Bass world v Guitar world

[walleye]

this post in the gamechanger thread by BP got me thinking of a few things:

I haved lived my entire Music Man career with a negative reception. I expect it.

Please understand that the gear heads that are complaining think that we are creating sound. We arent creating any tones. We are unlocking and setting free sonic combinations that have been around for 50 years....locked in the guitar. They think we are touching the signal (even though it is stressed many times in the videos that it doesnt touch the signal) THese people are happy not knowing what their guitar is capable of...they want the switch to tell them how to sound..thats fine we still make them that way too.

The Gamchanger adds $500 usa retail to the reflex probably $350 street

I have held this perspective for quite some time now, but the Bass World is so much more progressive and accepting of innovation, and i guess change in general, than the guitar world seems to be.

for an examples you can compare the reception given by the genreal respective communities of the 5/6 string bass v 7 string guitar. 5 strings are generally revered by the ..contemporary music community whereas 7 strings are generally jeered at, ive been gigging with 7 strings for only about 11 months now and already ive received my fair share of stupid comments on the matter. maybe australians have more traditionalist bias than other commentators?

so what really is the difference between the bass world and the guitar world that houses these drastically different attitudes to innovations.

im happy to raise this issue with this little community here because im confident that anyone who dedicates a bit of their free time to this forum will probably not be a traditionalist. there isn't really much traditionalism at EB, which i love. EB is at the forefront of innovation, and i could say that before the gamechanger broke, with compensating nuts, hum cancelling, chambering, wood-combos (the list can continue)

i am interested to see how the gamechanger is received by the bass community and the guitar community alike, my prediction is the bass community will love it in an unbiased non-vintage-bashing way whereas there will be a large group of guitarists who will knock it because "you can't beat vintage instruments" blergh.

comments thoughts?

if you're a lazy reader: main q: why is the bass community so much more accepting of innovation than the guitar community?

 

[metalmarty]

I'm assuming partly because bassplayers tend to be more low-profile players, both personally (less flamboyant then us 6-stringers) and historically. Of course there are very VERY well known bass players, but I'm under the impression that stems more from their playing then from their "sound". They are the traditional fundament under the in your face guitarsound that is so recognizable.

For 60 years guitars have dominated music. Signature sounds, legendary music and guitarist revere, and strife for, certain sounds that were established with either old Les Pauls or Strats on old Marshalls. Never change a winning team, that kind of idea.

Bassists often are the more incognito musicians that have the room to experiment without sticking their necks out. In all the years I have been playing in bands singers and drummers for example have argued about the sound of the guitars, while the bass-sound always is more or less accepted as long as it is there. It's a simplification perhaps, but in general I think there's some truth to it.

When someone comments on a 6-string bass it's usually a guitarplayer..."why didn't you pick the guitar in the first place "

 

[Jimmyb]

Depends which forum you go to.

I've seen posts on Bass forums saying it will suit guitarists and posts on guitar forums saying it will suit bassists.

Traditionlists play both...

 

[walleye]

Depends which forum you go to.

I've seen posts on Bass forums saying it will suit guitarists and posts on guitar forums saying it will suit bassists.

Traditionlists play both...

sorry, can you elaborate? I'm yet to hear a 4-string bass player attack a 5-string bass player because it offends his inner-traditionalist, its an attitude im yet to hear. also this issue isnt restricted to the internet.... so its not just forums, although true, the internet is where all the angry people vent their inner a$% hole

 

[Jimmyb]

Sure, although it's less relevant to the number of strings.

Some people will always think that the pinacle of Bass guitar is a Precision, just as others who think that the development of the guitar ended with the release of the Stratocaster.

I've seen a few comments on the GameChanger on a few different forums. Some people think it's cool, some other don't. There have been threads on both guitar and bass forums with both positive and negative reactions.

I've never come across the 6/7 string thing, but I have heard comments raised when someone turned up with a 6 string bass.

 

[beej]

I agree with the initial post- in my experience, bass players are far more willing to accept change than guitar players. (Can you imagine guitar players with a Bongo guitar, for example?)

I wish I knew why. I also which I knew why it's always guitar players on forums that argue until the cows come home about the smallest BS details. I suspect a lot of it is ego (guys that never managed to get past the highs school "I'm the greatest" days).

With a little age and wisdom, some people start learning to think of themselves as musicians, not guitar/bass/whatever players. And with that comes opening your mind to new styles of music, approaches to the instrument, and technological changes that open up your creativity.

As to the subject of innovation ... bring it on. Let the market decide whether something sticks around or not.

 

[kompressaur]

With a little age and wisdom, some people start learning to think of themselves as musicians, not guitar/bass/whatever players. And with that comes opening your mind to new styles of music, approaches to the instrument, and technological changes that open up your creativity.

well said!

 

[OU812]

30 years on the Floyd Rose still has its fair share of critics even after all its success.

 

[mesavox]

I think a lot of it has to do with how the timbre of the guitar works and what people expect. There is a greater frequency response so smaller changes seem to affect nuances of tone, where as with bass, the tighter the better so changes tend to improve an area, and not affect so many others since the frequency range is so much less over all. Bass players are trying to find ways to separate themselves from the ranges of the guitar. They over lap a lot, and sometimes they just need to overlap. Since the bass is less in your face, those changes are more welcomed to bass players to help them stand apart from the guitar. Sort of the romance that developed around the guitar and how it established a lot of tonal dominance in blues, rock, and country music.

The other thing that I think happened is that as things got more and more dense and compressed in mixes of all styles of music, all the above became even more important to bass players over the years.

 

[Colin]

I agree, bass players are more open to change, innovation etc and I'm a guitar player! The game changer is truly unique and revolutionary without hurting the past. Imagine still driving a model T car and bagging on the people that drive 2011 models...

 

[walleye]

car drivers cant use the argument "car chasises age with time"