I know some of the posters above have said similar stuff, but in most mainstream genre bands (pop, rock, alternative, metal) the bass guitar is used to set the tempo for the rest of the players, and form the basis for the song. Few bands actually make use of the bass as an instrument as part of the song, such as a bass guitar solo.
Source: a close friend who was in a band.
In some bands like Aerosmith, that also employ a second guitar player to play rhythm guitar, the bass guitar is almost completely indistinguishable from the rest of the song.
There are some notable exceptions to this though.
The late Cliff Burton of Metallica created some KILLER bass guitar solos.
It's because of Burton that if I was ever going to learn to play an instrument, it would be the bass guitar.
Don't ever think that the bass guitar is unnecessary, good bass players are actually invaluable for a band and surprisingly rare.
Last edited by Wpnfire; 03-07-2014 at 02:00 PM.
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