Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bass Playing Lead Vocalists
I've always had respect for lead singers who double up on bass guitar and it was interesting watching Jools Holland on Friday night too see two bands with bass player vocalists; The Doves and The Noisettes. As a left handed player, I've always felt Jimi Goodwin of the Doves looks slightly restricted with his upside down Fender, while the lass from the Noisettes looked more natural with her plank of wood.
Personally, I struggle with (poor and timid) backing vocals and resaonable bass playing, so am in no position to talk. I guess my favourites are Phil Lynott and for a bit of slap and tickle, Mark King, who make the job look as easy as talking. I guess like drumming, it's a case of separating your brain and managing two, sometimes complex tasks at once.
Who are your favourites, or perhaps you're not a fan of bass playing frontmen/women?
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Poor Proof Reading
Am also an unreasonable speller.
As for so many Word forum questions
The answer is Paul McCartney.
Fun fact:
I'd read that, contrary to popular wisdom, Mr McCartney is only left-handed when playing bass, and otherwise he is right-handed.
Fun, but wrong
Isn't the right-handed but plays bass left-handed already the popular wisdom? This chestnut came from Philip Norman's Beatles biography Shout, but is wrong nonetheless.
Assuming he does...
... I've always found it fascinating how McCartney manages to play the complex post-Revolver bass-lines he created in the studio, and sing the songs at the same time. I know he often dubbed the bassline on last at Abbey Road, so I'm generally refering to live/gig appearances here. Of course, I'm not entirely sure, but he may have only been incredibly complex on Lennon's songs, for example.
I stand corrected
It was Philip Norman's (excellent) book which I was remembering.
I wonder if his story about the Deputy Governor of the Bank Of England is true, then? The story is that he offered his financial services free of charge to the Beatles, when Apple was going pear-shaped (!), because he didn;t want to see another great British institution suffer. However Paul said thanks but no thanks, we've got this really helpful guy Allan Klein who's going to sort it all out for us instead ...
I suspect Paul wouldn't have said that...
...as he was pretty anti-Klein and was proposing Lee Eastman as the new manager/adviser.
Remember also that Lennon had Dr Richard Beeching take a one-off look at the books; his advice was that Apple should retrench to music publishing and get out of all the ancillary activities.
Hendrix
I think that also applied to Jimi Hendrix.
Not popular for his bass playing I grant (though he did play it very well in the studio), but it is - as far as I understand - a myth that he was an actual southpaw. There exist many photo's of him writing very happily with his right hand. I've read in several souces he played leftie because he simply could and preferred the sound of a Strat strung upside down.
I may, of course, be hideously wrong, it being a habit of mine.
What, no Lemmy?
And I expect those who had (ahem) significant moments watching Suzi Quatro in their youth to chip in any moment now.
Gigs From Hell
Yeah, good choice. I used to play in an appalling covers band in Leeds called "The Rampant Hormones". We covered Ace Of Spades and I started the song by walking to the front of the stage. Imagine my horror, when as I struck the E string, it snapped and I pulled the lead out of the amp at the same time.Very embarrassing.
Suzi
We were having exactly the same conversation while watching Later (recorded and watched yesterday).
Whenever we have this conversation, I chip in with Suzi, so bit gutted I was beaten to it.
So, I give you Sting.
BTW, I loved the Noisettes performance. If I were a 15 year old girl, she would be my complete heroine.
Sting
The last time I listened to him - mid eighties I guess - would sing a line, play a bass bit, sing the next line, and so on. I'm not sure he'd mastered the 'pat the head, rub the tummy' skills needed to do both at once. Very few have.
A couple
Brian Wilson, Roger Waters.
Roger That Lucas
I think Roger ofter uses another bass player on his most recent solo tours, so he can concentrate on his "singing". I like Roger's playing (and the rest of Floyd) on Live At Pompeii. Even Nick Mason sounds good on this one! For me, it's Floyd at their live best. Sadly, we will never see the like of it again.
He's been using a backup bass player since
the 'In The Flesh' tour in 1977 when Snowy White backed him up on bass (as well as backup guitar)
Andy Bown played bass on the Wall shows
I think Tim Renwick played backup bass on the Live 8 reunion
Tears
You're right, I think Tim played bass during "Wish You Were Here" for the Live 8 gig. It's the only time I've shed a tear watching a gig on TV.
i know -
ferkin awful singing wannit?
