Was McCartney Embarrassed About Playing Bass?

There is a soundbite from "Live at the BBC" where the Beatles introduce
themselves and explain what instrument they play. Paul says "I play the
bass," but he hesitates for a while like he can't remember what

teranewsguy...

Sorry, I was piggybacking on your post, but referencing something someone
else had said.

instrument he plays, or that he wants to say more. Do you think he
really wanted to say, "I play the bass as well as guitar, piano, drums,
etc? He must have felt saying he played bass was a bit limiting.

motrcar...

Not the way he played it.
Rock on!

Scribbler...

I've heard that clip. They play it all the time on beatlesradio.com.
Paul was playing dumb there, as were the other Beatles. George says
"I...play...a...guitar" like a mentally challenged person. John says "I too
play a guitar," as if he's speaking to a child. Then he adds, "and
sometimes I play the fool."

JerinSmithco...

Exactly. This kind of revisionism, as purportrated by the first
poster, wrecks the internet research kids.

Bass was seen as being a very important instrument by the time
McCartney started rocking it. Charles Mingus and co. from the
'40's and '50's made sure of that.

waltbrad...

I see; first you tell us to go research the impact of the precision
bass and when we find different from what you want we are the "internet
research kids".

No. Bass was not seen as important in r&r. Perhaps it was in jazz, but
not that many kids were into jazz. McCartney etc. changed all that.

I've posted evidence. You've only posted your insults. Answer this:

If bass were so "Uber-cool" why was the bass relegated to Stu Sutcliffe
- a total novice?
If bass were so "Uber-cool" why did Lennon and Harrison force the role
onto McCartney?
If bass were so "Uber-cool" why didn't they jump at the chance at
playing the bass?

The answer is bass was seen as "square". The low status instrument of

jtowntreat...

You are so clearly not a musician!

a band.

waltbrad...

I think you are probably correct in this. Back in the day bass players
were stand ins and "squares" -- almost any body could play bass; that
is why they allowed Stu Sutcliffe to play bass in Germany. McCartney
took over bass after Sutcliffe left and I have come across comments
from McCartney where he admitted that he thought bass was originally
going to be a bit of a drag, until once he began playing the
instrument he began to see it's potential. McCartney made the bass
"cool", improved it's sound and brought it to prominence.

F Parella...

Yes, McCartney and James Jamerson of Motown. John Entwistle of the Who
was right behind them, followed by Jack Bruce, et cetera.

bottlebleu...

You'd have to go back to the influence of hard bob jazz musicians of
the late 50s and early 60s who brought bass into prominance as an
instrument. Charles Mingus would be the most prominent...and I think
McCartney has talked somewhere about listening to Mingus around
1965-66.

Certainly around that time you can start to hear McCartney use his bass
in a more interesting way, and one very similar to that used by Mingus
and other hard bop jazz musos. You can hear it coming through around
'Revolver' time - the bass work on 'I Want to Tell You' is one example
- and it's very obvious on the 'Paperback Writer' single.

F Parella...

Those are interesting ideas. I can hear some Motown in McCartney's
bass starting around Revolver, and some jazzy walking bass started
appearing in his lines at the (or a bit later?) too. Was Macca
influenced by Mingus? I'll have to look into that one...

Entwistle - who is brilliant - has more often cited internal
influences, such has having to compete with such show-offs in The
Who...

Runnnerr...

John's role in The Who was often to play the bass as the lead
instrument. I've been lucky enough to see The Who live several times,
but even on record, studio or live, he plays the bass as no other rock
and roll musician ever has.

MikeLawyr2...

Hear! Hear! "Thunderfingers" was brilliant. Not in the way
McCartney's bass playing was/is brilliant, but brilliant. Astoundingly
fast and "over the edge" in a way that made you think he was leaping
all over the place, even though his feet were always planted firmly on
the ground.

However, John Entwhistle was not the centerpiece of The Who. Neither
was the totally out-of-control Pete Townshend, whose brilliance as a
composer is universally acknowledged and whose stage presence is
legendary. Neither was Roger Daltrey, the model for all "screamer"
lead singers.

I saw The Who four times before 1978. I could not take my eyes off
Keith Moon. There was no one like him before, and no one like him
since.

F Parella...

Entwistle was totally unique, a true original. He was able to play all
those wild notes, but whatever he did, it fit beautifully into the
song. Some of the time, he was the song. When I watch the Moon
version of the Who, it's hard to say who the lead instrument is! Pete
and John were still great in later versions of the Who (esp. with Zak
on drums), but some of the excitement and unpredictability of it all
were lost without Moon.

Runnnerr...

The Who were truly unique in that they had four lead players all
playing at once. I once read an interview with Eric Clapton in which he
stated that Cream was like that- three guys soloing all at once. The
Who were different though in that while there were four lead players,
they played more cohesively as a unit without as much soloing as Cream.

F Parella...

Well, I think everyone else in the Who was so flamboant onstage,
Entwistle seemed to think it cooler to let his fingers be outspoken.
You're right, he didn't take in a lot of external bass influences. To
the end of his life, he'd say things like, "No, Jamerson was a proper
bass player, and I never had any intention of being a proper bassist."

waltbrad...

Sure, maybe we can go back to Bach's counterpoint also.

The problem with all of that is Bach didn't influence many
pre-pubescents drooling over a chance to be in a band. And neither
did Mingus or Jazz in general. Now you can object that there were
broader musical influences on those early rock musicians, but the
thread was really discussing McCartney's feelings about having to be
identified as a bass player and the status of bass players in rock and
roll bands. McCartney was delivering pretty good bass riffs in '64.
And he had a great deal to do with raising the stature of a bass
player.

But in the begining, he took it up because neither Lennon or Harrison
would take on the job.