Nice Dog, now that 7 string guitar needs to get added to the guitar Harem too!!
Good bass lines are one of the most important parts of the song, to drive the rhythm along. Lock it with the drums and rhythm guitar and the song is there, leads are just the icing on the cake.
I'll probably get kicked out of the guitar players' union, but I think the bass is the most underrated instrument in the band. The drums and bass are the cake, and the guitars, keys and whatever else are the icing.
Of course, everybody remembers the icing - unless the cake sucks.
you can go for a long time loving a song without focusing in on how good the bass is, i wonder how non-musicians feel/think about the great songs, if anything
and then one day focus in on the bass and realize how it's really well crafted and is about 1/2 the reason for the song's success.
Have you just noticed this? Every instrument is just as important as every other!
Bass is just as important as guitar, piano, accordian, triangle - whatever!