Can I Play Lead on Bass Guitar?
Well here’s a question I just had to answering straight away:
Question: I was just wondering if I could play lead on bass. And is there any musician that does that?
Answer: To do so, you need to be very proficient on the instrument. It is common in jazz to have the bass player take a solo. Check out players like Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, or Victor Wooten who have taken this to a high art level. In the rock vein you have players like Stuart Hamm, Billy Sheehan, Geddy Lee, etc. who often make their playing an integral part of the melodic structure without actually taking an actual "solo" by using a quick "riff" or passage that stands out in the piece. These players are just as capable of doing solos and will often throw in some over live material. But in a rock context it is not as common as in jazz where a good bass player will take an extended solo over a chord progression while the other members are backing him up. There are, of course, exceptions of this like Flea and Les Claypool who take the idea of bass soloing in a rock context to the extreme with great results!
It should be noted that playing bass is kind of like soloing constantly. A good bassist will often vary the bass line so that it never sounds to dull or boring. This is the mark of a good bassist that plays great melodic bass lines that underpin the song but never really "solo" over the music. Some excellent examples of players like this are John Paul Jones of led Zeppelin and Deleo in Stone Temple Pilots. Listen to their work and you hear how subtle but magnificent there playing really is.
Yea
Yup,
get as good as this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKI8pFqWm0s
Heck yea and it’s a lot of fun. I do it. If you haven’t noticed, many times the bass may double the melody in some way or form. One simple example is in Iron Man by Black Sabboth
Yes..Geddy Lee..song: YYZ
Cliff Burton, Geddy Lee, Les Claypool, Jaco Pastorius, Stu Hamm, Michael Manring, Victor Wooten, Doug Whimbish… look ‘em up.
As a bass player I caan tell you that it is possible to play a lead part on the bass but to play continuos lead such as on a 6 string guitar, probably not a good idea. The biggest factor in my comment is a bass guitar is a metered insturment which means is is primaraly used to help keep the tempo. Now i myself do go beyond just mere timing and get a little funky but only to inhance the lead insturments. But try it ,you may come up with something amazing. Good luck
You bet! There are plenty of bass players that do that but they have to remember not to go off & abandon the song entirely b/c they form the, well, base of the song. I agree that Geddy Lee’s playing on YYZ is probably a good example of bass taking leads, but that’s mainly a showpiece song, where each instrument gets to shine for a bar or 2. Then there are bands like Iron Maiden & Motorhead, where the bassline is so strong in the recording that its practically a ‘rhythm guitar’ b/c its not in the traditional sonic spot, i.e. mixed into the background.