not really....i've seen some great ones and some very bad ones. a lot depends on the genre of music as well. generally speaking rock bass players are really not required or expected or even wanted to play very complicated lines of music. so it's kind of hard to really tell who the great ones are in that genre. of course jazz and jazz fusion is a completely different story,but most of the time you are going to see some really great players in that genre. but i can definately tell the difference between a geddy lee(rush) and a bobby doll(poison)......and i would say that cliff burton was definately a better bassist than say,...gene simmons...

sorta. some very crappy players get more attention then pro players. and also vice versa. In the end it all evens out

I think that bass playing in general is underrated.

In my area there are a lot of bands. There are a lot of guitar players, a lot of drummers and a lot if singers. But there are not enough good bass players to go around. A lot of bands are trying to secretly recruit bass players from other bands.

When we lost our bass player last summer, we tried to convince one from another band to join ours. I actually got a death threat on the phone.

A few days later I got a call from a 22 year old(we are in our 40's) He said he could play bass but had never played in a band before and he was self taught. We told him to come to band practice and we would listen to him. We did not expect much and if he could stay in key and stay in time he was in.

This kid blew us away. He could play anything and everything, rock, metal, blues, country, jazz, funk and even bluegrass. He is still with us and I think we have the best bass player in town. I know because everybody is trying to steal him from us. I expect he will leave us sometime next year but not for another local band but for bigger and better things. He is that good.

I may have gotten off point a little but if you are a bass player and having trouble finding work, come to Charleston SC, put an ad on the local newspaper and you will be in a band by the end of the week.

agreed with jonny cox, bass playing in general is underrated. never enough bass players going around because it's not glamerous, but when you record a mix, mute the bass track then listen to it. the bass is ESSENTIAL!

From the studio perspective, we get very FEW really good bass players. Most of the problem lies in consistancy of play. This is why you will typically see bass compressed heavily. Even good players struggle with getting even tone. One of the biggest problems is that they're playing one note at a time, not chords, so it's impossible to hide small mistakes, differences in volume from note to note, etc.

Like any other instrument, a good player makes it shine. Remember that when you're listening to recordings, in MOST cases, you're hearing what the engineer did to the bass, more than what the bass player did to the bass. Without actually speaking to the recording engineer, or taking a look at live rig settings for compression, it's difficult to rate a bass player on play alone. You also need to consider his overall creativity as part of his playing as well, and consistancy cut to cut. It's not an easy gig being a bass player, but, as dcunning30 pointed out, bass is essential to most compositions.

I pretty much agree with what everyone here has said so far, but I'd like to add my female perspective. As bachmirage stated, in general, rock bass players aren't really required to play very complicated lines at all. Because of this, you do see a lot of crappy musician wanna-be's who end up playing bass just so they can be in a band. (think Sid Vicious) Unfortunately, too, women who may be awesome guitarists end up playing bass in a band so as not to outshine their male counterparts. (unless, of course, it's an all-girl band, and so far, personally, I've never been in an all-girl band)

So unfortunately, it has become somewhat of a stereotype for a heavy rockin' mostly all-male band to have a smokin' hot female bass player as eye-candy, and not really as someone who is seen as a serious musician. When I was in high school and trying to get in a band, even though I played guitar, the guys almost always wanted me to play bass instead. I kind of resented that at first, but I was young & really wanted to be in a band, and I didn't really have the confidence to speak out about it (or confidence in my guitar-playing skills), so I went along with it.

What I found over time, however, was that I just really love the bass. I love the way it sounds, I love the way it feels, and I love the way it looks. Those stereotypes may still be there, but I'm not going to let it stop me from being the best bass player I can be because it makes me happy, and I think I've finally reached a point where I don't really care what other people think of me or my playing. (I just need to take it to the next level & get back into playing in a band...but that's another story)

But back to the original topic. Yes, I do think a lot of bass players are underrated, especially in rock, but the difference between a really good bass player and a mediocre bass player makes all the difference in the world to the over-all sound. I haven't had the opportunity to try recording in a professional studio setting, so I hope if that opportunity ever presents itself to me I have someone kind like Xark adjusting the suck fader for me. :-)

I think that as bass guitar is a part of the rhythmn section, it isnt as in ya face as say guitar or vocal but without it its a no go. there are great complex bass playing rockers out there look at john entwistle billy sheehan scott tunes chris squire mike rutherford and john paul jones from the mighty zep. its not as apparent nowadays because the musicianship flag is not being flown to the extent it was in the 70s and 80s,

I would say, in my own opinion, that the bass guitar and bass playing is more under-appreciated rather than underrated, but underrated is another good way to describe it.

