Roger Waters as a Bassist

[mosespa]

No fierceness, intended, Danny. I'm just a little tired of hearing crap like "Well, Waters was the bass player, it says so on the album, so there's NO WAY Gilmour played any bass," and that's the whole justification for someone's argument.

If you listen closely enough to the music, you can tell when Gilmour is playing bass and when Waters is playing bass.

[Gem]

Interview by Matt Resnicoff
Rock Compact Disc magazine, Issue 3, September 1992


QUESTION: Was Roger an effective bassist back then?

DG: 'He had developed his own limited, or very simple style. He was never very keen on improving himself as a bass player and half the time I would play bass on the records because I would tend to do it quicker. Right back to those early records; I mean, at least half the bass on all recorded output is me anyway.'

QUESTION: This is not a widely acknowledged fact.

DG: 'Well, I think it's been said, but it's certainly not something we go around advertising. Rog used to come in and say, "Thank you very much" to me once in a while for winning him bass-playing polls.

QUESTION: Did you play the fretless bass on "Hey You"?

DG: 'Yeah. Hmm. Roger playing fretless bass? Please! (laughs)'

[Johnny Rotten]

Interview by Matt Resnicoff
Rock Compact Disc magazine, Issue 3, September 1992


QUESTION: Was Roger an effective bassist back then?

DG: 'He had developed his own limited, or very simple style. He was never very keen on improving himself as a bass player and half the time I would play bass on the records because I would tend to do it quicker. Right back to those early records; I mean, at least half the bass on all recorded output is me anyway.'

QUESTION: This is not a widely acknowledged fact.

DG: 'Well, I think it's been said, but it's certainly not something we go around advertising. Rog used to come in and say, "Thank you very much" to me once in a while for winning him bass-playing polls.

QUESTION: Did you play the fretless bass on "Hey You"?

DG: 'Yeah. Hmm. Roger playing fretless bass? Please! (laughs)'

He didnt play half of the bass lines. he played on 6 songs.
That is typical bullshit gilmour, he offered in his Mr., Pink Floyd times.

For example, Roger wrote lot of guitar lines which is why he got credits so much.

[mosespa]

He didnt play half of the bass lines. he played on 6 songs.

Justify how you know this, Johnny...if you even can.

Please explain how it is that you know for a fact that Gilmour played on six songs...no more, no less.

Remember...we're all waiting.

[Danny Moro]

The Rock CD interview remarks are very interesting. And the basic point sounds plausible enough. I wouldn't be at all surprised if DG could and did lay down some of Roger's parts more quickly and more accurately and, yes, with more feel, than Roger. But what Gilmour says leaves it fairly open who wrote the parts. (Perhaps not that open - it depends what is packed into the word 'style'.) I'm also inclined to agree that DG might occasionally exagerate or mis-remember certain details. So I wouldn't take the 'at least half' as cast iron evidence.

I'm interested in what mosespa has said about comparing the melodic style of bass lines on different songs with unequivocally DG composed material. (And of course, he's right about the important and highly relevant difference between vocal and instrumental melodic work.) I can't say I've done a comparison like this in any depth. I'd be interested to have an explanation of a couple of examples of the point here.

Like mosespa I'm also curious about the source of the claim of the 6 songs on which DG is supposed to have played bass (listed earlier in the thread). Is that claim made in an interview with DG or RW? Or is it based on some other source, e.g. an engineer?

Danny

[Johnny Rotten]

He didnt play half of the bass lines. he played on 6 songs.

Justify how you know this, Johnny...if you even can.

Please explain how it is that you know for a fact that Gilmour played on six songs...no more, no less.

Remember...we're all waiting.

now I also own PF Encyclopedia myself.
I learned this fact originally from a guy called RPITI who posted the same thing in this forum:

http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/for/v ... 26&start=0

actually, I think i forgot to mention that DG played bass on narrow way too.

The wall album, which roger played bass only on 3 songs is full of season musicians. I think they used the same guy who played bass in the wall concerts but gilmour only in Hey you and I truly doubt dave would have played bass on final cut either.

even you seem to knowledge those reasonable facts in that thread but now you dont seem to remember it. cut the smoking.

[pinknewbie]

Jeez everyone settle down, Roger Waters is a fine bass player, and he is renowned for it. Whether DG played somethings is irrelavent because of course he is going to be better, they simply wanted to record the best album they could.

So settle down and stop turning this into a Roger vs David thing.

[Chris Moise]

Does anyone else think that Syd might be playing the bass line of the studio Set the Controls with the bass strings of his telecaster?

[mosespa]

now I also own PF Encyclopedia myself.
I learned this fact originally from a guy called RPITI

While the PF Encyclopedia IS a useful and informative resource guide, I'm sure you will notice that it also offers the caveat of "Known Musicians Only..." just because someone isn't listed doesn't mean they didn't do anything.

A lot of songs only feature two or three names under a specific song and it's pretty obvious that more than two or three guys appear on the song.

RPITI is a guy whom I have a lot of respect for, but like Mr. Fitch, his information is not always the most dependable.

I DO recall acknowledging that Gilmour's claim of playing bass on half of everything Pink Floyd did that he was involved in might be a tad inflated...but I'm also sure that he played bass on more than six songs.

So...Johnny Rotten...how well do you know RPITI?

Just curious...I haven't heard from him in a while.

[Useful Idiot]

RPITI is a good guy, but he often goes out of his way to make DG look bad. Saying he played bass on only 6 songs sounds like the kind of thing he'd say.

But yeah, I think he's given up on the internet. I haven't seen him on MSN for several months now.

[Pugs on the Wing]

Not to change the subject, but I miss R.PITI on this forum.

[David Smith]

Ah RPITI, he would most certainly be in our hall of fame alongside Stiggs, Tommy and FVP... That is if we had one

[princessDungan74D]

he said he left because of me
hmmmm

[David Smith]

Maybe he's still here under a new name

[Pugs on the Wing]

Whatever happened to Tommy? He just seemed to disappear? I miss him too.