ON BASS
STEVE COOK
The State of Bass, 2010
There’s a great line in the classic ‘80s movie
Revenge of the Nerds when Poindexter, in a
cannabis-assisted moment of clarity, asks the
question, “Would you rather live in the ascendency of a civilization or during its decline?”
If you try and get too deep during a party…
well, it’s just a downer. But the question he
asks is a great one for sober discussion—
and one I present to you. I ask because this
month is my annual report on the State of
Bass: the trends, the upswings, downswings,
and the overall current situation of the instrument with the most power on stage but the
least recognition. (Yes, I said it…)
a bass somewhere and changed the game
yet again. All of a sudden, distorted bass was
everywhere. Then the ‘70s hit and bass players harnessed the envelope filter, and then the
chorus pedal. In the ‘80s, we started seeing
more and more products for bass, with players
moving from beside the kit to out in front of
the band—and in some cases, without a band
at all. We came a long way, baby.
Bass, electric or acoustic, really is a powerful
instrument in its own right. Let’s forget about
gear for a second and think about the effect it
has on a song. Put a dotted quarter note in the
straight-eight pattern, and you just changed
the song. You think a guitar player has that
power? Even if they play the sweetest of flat
9 chords, we can come along and play a note
underneath that can change the whole landscape. It’s the quiet storm that we possess in
our fingers. Use your powers for good, not evil!
Which brings us to the State of Bass today. I
am pretty excited about what’s going on in
our little world. Every NAMM show, something
new and fantastic comes out for us. The instru-
ment selection now is better than ever, with
a design and configuration for every single
I’m a child of the ‘80s. Growing up, I rarely
heard a bass that didn’t have chorus on it.
After I bought my first bass and amp, the
next thing I saved up for was a chorus pedal.
We go through phases in our playing, but
as we get older and wiser we find a respect
for the past, and must keep an eye on the
future. I love the fact that today so much
gear and so many sounds are available, and
that pop radio isn’t totally dictating the
tone of the day. There will always be influ-
ence from the music we grew up with and
enjoyed, but with today’s technology we’re
exposed to much more music than even ten
years ago. It drives us to learn and listen, and
in turn create new music.
I love the fact that today so much gear and
so many sounds are available, and that pop
radio isn’t totally dictating the tone of the day.
For years, the bass player was the not-so-talent-ed guitar player in the band who was made to
play bass because the band needed one. It was
sort of like being the last one picked for flag
football. Likewise, there were a limited number of gear options for bass players (not like
today—as you thumb the pages of this magazine, you’ll see an overwhelming amount of
gear that’s available). In the early days, upright
players couldn’t be heard, and the electric bass
guitar came along to help players finally get in
the mix—though our cause was not assisted
by the fact that ads said things like, “Easy for
guitar players to play” and “Less tiring than
playing old-style bass.” All of a sudden, there
was a fleet of players out there who didn’t
really understand what bass was about, and the
stereotype of the fat kid on bass was born.
player out there. That’s pretty encouraging,
because to me the sign of a great guitar is one
that you don’t want to put down. We have
everything from 3- to 16-string basses, and
while you may not see a 16-stringer on the
Grand Ole Opry, it still has a place. With so
many great luthiers out there, you can pretty
much have your dream bass made a reality.
With better basses also came better amps.
We’ve moved from tube to solid-state to a
hybrid to tube again. The solid-state amps
have shrunk to less than four pounds, and the
cabs are getting better (and lighter, too!). We
can now choose the sound we want—modern,
vintage, harsh, smooth—in a size suitable for
the arena or the bedroom, and even in the
colors we want! Built into the amps of today
are super-high-quality effects, studio-quality
DIs, and EQs to capture or cut every frequency
nuance you can think of. Beats having one tone
knob, even though some would argue that’s all
you need. It’s nice to have options.
To answer Poindexter’s question about living
during a civilization’s ascension or decline, it
doesn’t matter, as long as you know which
one you’re in. I’m confident that we are on
the rise on many fronts, and the climb continues. Our progress in gear, approach and
musicianship has grown by leaps and bounds
in the past few decades, and I can’t wait to
see what comes next. The world will always
love vintage gear and the way things “used
to be”—and we should. Without progress,
however, we can’t evolve. And without evolution the bass player is relegated to the back
of the stage (again). Let’s keep moving forward, and keep finding that tone!
Several players did hop on board the elec-
tric bandwagon early and started blazing a
trail for the rest of us. After a while, more
products came out, from different designs to
better amp options, and things really started
opening up. In a moment of historic wonder-
ment, someone used a guitar effect pedal on
Those purists who believe that we’re flooded
with too many options and too much gear
must’ve been Henry Ford fans… “You can
have any color Model T, as long as it’s black.”
Steve Coook
Steve has performed and recorded with a diverse range
of artists, from Edwin McCain to Randy Brecker to Course
of Nature. Steve is also an alumnus of Woodstock ‘ 99,
performing with his band King Konga. His current projects
include extensive touring and video production with Bucky
Covington (Lyric Street) and writing a popular weekly tour
journal on his website: shinybass.com.
