Makestation

I grew up listening to bands like Rush, Triump, and so forth. Progressive rock was always a huge influence for me. In most of these bands, the bass plays a very predominent role and is extremely forthcoming in the mix. This contrasts heavily with more pop-oriented music where the bass guitar is taking a back seat, staying out of the way of the more predominent instruments. 

My personal feeling is that it's a waste if the bass guitar isn't being used to its full potential. It's an awesome instrument (and also is my favorite instrument to play). Guitarists tend to play it like a guitar, which isn't quite the way to go about it. Yes, chords are neat, but use them well. Use them like a bass player, play on the on-beat instead of the offbeat, and use it to fill some sonic space that would otherwise have to be filled by other instruments. 

And of course, if you have a JBL speaker (those of you who do, you know what I mean), the low end frequencies sound fantastic. Music takes a whole new meaning with a good sound system.

I'll keep the bass thanks.

HIT ME WITH THAT BASS!

As long as it's not like Metallica's producers who went and downmixed the bass until you couldn't hear it...

as someone who plays bass, and guitar, I completely agree darth.

then again, I've been known to adlib bass when playing with other people using a mixture of both.

sometimes though chords sound great on bass.

I love chords on bass (as long as they are played on the on-beat instead of the off-beat). That's the biggest mistake I hear guitar players make on a bass. They play everything on the off-beat, while the drums are doing everything on the on-beat.

The bass is such a beautiful instrument. Power cords sound great on a bass, and I wish more players used them.