by Every once in a while, you’ll come across people who’ll say things like, “Is bass even that important?” or “You can’t even hear bass – it’s just there to look cool” or even, “If the bass wasn’t there, it would still sound the same”
Now you and I, we’re bass players, right? Of course we know exactly how important bass is to music. Without it, songs just don’t have any life – a huge part of the groove is missing!
Not everyone knows this though. Some people either haven’t developed their ear to hear bass frequencies yet or worse still, they’re listening to all their music on dinky little laptop or phone speakers.
The best way to show the difference that bass makes to a song is to play tracks with the bass taken out, then inject the bass back into it.
I’m not talking about just rolling off the bass frequencies in a song though – I’m talking about removing the entire bass track from the recording. I found a ton of tracks with the bass track completely removed, so in this video, I’ll let them play without any bass and then add the bass back in.
As long as you’re listening on a decent sound system or on headphones, I guarantee you’ll notice a huge difference – and so will anyone who’s not a bass player. Whatever you do, don’t try this on laptop or phone speakers – they just can’t reproduce those low frequencies so you won’t get the same effect at all.
In the lesson, I’ll also talk about the 2 legitimate reasons people might think that bass doesn’t matter, plus the one slightly less legit reason, and what to do when you come across people who say these things.
Check out the lesson here:
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By the way, here are all the resources I mentioned in the video:
Bassless tracks – These are just the bassless tracks, but there are plenty more as well
The specific bassless tracks I used in this lesson:
Counting Crows – Mr Jones (No Bass)
Iron Maiden – The Trooper (No Bass)
Michael Jackson – Thriller (No Bass)
Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why (No Bass)
And if hearing bass lines and bass frequencies on recordings is still tricky for you, I have a whole lesson on exactly how to hear bass that goes into great detail:
Play Bass By Ear: How To Hear Bass Lines
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
Very helpful
Quick question for you, what headphones would you recommend for practicing with? I’m starting out and have a Fender MIM Player P Bass and a Rumble Studio 40 amp. I have some old cans from when I was in radio…the cheepos get good volume and ok lows but have an annoying volume control on the cord and are uncomfortable. The Sennheiser’s are super comfortable have good sound but I guess they are old and tired, they just have no volume. I’m hoping to stay in the $100-$150 range (US $) These cans at least for me will be for nothing but the bass….
Wow basses aren’t important and you can’t hear them? Guess they never heard 1960s & early 70’s MoTown…
Hey Jon – I don’t have any specific recommendations for headphones. I’m still using some Sony ones I got as a Christmas present from 12 or so years ago. If you’re in the $100-$150 price range though, I think you’d have a hard time finding headphones that didn’t reproduce the lows you need. See if you can test drive some at some stores for sound and fit – I’m sure you’ll find something that’ll work for you.
When I was just starting playing the bass in a band I sometimes during rehearsal stopped playing in the middle of a song, just to see the other guys looking at me like: hey man what is wrong, why do you stop playing? Well, just to see you guys noticing me, because while building a song there was never much discussion about the bass lines ; it was all about: does the guitar sound right, should we double this voice, etc. But they did miss the bass when it stopped.
And apart from me playing the bass, I have always liked all low-sounding instruments in all sorts of music: classic (baas tuba, bassoon, etc.), jazz (bass clarinet, bass saxophone, etc.). because it always adds depth and warmth to the music.
I am a beginner with the bass. I have been trying to learn on my own but I don’t know where to begin. HELP !
Hey Johnnie – I’d recommend starting with my Beginners Starter Pack. It’s free and you can get it here:
https://becomeabassist.com/bab-beginners-starter-pack/
Cheers,
Luke