Every band needs a bassist imo, add quite a bit to the bottom end. Oh yeah and it unfair on the drummer if there is not bassist. Who are they going to hang out with?

Isn't a bass player the missing link between a musician and a drummer?

Tim - Are you implying that bassists and drummers aren't musicians? Do you only hold the front man (or woman) in this esteemed light?

Jim - I was amazed when I found out that The White Stripes were bass-less wonders -- I hadn't even realized it from the songs I had heard at that point.

Then I realized there are several strong examples of musical acts that drop a supposedly vital element, yet thrived nonetheless. The Doors, for example, eschewed a bass in favor of Ray Manzarak's glorious organ play. And more recently, Ben Folds Five did the unthinkable and worked the guitar right out of a rock and pop act, and have put out several great albums in the process.

I think the key is that there are no Ten Commandments in music, and if there are, they're made to be broken.

No, just a gratuitous lame drummer joke I've heard most of these from my brother, who was once in a local band that had a drummer who exactly fitted every drummer stereotype (and was a hopelessly bad drummer as well).

Don't forget the Bill Bruford/Michiel Borstlap duo.

http://www.billbruford.com/news.html

Or how about the Bissionette Bros? An awesome rythmn section if there every wants one.

As one drummer told me, the reason to have a bassist in the band is so there is someone who him to take the piss out of...course the bassist will say that is reason to have a drummer.

I have to admit to not really liking rock bands with no bass. I love the sound of a bass keeping the beat...it thickens up the bottom end and shows you were the song is going.

The keyboard instead of guitar is not that unusual...

Eric I think Tim was being funny. Best drummer joke.

How can you tell there is a drum at the stage door?

A: The knocking isn't in time and he doesn't know when to come in...

Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers are
the greatest bassless band ever.It isn't
even missed.

On The Doors tracks w/o bass, Manzarek
did a Jimmy Smith type thing and filled
in the bottom end with foot pedal work.

Of course The Doors sounded better with
a bass IMO. Thinking particularly of the
bass line on L.A Woman. Which was played
by Jerry Scheff the bassist from Elvis'
TCB Band.

A band can be perfectly successful without a bassist, but I think the issue is not that bands like the White Stripes don't have a bassist, it's that they aren't even filling that role with something else - organ, piano, whatever. The Stripes have a raw quality that can be appealing for a while, but I found the sound grew very tiresome pretty quickly. Personally, I like hearing the interplay and connection between bassists and drummers.

Make all the jokes you want about drummers, but a bad drummer can ruin a band (which is what happened with the White Stripes for me - I just couldn't take Meg's cringe-inducing, wandering sense, or lack thereof, of rhythm.)

hey, this post lead me to discover that the very great Bruford/Moraz recording, Music For Piano and Drums, can be had from the Bill Bruford website.

i have an ancient cassette copy of the album and occasionally check back to see if it's available on amazon. it currently is but only as an import. a commenter bitched about the price and related the bruford website info.

dang, sometimes this internet thing is pretty cool.

Don't forget to check your local library. That's where I discovered my first Black Keys cd. Since then they've bought every one. If your library doesn't have it - ask them to buy it. Libraries are objective by law.

Jk

One word of warning...if your band's bassist start eyeing the Stick you need to really worry :D

If you've ever heard what Tony Levin can do with The STick, you'd eat those words.

Some of the best bassists are those that play least, while other bands would be nowhere without the bass, imagine MOtown ithout Jamerson, imagine just about every new wave record between '80 to '89, you gotta have it.

Some bands don't NEED a bass player, I am a bassist who loves the White Stripes, and bass would add nothing more than a bottom end to Jack's 3 chord thrashing (not that his thrashing is a bad thing in any way).

THanks for the tip on the Black KEys, I will have to look them up.

I have heard Tony Levin with the Stick. The gag I hear from bassists is that he is the only one who can actually play the bloody thing. Probably over-stating a wee bit, but I do find it amusing.

the band does have a bass player..

for example.. in the song (hardest button 2 button) you can easily hear the bass riff which plays during the drum solos. which also is played at the same time the main guitar riff is played. so its either added into the trak for the effect or they have a secret bass player. I'm guessing its that red haired girl that is in a couple of their music videos.

No, the White Stripes do not have a bassist. It's a two-person band. Two minutes of searching on the internet would inform you.

This is three years late, but as for Tony Levin, he's like the figurehead for Stick players, but there are many other, better players. Sean Malone, of Cynic, Gordian Knot, and his own solo material, is simply incredible. Trey Gunn is probably the most adventurous player (he used to play Stick but plays Warr Guitar now, but the principle is the same.)

the stripes actually record some of their songs with basslines, and for their live shows jack actually uses a pedal which adds another lower-octave layer to his guitar which sounds just like bass

so dont tell me u dont need bass players... they are the link between the guitar and the drums..

listen to muse and tell me if u still think that bassists aren't musicians