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Bass is Just Living Its Adolescence… Let’s Evolve! by Igor Saavedra
How many times have you heard phrases like “This is a Classic Bass Technique”, “I like classic basses”, “Electric Bass Tradition”, and a hundred more phrases that are spread over the million articles and notes that have been written in relation with our beloved instrument?
It is important to say that I think that all these quotes are well inspired, and have been intended to show and to express respect for our instrument and its evolution. But if we analyze them more profoundly, they become completely inaccurate.
Paul Tutmarc was in my opinion the creator of the very first Electric Bass. He began our instrument’s history in 1934, building the fretted 30″ scale Audiovox #736 and started to commercialize it on 1935. So, if mathematics doesn’t lie, this year, 2011, the Electric Bass is 77 years old.
Some people prefer to count from the construction of the very first Fender 34″ standard scale fretted Bass, which on 1950 was the first widely commercialized Bass in history. I think we have to be fair with Mr. Tutmarc and give him the deserved credit for being the real inventor of the fretted, electric, solid body and “shoulder strapped” Bass.
Electric Bass and Electric Bassists started the evolution process since those years, merging from the shadows of sound and the dark corners of the stages, and slowly achieving its deserved place on the music scene. Since Jaco, Electric Bass finally proved that it was also capable of being a consistent and convincing solo instrument.
Within the fundamental and standard band/group instruments, Electric Bass is the youngest of them all. Drum Sets, Electric Guitars and Keyboards started their evolution many years before our instrument, and are still evolving. But the most important aspect to mention is that all those instruments, even though they have been experiencing all the technological advances throughout the years like the Electric Bass, have maintained their exact role and function within the band context, and this is exactly how the Electric Bass differentiates itself and stands apart from the others. If we compare what Electric Bass used to be 77 years ago with what it is now in terms of technique, function, sound, role, gravitation, and many more aspects, the differences are outstanding. The reason for this constant and accelerated evolution is very simple indeed, and responds proportionally to the longevity of the Electric Bass.
It would be wiser avoiding terms like “Tradition”, “Classic”, and “Correct”, and changing them for terms like “Commonly”, “Originally”, and “Conventionally”, etc. Those other terms help in promoting involution, fundamentalism and orthodox behaviors that damage creativity, change and the achieving and consolidation of an identity for our instrument…
The most toxic aspect comes when these subliminal ideas contaminate critics, bassists, teachers, and future teachers that will be always assuming that there’s already an “Established Bass Truth”, that they are somehow commissioned to preserve, like in Classic Piano for example which has hundreds of years of evolution, enough time to be related with terms like “Classic” and “Tradition”, (also debatable).
You’ll find people trying to force the application of Double Bass techniques and studies on the Electric Bass, objecting fingerings, sweeping, tapping, chords, number of strings, sound, and soloist role…eventually, refusing to accept any evolution related with the so called “Classicism” of the instrument. And even mort dangerous, classifying every evolution outside from what they consider to be the “Electric Bass Context”
e.g.: I play an 8 string Bass, so “That’s not a Bass”, Ergo: “I’m not a Bass Player.”
I’ve said it many times…, and maybe it’s a good occasion to repeat it:
“In my opinion, the very essence of the Electric Bass & Electric Bass Playing relays just on the execution concept, and remains intact unless you change it’s fundamental role in music… you can add new roles, but not change the fundamental one”.
See you on the next my friends…, please feel free to comment and share..!!
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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