The Bass Geek

WNYC’s Soundcheck recently hosted a discussion on the importance of the bass guitar in today’s music. It’s an interesting discussion that trots out the more familiar examples (White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and rehashes some typical stereotypes as well. Most importantly, though, is that the folks involved in the discussion mainly agreed that either dominant bassists or the complete absence of a bass guitar is the search for a new sound. Even the groups mentioned include some kind of bass sound, whether it be detuned or synthesized guitars and keyboards.

And the keyboards bring it back to the last time bass guitarists seemed to fear obsolescence - the 80s, when new machines and electronic keyboards threatened to dominate the low end with their precisely sequenced character. In response, more folks picked up extended-range basses or doubled on keyboards as well. And then the late 80s and the 90s gave us hyperactive bassists like Flea and Les Claypool, which gave us legion upon legion of hyperkinetic players bent on world domination. So folks went for more “tasteful” playing, and thus we are here today.

I think the examples they trotted out were a little old (we already know about the White Stripes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and they haven’t even released an album in the past year or so), but otherwise the standard points of what the bass does (bridging rhythm and harmony, providing a foundation for the song, etc.) were brought out and endorsed. And it seems like the host was the only one on the program who wasn’t a bassist, so it made for a one-sided discussion.

But half-an-hour on a major public radio station, on the heels of a Victor Wooten interview earlier this summer? Somebody at NPR is pushing a serious low-end agenda, I think.