drums are needed. they keep the beat and can have some of the best parts of a song. the bass and guitar are equal. for diffrent reasons.

bass keeps rhythm and can keep a melody. cause really when a guitar solo is going you cant headbang to it, they dont have much rhythm. you're headbanging to the bass, drums and maybe rhythm guitar and enjoying the solo.

guitar can keep a better melody and can do crazier stuff, but usually sounds like crap without a bass. ever hear the white stripes live? it's hollow. there's drumms and Jack going nutzo on his guitar with no low end to back him up (for songs like 7 nation army anyway)

so yeah.

:afro:

Drums. Without drums you have no ****ing beat.

yea but some songs have no drums just vocal and guitar and maybe like a piano

...also drums by themselves cant make a song id just beat like a beat playing for like 5 minutes with occassional fills......

would you turn up the drums so louad that you could barely hear theo ther intruments? no....

Tell that to bluegrass musicians. :rolleyes:

There are other means of providing percussion than just drums... Instruments like Banjo can be used because strumming the strings provides a very percussion like sound, and combine that with a good bassline and you have yourself a beat... Which is why a lot of bluegrass and folk bands don't require a drummer.

The creator of this thread is smoking.

In any band every member is key to making the music. You can't just choose anyone instrumentalist because the band could work around them if necessary.
Think of Mars Volta. half of their songs are pure instrumental. In which case the vocalist becomes unimportant.
Then think of groups like the Foo Fighters, where you have a drummer, a bassist and a guitarist. The band works as an entire unit where no one instrument is mor important than the other. Get rid of the drums and the songs sound a little hollow. take a way the guitar and you've got a song that's missing a rythm. Take a way the bass and the song sounds. . well it just wouldn't sound the same

Peace

yes i know hehehe

o yea without the bass the song would not be as "full"

i'm a bassist, and dude, we're insignificant.

depends on the stylel of music ie. classic rock its all about the guitar

You're wrong..there are a lot of classic rock bands where the bass is just as significant as the guitar..like Rush and Yes

What kinda classic rock are you not listening to?

No Pink Floyd song would be the same without the bass.
Rush too.
Or Styx.
I don't know if i should put Genesis in this caetgory but. . . Although I don't think you'd miss the bass too much for this particular band.

I'm sure there are others. . . .
This is gonna keep me up at night. . .

Peace

Bass is extremely important in Yes, maybe even more than guitar... A good example is Relayer... It's pure instrumental mayhem, but the importance of Squires bass playing on even the most guitar based songs is overlooked, his bass playing provides the structure to many Yes songs, they would be lost without it.

Led Zeppelin also wrote many bass heavy tunes... Page gets all the attention, but anyone who denies JPJs importance is a fool.

A lot of prog is very bass oriented.... A lot of funk and pop is too.

im just saying its not as significant cuz i dont got crazy bass riffs and solos going u got guitar riffs and it is mostly focused on the guitar.

Depends on the style... If it's punk rock or metal, than you are absolutely correct... But many genres such as jazz, soul, funk, reggae, hip hop, new wave and most prog put more emphasis on bass than guitar... Even blues and country would be nothing without the bass rhythms.

Anybody said Kazoo?

Sorry, there is obviously no answer to this question. Each band uses instruments in their own way, and on top of that, everybody takes something different from each song so you'd struggle to get a straight answer debating even one song.

mos def the bass... everybody relies on the pace of the bass :D

they all are equal to an extent
 

There is really no one most important instrument in a band. What makes a band a band is more than one person so it is needless to ask what the most important instrument is. You could vote something like drums but if you took all the rest of the instruments away than it wouldn't be called a band so its a stupid pole if you ask me and you shouldn't vote on this topic.

Where's the option for a computer? Listen to Idiot Pilot, you can make an entire band from just a computer and some synths and such.

Except for those who don't have bass... Though The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Doors, Sleater Kinney and Kraftwerk are the only bands i can think of who can pull if off.

But The Doors do have bass parts in many of their songs.

Any good song, and more importantly, good band, is more than the sum of it's parts. There really is no right answer.

organs

I will have to say Drums

Vocals/Lyrics without that theres really no song.

I listen to plenty of instrumentals. I'm guessing what you really meant is melody in general.

yea i know what your sayin. You know how bands usually tell stories in their lyrics. And then you listen to a song and theres no words. And its like..um okay. But
Yea as long as you have a guitar and drums u have somethin.

There is really no answer, in most rock bands though, the guitar probably is.
And yeah what boo boo said

"I'm a one man band"....

but seriously the tune comes from the g'tar or piano... you can have a great song without lyrics

I voted Piano / Keyboard since you can play almost anything with a key board :)

epic intrumentals ftw

Drums for sure!!

Except punk.

Puh-puh-ching.

Says the minutemen fan.

The drum, or at least the bass to keep time. Without those instruments, playing a song becomes 1000 times harder.

Not really, look at the majority of singer/songwriters. Plus, I find doing a song with just an acoustic guitar is way easier then with any other instruments too.

Accoustic does well when played solo, Electric not so much, it sounds empty without drums and bass to back it up.

Anyway, don't take offense Ethan, I'm not dissing punk bassists, but punk bassists are pretty low in the mix in general, it was just a stupid joke.

Unless we're talking ska bassist (those normally are in the front of the mix) who are pretty damn good.


EDIT: wow that looks dumb i know you're talking about punk and I'm just throwing ska in under punk (since it spawned from it)

I was making a jest also, I know what you meant.

I agree with bass when it comes to rock, when I've jammed with people the bass has helped me alot.

I would have to say guitar. While with drums you can make a really good beat, i believe there is no sound better in the world than an awesome guitar cranking out a wicked solo/rythm. I know many people would disagree, but thats just my opinion