I have seen my share of great bass players on the great video mecca, YouTube. I know I'm kinda wavering around the real question here, but I don't think it's fair that many of these exceptional players aren't as in the limelight as these pop-rock bands that can do so much as play three chords over and over again, sing the exact same lyrics over and over again, and gain millions from it. The bass players don't even have to use much effort at all; just playing the roots over and over again made them famous. If you ask me, the great bass players deserve the fame and the money, not these no-talent wanna-be's. But of course, people want something they can listen to and not feel bombarded, something easy and simple and not very hard to understand. That's why many musicians in general have hard times, because their abilities aren't as appreciated as others.

As for bass in general, many people don't appreciate it or even take a passing glance at it because it's proven that the guitar shines more than the bass does. And why shouldn't it? The bass line in most music is solely for the accompaniment. Rarely does the bass or the low-toned instruments in general gain the melody or even the melody, and this can be proven with a look back in music history. Ensemble and orchestral music always leaves the light to the violinist, or the trumpeter, etc., but almost never the baritone, or the tuba. There are several exceptions, of course, but it's not considered mainstream. Rap music heavily relies on the bassline, but it's never anything technical, and it's almost always synthed in.

In metal, most bass players have more skill than the lighter genres, but even metal has a hard time finding technical bass players. As I stated previously, metal requires a little more skill, but all in all, the bassist is still playing the roots and accompanying. However, in the self-proclaimed "Math metal" (due to the intricacies of their music) band Mudvayne, bassist Ryan Martinie has real skill. Metallica's new bassist Robert Trujillo is not as technical, but is very fast; just watch his fingers. I could go on for a little while, but you get my point.

i actually think bass is really original. even people who aren't into rock know what a bass guitar is. if you tell someone (out of the rock world), that you play guitar, its nothing special, but if you tell them you play bass, now that will get some attention.
when i 1st took up guitar, random people were telling me to try out bass, and they didn't even like rock, or know about guitars.

But on the other hand, in a live performance, people don't admire the bass player as much as they admire the rhythm and lead players.

i guess bass players are allot more appreciated once you understand guitars. if not, its nothing special. bass is harder than people think, but until you try it yourself, or learn the art of bass, no one appreciated it enough.

i do, some don't. depends on the person

As odd as it sounds, I agree with pretty much every opinion here. It's true that there are many people who pick up the bass because there's not really a need to memorize chords. In short, songs can be "half-assed" by a complete newb, no sweat.

Taking a look at a few current players (some will agree, others will obviously disagree): Ben Kenney of Incubus, Fieldy of Korn and Les Claypool (of anything he does). All three have taken their instrument very seriously to a point where most people would almost recognize them as household names... and that's just from one genre of music. I could go on and on about the Jaco Pastorius's of the world, or the Billy Sheehans, etc., but the fact of the matter is that those guys made technical music out of the bass to a point where it wasn't conducive to a proper band atmosphere. Phenominal talent, truly.

When I strap on my bass, however, I'm looking to play and have fun. I'm not out to make the most technical music possible. I've always considered two things very important in musicians: stage presence and faithfulness to the original material. To push my meaning, I won't record a single note until I'm comfortable that I can play it moving around like I would in front of an audience. Sure, I could simplify a walking bass line while playing live, but then the faithfulness to the original music just isn't there.

I've gotten off topic, but the point of fact is that bassists are always in the background intentionally. We know that if we step out in a major way (Claypool, Pastorius, Sheehan) it becomes exceedingly difficult to do anything BUT a solo career... and while I think that stuff is great, it's not fun... at least for me.

I don't know, I could be way off base here.

The tough thing about bass is that more than many of the other instruments it is "feel" oriented. Even the great of the great rock bass players are not always very spectacular in the notes they choose or their technical skill. Their greatness comes from the fact that they have just an great feel for the band they are in. Bass players really hold the mix together.

Bass is underrated, even though it is important to a band. Everyone wants to play guitar or sing, but no one wan't to play bass...it isn't as flashy, I guess.