How the Fender Bass Changed the World

One had to be a great Bass player to keep up with Rory, and none fit the bill better than Gerry McAvoy on his trusty Fender P basses.


 
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And Jerry Scheff was awesome too. Bass player for Elvis, session player on numerous records from just about everyone famous from the 60's to the present day.
He played bass for the Doors when they were recording "LA Woman". Awesome bass player!

 
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Another favourite... David Freiberg from Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship, Linda Imperial Band and numerous others - Just about every influential band from San Francisco.
This clip is "Which Do You Love" from the album "Happy Trails" from 1969, one of many live albums recorded during their career. Absolutely love this bass solo, which is the 5th part of the "Who Do You Love" suite.
 
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Sadowsky, Just a fender knock off would my G & L bass be concerted a fender bass since Leo Fender invented it.
 
Ok all you serious golden ears,,,,,,,,,,
As one who likes to hear many varieties of ways our instruments can sound, answer me this... HOW does one get the Fender Bass to sound like this?

 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Ok all you serious golden ears,,,,,,,,,,
As one who likes to hear many varieties of ways our instruments can sound, answer me this... HOW does one get the Fender Bass to sound like this?
Click to expand...

well, ya cain't... And that's the truth: pbpbpbpbthththththth
You can come close, by playing fretless and using tape wound strings and the right amp.
But it will never sound like a really expensive (read that $10,000+) acoustic bass played through a world class sound
system for the President and First Lady of the United States.
The Electric bass may have changed the world, but the acoustic bass is still around, and still
doing its thing like it always did. And it sounds great.

when the arrangement calls for the sound of the acoustic bass, there's no substitute.
And that lady is playing jazz to beat the band. Did y'all notice that the Fender bass player in the back line
spent that song sittin' out? I noticed. Us electric bass players don't care if we sit out when the arrangement
calls for that acoustic sound. Because we know the Fender bass has changed the world. Forever. (or at least
until the power fails).

When the power fails and our 'civilization' is on it's way down into oblivion and the New Dark Age is dawning,
we will all switch back of course and play our bass fiddles while Washington burns. There will be a place in the world
for the musicians when our 'civilization' is finished. And where there's a place for musicians, there will be a need
for a bass.

I think it would be great if someone designed a pedal I could plug my fender in to get this sound...
But if there is such a pedal, I don't know about it. And I'm happy with the sounds I can get from the electric basses
I do have.
 
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chilipeppermaniac said:
Col, And maybe put felt under the strings by the bridge like Jemes Jamerson did?
Click to expand...
I would never do that... and I don't understand why anybody would. The makers of early electric basses put that dampening
material next to the strings in order to cut down on sustain and overtones, because they were afraid that bassists would have
closed minds and reject the new electric... if it didn't thump like an acoustic.

It took a few years for bassists to begin inventing new sounds for new times. One of those sounds is the incredible sustain
of the Fender Jazz Bass. Acoustic bass players get sustain by using a bow. And that's fine and traditional. Let them.
My heart pounds for the thunder... and the growl of the electric.

Felt pads or not, Jameson's tone got in my blood way back when, and I still love those
songs. I think of his style as "melodic propulsion..."
 
Melodic Propulsion.

I think of it as a gift of pure Genius from how that man just FELT his instrument and how to make a song just right.
SO many songs too, SO many.
 
I have always struggled to get really good pics of some of my instruments.
While trying to take pics to sell a deep green Emerald Green Pearl drum kit, it always turned out looking black.
Also, capturing the depth of sparkle and pop of the mirror pick guard on my Steve Harris bass would just get washed out looking blues. SO, I found another pic someone posted on Talkbass and wanted to post it here because it almost does the blue glitter in the guitar justice.
The bass below has a mint green pick guard instead of mirror and non Bad Ass bridge like my bass does though.

Steve Harris P.jpg
 
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