Great Bass Quotes

I actually think that bass is probably the instrument
that has evolved in a quantum leap compared to other
instruments. It's the instrument that's evolved the most,
especially with how it's perceived.
     - Stanley Clarke

I wonder if I could make an electric bass.
     - Leo Fender

"The funk is in the gunk"    

     - James Jamerson, asked why he never cleaned
        or changed his strings.




"Funk to me is where I came from; it's the way I grew up.
It's even deeper than the music. It's the way we communicated;
actually the way we lived.
It's like ten people in a small room and it's 110 degrees
outside and there's no air conditioner. It's when the bill
collector comes and you don't have any money to pay.
It's when you've had as much as you can take and you can't
take no more. What do you do? Funk it. That's when you
grow into the funk.
     -  Bootsy Collins

Occasionally, when I run into a great bass backstage
at a festival I'll play a few notes on the low E string,
just to feel the instrument vibrate against my belly.

     -  Steve Swallow




None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds
he was the fat guy who always played at the back.
     - Paul McCartney



Jack Bruce, as soon as I saw him, it changed me.
I didn't even know what bass players did until I saw Cream.
     - Geezer Butler

The bass player's function, along with the drums,
is to be the engine that drives the car...
everything else is merely colours.
     - Suzi Quatro



With bass, especially bottom end, the vibration has
to happen on stage otherwise the feel is wrong.
This is why you can't scale the equipment down too far.
     - John Entwistle




The bass, no matter what kind of music you're playing,
it just enhances the sound and makes everything sound
more beautiful and full. When the bass stops, the bottom
kind of drops out of everything.
     - Charlie Haden

When you have an acoustic bass in the ensemble it really
changes the dynamic of the record because it kind of forces
everybody to play with a greater degree of sensitivity and
nuance because it just has a different kind of tone and
spectrum than the electric bass.
     - David Sanborn



I wasn't originally a bass player. I just found out
I was needed, because everyone wants to play guitar.
     - Tina Weymouth




I just think that playing bass, like punk rock bass
with a pick, wasn't meant to be done for 25 years.
     - Kim Gordon

I like a lot of bass players. I like a lot of tuba players too.
     - Rick Danko



Bass players are always the intellectual kind,
but nobody knows it.
     - Stanley Clarke










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