock, locking up with drummer is almost essential. Not so for most other styles of music, except maybe thrash metal and vocal-oriented pop (in which case, all the instruments are only important so far as they get a groove going for the vocalist). Someone might be a very talented or creative musician and a ****** bandmember, but honestly, both are important. The band might be able to work together very well, but if the music they play lacks emotion and creativity and "spark", it's kind of moot. You don't have to be classically trained (or trained at all for that matter . . . look at Hendrix) to be able to make fascinating and interesting music, but if you and the band can't do it, then playing together is not going to save you, unless you're just trying to write modern pop hits, in which case, a total lack of musicality and emotion is just fine.

That being said, there is no one correct form of bass playing. The idea that the bassist is "doing his job" if you don't notice him is really only appropriate for specific kinds of music, and even then, I'd prefer if the bass wasn't just some anonymous bridge. I know I certainly didn't start playing so that I could play an hour of half notes or the exact same walking pattern over and over. That's not bad bass playing, but it's not the kind of bass playing that I want to do, and therefore, I will not play in a band that requires that of me, because I will be bored out of my skull.

Well said.

I think one of the things that helps me, drummer or not, is that I also play drums and guitar and can think like them. I usually have no problem locking in with the drums because I know where the beat is and where it's going. Sometimes it is helpful to know more than one instrument.