B-52s - Rock Lobster
Harry Nilsson - Jump Into the Fire
He’s playing a Fender VI Bass. It’s basically a six-string guitar with a longer neck, tuned an octave lower than a regular guitar. It (and the Danelectro that inspired it) were popular in country music.
Well then I stand corrected.
I was sure that it was a Jazzmaster.
I’m a bass player, and I’ve never seen one of these.
Now I confused as to why he’s playing the rhythm on one of these.
I just can’t imagine what it would sound like.
Maybe for the visual as he plays to the song?
Sunshine of Your Love, Cream
Not exactly a bass solo so much as a dominant bass line.
I’d guess the that the idea behind the instrument was that it was a bass for guitarists. It’s tuned like a guitar - E-A-D-G-B-E, (compared to a modern 6-string bass’s tuning of B-E-A-D-G-C) but in the same octave as a bass guitar, and meant to be played like a guitar, with a pick. I notice the most of Glen’s chording in that video is done high on the neck, probably because chording lower would be muddy.
I suspect the instrument was intended mainly for soloing rather than chording. When I’ve heard these guitars in country song, I only hear them for the solo (unless, like Glen, the player does all his chording high on the neck).
Maxwell Murder by Rancid.
A whole bunch of songs by Cream, in fact. Crossroads, to name another.
Jack Bruce never considered the bass to be just a rhythm instrument.
Taste of Honey’s Boogie Oogie Oogie.
Indigo Girls, “Down by the River” from 1200 Curfews. It also has what can only be described as an…overtly sexual…cello solo, imho.
U2’s “Gloria”
New Order’s “Dreams Never End”
S.O.S. Band’s “Take Your Time (Do It Right)”
I love the mention of Level 42 in here… I remember Mark King telling the bass solo joke on a video of theirs I have. But honestly, I can’t think of a single that a non-obsessive fan would know that features a bass solo…