Standout bass lines in Opeth

I've always thought DeFarfalla is underapreciated. That crazy solo in Advent, after 9 minutes-wow! Not many bassists could pull that off, not rock bassists anyway.

So true. Advent's bass work as well as the rest of Morningrise slays all the rest.
 
I've always thought DeFarfalla is underapreciated. That crazy solo in Advent, after 9 minutes-wow! Not many bassists could pull that off, not rock bassists anyway.

Surely you don't mean the section between 9:30 and 9:50, do you?

Because that's kinda... easy, y'know? As in "sounds cool, but not really challenging to any competent rock bassist". I wouldn't even rate it a solo, call it a busy bass line instead.

(other than that, DeFarfalla keeps it together and has a pretty nice tone that cuts through the guitars. Me likey)
 
I cant believe you guys havent mentioned the chorus to Harlequin Forest

Absolutely, one of my favorite bass moments in any opeth song. Actually all of Ghost Reveries is exceptional. I feel sorry for people say they can't hear Martin's play, because its fantastic on just about every song. You need to learn to focus in on just his bass tone, try listening to a record only listening for martin's playing. Its a nice experience. Either that or get nicer headphones!
 
Surely you don't mean the section between 9:30 and 9:50, do you?

Because that's kinda... easy, y'know? As in "sounds cool, but not really challenging to any competent rock bassist". I wouldn't even rate it a solo, call it a busy bass line instead.

(other than that, DeFarfalla keeps it together and has a pretty nice tone that cuts through the guitars. Me likey)

Have you played it yourself?? If not then don't say it's easy. It's not just the licks, it's the musical complexity to it also. Btw, I also love Mendez's lines in "Harvest". I think the bass never sounded better there! And in Windowpane.:headbang:
 
Have you played it yourself?? If not then don't say it's easy. It's not just the licks, it's the musical complexity to it also.

It's my opinion, based on my experience after 15 years of amateur bass playing. These days between my job and my family (wife + toddler :) ) I have very little time for bass, but I'll see if I can dust it off (it literally has dust :( ) and try to figure out the part myself to see if I have to retract my previous statement. If I'm satisfied with my efforts, I might even record it and post it (for the whole forum to laugh at :D )


Btw, I also love Mendez's lines in "Harvest". I think the bass never sounded better there! And in Windowpane.:headbang:

Completely agree. I love Mendez's playing on Damnation... I think I'm lucky I met Opeth when I was older and over the "ZOMG THAT'S SUPER FAST THAT MEANS ITZ GOOOOOOOD" prejudices of my youth, so I could fully appreciate Martin's playing. Love his lines in Ghost Reveries too, and the nasal tone of the bridge pickup fits surprisingly well with the music (I usually had very bad results with using just the bridge pickup in a metal context, however I never was professionally recorded ;) )
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the bass lines in Ending Credits...... so damn groovy. Also I love the bass fills at the end heavy part in The Baying of the Hounds. There's SO many songs to choose from since they've usually been good about recording the bass so it's easy to hear.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the bass lines in Ending Credits...... so damn groovy. Also I love the bass fills at the end heavy part in The Baying of the Hounds. There's SO many songs to choose from since they've usually been good about recording the bass so it's easy to hear.

Well, we both said entire Damnation, so that pretty much covers it.;)
 
Have you played it yourself?? If not then don't say it's easy. It's not just the licks, it's the musical complexity to it also.

Ok, this fine saturday afternoon both the wife and the baby where asleep (and I wasn't, a minor miracle :)) so I gave it a try.

http://mp3upload.ca/files/12947/advent

(click on "Listen" to stream it without downloading)

I hope you'll forgive my poor intonation (keeping good fretless skills requires constant practice, which requires a lot of time, which I sure as hell don't have), but the idea is there.

I will then stand by my claim that it's easy (since I can play a passable version of it after ten minutes, and I hadn't touched the bass in several months), and also I'll go further and say that there's not a lot of complexity involved there - walking up and down a few notes from a scale.

It still does, however, sound cool :headbang:
 
Ok, this fine saturday afternoon both the wife and the baby where asleep (and I wasn't, a minor miracle :)) so I gave it a try.

http://mp3upload.ca/files/12947/advent

(click on "Listen" to stream it without downloading)

I hope you'll forgive my poor intonation (keeping good fretless skills requires constant practice, which requires a lot of time, which I sure as hell don't have), but the idea is there.

I will then stand by my claim that it's easy (since I can play a passable version of it after ten minutes, and I hadn't touched the bass in several months), and also I'll go further and say that there's not a lot of complexity involved there - walking up and down a few notes from a scale.

It still does, however, sound cool :headbang:

Almost, but not quite.;) The original part is a little faster. So, you haven't really proven that it is easy to play that, technically. Whatever the truth, it is first and foremost a cool bass part.:headbang:
 
Almost, but not quite.;) The original part is a little faster. So, you haven't really proven that it is easy to play that, technically. Whatever the truth, it is first and foremost a cool bass part.:headbang:

Of course "not quite" (as I was the first to admit :) ) but if a less-than-weekend warrior like me can produce a passable facsimile of it, I'm sure someone who actually practices daily (as in a real rock bass player) can nail it without much effort.

All in all, the only thing we've proven is that it's damn cool :headbang:
 
Almost, but not quite.;) The original part is a little faster. So, you haven't really proven that it is easy to play that, technically. Whatever the truth, it is first and foremost a cool bass part.:headbang:

personally, considering the guy hasn't played in a long time, he played it pretty nicely. a few bpm slow, maybe - I haven't got the cd with me to compare. and a bit sloppy, maybe, since fretless intonation is a bitch is get back into after not touching it. but it's really not a hard part.