I thought this fretless piccolo bass solo was interesting. Thought you bass players and fusion afficionados might enjoy it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKTRAwHanvM

Interesting. I was more interested in the groove the other bassist was playing.

I agree with Dave. It was a nice solo, but the other bass and the rhythm guitar were more interesting to me.
Now having said that, I have to ask: What's the point?
Playing the way he did, why not just use a regular electric guitar? I mean, I do appreciate high bass notes the way Scott Ambush plays on songs like On Liberty Road, The River Between and Beyond the Rain, and I've heard other bassists play that way as well - Clarke, Tisdale, Manson, East, etc. It just seems the high range of the piccolo defeats the purpose of calling it a bass.
There's a song Stanley Clarke did with George Duke (Clarke/Duke Project) called Touch and Go. When Maynard Ferguson's band covered it, Clarke contributed a piccolo bass solo that for the life of me sounds like an electric guitar.

And how about Brian Brombergs 'electric bass' cd's?! Zero guitars on them! It's a cool concept and I can appreciate it all. Just not my cup of tea. I'm a bassist and I like playing the 'low' notes.

Regarding Jazzwriter:


"Now having said that, I have to ask: What's the point?" [why not just use a guitar]

Interesting, Marcus Miller said the same thing when I asked him if he had any interest in piccolo, since at the time I'd never heard him play it on any of his solo CD's.

As counterpoint I have a couple reasons for playing a piccolo bass rather than a guitar. Based on my experience playing one a while ago.

1. The piccolo feels more like a bass when I play it with my fingers than a guitar, so it's an easier instrument to play for a dyed-in-the-wool bass player.

2. I still think the piccolo has a unique sound over a guitar --with all the distortion on the solo that started this thread, it was hard to hear it, but guys like Wyman Tisdale have made it almost a signature sound for them, and so did Stanley Clarke.

3. A fretless piccolo is easier to play in tune than a fretless guitar, and can also provide a unique sound if you don't cover it up with distortion and other effects.

Even Pat Metheny admitted on his website in a Q&A that he finds it really hard to play a fretless guitar in tune --that's why he uses it sparingly. A piccolo bass, with its wider fret spacings makes it a lot more accurate to play.

I admit to liking Wayman and Stanley's use of it but I have no personal desire to play one. I'm not a solo type of player. I much prefer playing within the confines of an ensemble and holding down the groove!

Thanks, bward. That helps a lot.

No problem JW.

DW Bass -- I guess I'm schizophrenic musically. I started out on piano which I studied classically for 8 years, and wrote theory and did practical examinations through the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Then I quit piano and switched to guitar, and when I ended up in a band with two guitarists, and the other guy was better than me, and we couldn't find a decent bass player, I switched to bass, which became my main instrument.

So I still play guitar a lot, and I own an Ibanez hollowbody that looks a lot like Pat Metheny's Ibanez hollowbody, except it's red and has inlays on the neck.

Over the years I've played both guitar and bass in bands, although I'm by far a better bass player. I also have an Ovation Standard Balladeer accoustic guitar I play a lot. And funny thing -- I rarely ever use a pick even when playing the guitar or even guitar lead -- people always offer me a pick when I pick up a guitar and I always refuse because of the bass player in me

And so, the piccolo bass is actually quite interesting to me --I have the background in playing lead and chords on guitar, yet the orientation of a bass player. I also get a bit frustrated when soloing on my 4 string fretless because I always run out of notes on the high end, and am forced to go beyond the upper 12th fret where it's harder to play in tune.

So, my next bass project (after the other two bass projects in front of me right now) is to take a Peavey Active 6-String I bought for almost nothing, and make it 30" scale and fretless, and then string it up EADGCF -- that way it will have some piccolo range and also all the low end= no switching basses in the middle of a song.

Which has me wondering musicians -- how did you get started in music, and how did you land on your "main" instrument if you have one?