not really that hard to do, especially in the studio. Shit, I played a right handed bass upside down D-R-U-N-K at the Capn's wedding reception on a few tunes without mishap, and believe me when I tell you---I am no Jimi Hendrix; (I'm not even Ed Hendrix, his tone-deaf fourth cousin).....

And Rads, I'm listening to "All Along the Watchtower" to see if I missed something the first 8,764 times. Nope. Sounds like a guitar player playing bass on one of his songs---actually, its horribly unimpressive, especially sonically.

thank you for not making me repeat this several more times.

That's what I love about it. It's a lead guitarist's version of bass. More melodic than rhythmic. Same with Ronnie Wood's bass on "Lost Paraguayos", "Italian Girls" and "You Wear It Well" (on Rod Stewart's Never A Dull Moment). You really don't hear anything amazing in that?

Not on that particular song (All Along...) he noodles around a bit, but he (and this may be lack of compression or whatever) lets the bottom end of the song fall out several times.

Sometimes, (and this is just personal experience) lead guitarists can play a great bass line or section but....hmmm its hard to explain, its just missing something.

Leftys ought to play "right handed instruments". They have the advantage. On a right handed instrument, the bulk of the co-ordination is in the left hand, even when the right is finger picking, which is just combinations of simple repeated motions.

???What???

I think you should play the instrument that is cut for your body. Right handed guitars are fucking uncomfortable to play, even if I do string them the right way.

that's exactly why Corgan played right handed.

I like the showy guys like Victor Wooten, but I really get off hearing those who can do something spectacular without sounding like they're constantly hogging the limelight. Here's three of my favorites:

Colin Moulding of XTC - this guy oozes class. One of my favorite basslines of all time belongs to him in "Mayor of Simpleton." I'm very surprised no one's mentioned Moulding yet, actually.

Martin Mendez of Opeth - just listen to anything they do. This guy has an incredible sense of timing and, again, class. Damnation features some really beautiful support playing.

Rob Wasserman - jazz bassist. Check out his playing on Bruce Cockburn's Charity of Night, especially the track "Pacing the Cage." The solo he takes on that song just blows me away every time. Very emotional. Also check out his three solo albums, now handily packaged together as Trilogy.

Great with the Jerry Garcia Band as well....

i saw him play with Bob Weir when i was a youngin.

i don't agree with this at all. right handed people play the way they do for a reason. The soul of the instrument is in the rhythm of your right hand. Sure you can do amazing things with the left, but i'd much rather be better with my right.

There are no left handed violins, violas, cellos, or upright basses. Partly that's due to the fact that you can't have bows going every which way due to space restrictions.

I still believe that if a lefty who had never played was taught on a right handed instrument, that he/she would have an advantage.

If you've never played, you have no conception of what's "right or wrong" for you. When you start on an instrument, everything is awkward and uncomfortable, so you might as well use your dexterity where it's needed.

-Phil

it's not a matter of right or wrong really, i just believe that more dexterity is needed on the picking/strumming.

I have to agree with philkestra on this one.

what did he say?

When I first started learning on guitar, I tried going ambidextrous. And I mean the first week I started, right away. I thought it'd be neat to be able to switch. I got to where I could hit chords, but it felt... wrong. Painfully wrong, and not because I was used to anything yet. This was on a spanish classical, btw.

Jimi's bass playing was ok, but Bloor's right (much as I hate to admit it, being a guitarist who owns a bass) in saying that lead guitarists might make "interesting" bass players, but they don't make great ones unless they work their butts off at it. Making it sound "right" is really hard, and I forget that sometimes until I get to sit in with a band on bass, and lemme tell ya, it's an eye-opener.

I said that more dexterity is needed in the left hand than the right. Especially if all you're doing is holding a pick with the right, or even if you're fingerpicking. Fingerpicking is, for most players, simple patterns strung together to make complex patterns, which are then repeated for the duration of the song.

Example: Blackbird, it's really only two fingerpicking patterns ( TR/IM, and TR/M/I/T/R/M/I ), but it's the left hand that does the bulk of the moving around. Simple song that sounds difficult.



(edit: Colin made an amalgamation of my old CMJ screen name, Dorkestra Teacher, and my real name, Phil.)

Nothing weird about it.

All lefties play the violin righty. I don't see why the guitar would be any different.

I like the way this guy plays bass:


And there's this guy in Chicago, plays with Liquid Soul... Phil Ajjarappasomethingorother. He kills me.

Yeah, I'll back you up on this, Darrin. And I also love Steve Harris and Tina Weymouth, among others.

But see, here's the thing: John Entwhistle is the greatest bassist who ever lived. Period. I'm open to a debate for #2, but NOBODY BEATS THE OX!!!

But you will have to put an asterisk next to his name due to his use of performance enhancing substances.

Tim Chandler