Bass Playing Vocalists.

Most vocalists are just vocalists, or guitarists. It's rare for a band to have a vocalist that plays bass. [side note: drummer vocalists are even more rare]. I personally sing and play bass, though i wouldn't necessarily consider myself a vocalist....i'm a bassist who sings sometimes.

the following are successful bassists who sing either constant lead or lead in occasional full tracks. This is probably my first blog in which i mention some very contemporary bassists, and in which i mention bassists that play genres that i don't even like. however, we share the same instrument, and they are noteworthy for having the capacity to play the 4-string fretboard and sing simultaneously.




-Roger Waters, pink floyd
-Jack Bruce, Cream
-McCartney
-Les Claypool, Primus
-phil lynott, thin lizzy
-Geddy Lee, Rush
-Gene Simmons, kiss (many tracks)
-John Entwistle, The WHO (many tracks)
-Mark Hoppus, Blink 182 (many tracks) [i'm definitely stepping out my genre box by mentioning him]
-Sting
-Rick James
-Lemmy Kilmister, Motorhead
-Tom Araya, Slayer
-Tyson Ritter, the all-american rejects
-Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys





this last video is not my style at all, but i'm including it because claypool is so popular, and because this song contains bass chords. please note also that the guitarist is playing a baritone guitar. it's typical for heavy bands to play deeper, meatier music...and baritone guitar allows for that.

bass chords

few bassists play in bass chords....to be honest, you can be a successful bassist today and never even think about playing a chord. the best bassists from the '60s and '70s only occasionally used them.... Jack Bruce from cream, as far as i know, didn't, but Entwistle sometimes did (ex: octave splits in outro to Won't get fooled again...), and John Paul Jones sometimes did too (Four sticks from IV comes to mind).

they can be extremely pleasing to the ear, however. i use them in jamming sometimes, and they really add spice to a solo bass performance. check out the video below for an example of the sounds they can create.

Jack White and the bass octave

as i write this, i'm listening to stairway to heaven on vinyl. (don't worry though, i don't overplay it....it's only a couple of times per month).

but my mind is wandering from john paul jones, bonham, plant and page. wandering to a concert dvd that i watched last week. The White Stripes, live in London (if i remember the location right).

i'm stepping way outside the box, writing about jack white, seeing as he's a guitarist....when you hear bass on his albums, it's usually played on a guitar, shifted down into the bass octave.

but then i remember, that bass is not just an istrument, but the octave too. and when a guitarist can play in the bass range with an octave shifter, that's worth writing about.

so is any man who can nearly single-handedly put on a rock concert performance.

arguably the most memorable bassline of the new millenium was composed by jack white and used in Seven Nation Army. and it was played on guitar.

as a bassist, i salute you, jack white.