Bassism

Ignored by many, known by few, out comes from the back view: The bass player.

What may define a bass player may vary, and what comes to mind is also just as various. But despite these differences, most bass players share a common trait: being overlooked. Most bands are characterized by the frontmen guitars and singer, and thus the bassist becomes a small figure in the background, exemplified by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones:

See the OTHER guy with the guitar? That's a bassist.

What many fail to realize is how the band's ability to play is affected by the bassist; the rhythm section is the glue holding the band together. When the guitarist starts to go out of tempo, a solid bass player can bring them back to the correct time.

Unfortunately with the change in music in the present, the average listener may only become accustomed to the boring three-note beat of whatever pop-sensation is on radio: the same three-notes, over, and over, and over, endlessly cascading into the listeners' ignorant ears. Is the reason lack of skill? Or is it faulted to lack of creativity? Maybe one day, music can go back to the colorful melodies of songs such as Ramble On:

Notice the MOVING bassline: constantly changing patterns, never playing the same thing twice. This type of bassline exemplifies that bass player's ability to develop their own characteristic personality; something rarely seen in the mainstream radio.

The other thing that gets to me is how a bass player wouldn't simply get bored playing the same notes repetitively; when I play guitar, I try to vary the part as much as I can, otherwise it turns into a boring streak of nothingness.

Another great example of variety is "Hey Hey What Can I Do":

Notice how smoothly the guitar and bass go together (and mandolin, just because John Paul Jones can). Jones is often credited for never playing the same thing twice, and he lives up to his legacy quite well. With songs like this, I have to listen to it multiple times to absorb all the different parts, instead of simply listening to it once, with a singer (is a rapper a singer?) mindlessly babbling about how his or her life is seemingly worse than ours, even though he or she is rich and famous from making mostly synthetic noise (which they might call music).