Zeuhl bassists...what on Kobaïa?!

Well, I'm a guitarist myself and I just love to freak on the bass. Though bass isn't the instrument to make swift moves easily, it is very satisfying if it does work and has a functional role.

Furthermore, though progressive rock is often focussed on keyboard and guitar (interplay), there are many genre's in which the bass-guitar plays a more important role. If you happen to like these genre's, jazz/fusion is a good example, it's very motivating to play the bass at high a level of musicianship. Magma is a band in which the rhythmical section is very important and it's logical that Vander succeeded in attracting some of France it's best bass-players.

My only question regarding the bass-guitarists of Magma is how they succeeded in playing these awfully quick and technical compositions of two hours without much brakes. I've seem them live and I couldn't find a single mistake in the whole concert. The Magma of today is definitely one of the most skilled groups of musicians out there.

As far as Top goes, I think he started out as a cellist. The bass stands out in Magma's music because the guitar is so unimportant most of the time.

Agree that Zeuhl is so much about the rhythms that it's not surprising.  And it's often very funky, and a great bass section is common to funk.

Edited by Logan - April 13 2011 at 15:58

Edited by DomValela - April 13 2011 at 19:28

DomValela wrote: And: sleeper wrote:  I'm guessing by this post that you consider bass to be just a rhythm instrument? If prog has shown us anything its that the bass guitar is a very versatile instrument, powering the low end of a piece of music whilst having the range to play melodies as well. With Zeuhl being so rhythm heavy it would be a surprise if these bands didnt have high quality bassists since its a style of music that is particularly suited to allowing the instrument to shine. You raise an excellent point. The bass playing of the prog legends like Squire, Rutherford and even Lake have indeed shown us that the bass can be used for much more than a low-register walking riff!! When I first got into Yes, I sometimes thought that some of Squire's parts were Steve Howe! But the bass has had "unconventional" use for a while. Look at John Entwhistle and John Paul Jones! They were making major breakthroughs with the bass in the mid-to-late 60's! (And The Who and Led Zeppelin are almost Non-Prog!) So you're right; the bass guitar has lots of interesting uses. Still, I find the "Magma bass playing technique" to be unique, and it "makes me wonder," so to speak.

Not just the legends, most bands that are considered prog feature a bassist that shows a high level of skill. You point out John Paul Jones and John Entwhistle, and there's no argument there, but as far as rock was concerned they were more the exception than the rule as far as prominant bass playing was concerned. In progs case, prominant bass playing is the norm, then and now, and the whole Zeuhl genre requires a very strong bassist to be of any effect. Vander seemed to be very good at  finding the best of the bunch as far as bassists was concerned.


Edited by sleeper - April 14 2011 at 14:14