Poor Roger
Yeah, it was a great moment, but Roger's voice has somewhat deteriorated over the years.
The occasional lyric
I don't consider myself a huge Pink Floyd fan, but once in a while I find myself thinking of a Roger Waters lyric or two that just nails it. Most of Time starts to have more and more uncomfortable resonance as, er, time goes on; but another one is "you're lost in the haze of alcohol-soft middle age" from Paranoid Eyes.
Geddy Lee
You can't beat a good Rush etc.
jack bruce
wasn't/ isn't too shabby at bass or vocals
This, The Man Who Wrote The Book
If Macca wrote the book on playing bass and singing,
is it fair to say that Mark wrote a magazine article on same? :-)
If only
that were a Hofner violin bass
Mark Strange Bass
Never seen a bass like that before, what on the hell is it?
Nick the Riff
I know it's the weekend but this thread is nearly 5 hours old and nobody has yet mentioned Sir Nick Lowe who has not only fronted bands as a bassist but has played solo with the bass as the only accompaniment on some songs.
Good call
Similarly surprised that noone has mentioned Rick Danko.
How about we mention some bass players who shouldn't really have been allowed to sing. Here are three: Paul Simonon, John Entwistle, Bruce Foxton.
Danko
Definitely at the top of the heap; but he was one of three singers in his band, which is why I hadn't considered him in the light of this discussion.
One of the best gigs I ever went to was Rick Danko by himself at the Borderline in about 1992-3. Imagine him tackling a song like Acadian Driftwood by himself, covering three vocalists, guitar fills and a bass line as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Not the same song, but the effect is similar:
It Makes No Difference
There's very few pieces of music that have ever genuinely reduced me to tears but this is one...
(I once saw a TV listing for The Last Waltz which credited him as Rick Donko)
tom robinson
wasn't great at either but did both
Bass DJ
Tom may not be be a bass whizz, but he is a great DJ, his show on 6 music is lovely. My favourite presenter after Gideon Coe.
John Wetton
in his King Crimson days, a God
Richard Sinclair
Caravan and the Hatfields.
Shurely that's John
Shurely that's John Greaves?
Sorry Stimpy, I will continue to bow to your wisdom in all other matters though...
PS Any chance of another username amnesty? And yes we did have a dog called Bob. There is probably a thread on drunken choices of user names to be made...
Greg Lake
sorry.......
Dave Pegg is by far the worst singer in Fairport.
Jack Bruce, anyone.
Genesis P'Orridge
He did both also..sort of.
An honourable mention must also go out to Tod A from Cop Shoot Cop, now Firewater
Julian Cope
... from memory, in the Teardrop Explodes (blue Fender Precision?)
Slap It
Just back from the pub, so a bit of eighties cheese before Monday morning kicks in. King does a good job at both, even if you hate the music.
Poor Crowd
Check out the crowd, all cardboard cutouts.
Christ lads!
It ain't that difficult. I used to play bass and sing with no problem. I've also played guitar and sung and drums and sung. They were harder. Props to Karen Carpenter, I say.
a different point of view
maybe it is only me but I can play rhythym and sing quite easily, play (rehearsed) lead and sing, but can't play bass and sing at the same time for more than half a bar. Quite apart from me being a crap musician, it seems to require differnt bits of my brain to work at the same time which they can't manage.
Going back a bit...
...Tony Jackson was the great original Searchers lead singer/bass player
That guy from Del Amitri
Whose name I cant recall and who I cant be bothered at this late hour to google.....
Justin Currie One of the
Justin Currie
One of the great British (Scottish) rock voices...
The track No, Surrender on his solo album What is love for? is worth the entry price alone.
In the 70's....
Wishbone Ash had a fine bass player and singer called Martin Turner and he is still touring with his version of Wishbone Ash.
Bootsy Collins
Arguably (I know I'VE had arguments about it) the greatest bassist ever, and a more than passable singer in his solo/Rubber Band mode.
Some difficulty
I've played various parts in bands, mainly on guitar or bass with some vocals. I tend to agree with the original post, it can be more difficut to play bass and sing than guitar. It depends on what song I'm playing of course.