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I’ve studied and performed music on guitar for 45 years.Updated 6mo
Why didn’t The Doors have a bass player?
There are two interpretations of this question:
1) Why did the Doors have no bass player? OR
2) Why did the Doors have no musician dedicated to playing bass?
To the first question, the Doors were unique among the classic rock bands in that their lineup did not include a bass-only musician (e.g., electric bass guitarist). Playing live, keyboardist Ray Manzarek used his right hand to play organ, and his left hand to play bass lines on a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass – the lower left octaves of a standard eighty-eight note piano. While unique, this configuration is not without precedent.
The Doors were a rock version of the jazz organ trio – a band led by an organist who plays bass lines with their left hand on the low notes of their instrument (or with their foot via bass pedals). Covering bass as well as harmony and melody, the jazz organist needs only a drummer for percussion – their kick drum accenting keyboard bass notes. The third player can be a saxophone or other horn soloist to add color, or a guitarist who can support the organist with chords as well as play solos. This keyboard/guitar/drums trio is the Doors instrumental lineup.
While the jazz organist often played bass and melody/harmony on the same instrument, Manzarek used a separate piano bass for a few reasons. The piano bass provided more punch to the low end than his electric organ’s bass register could provide. But even had he principally played a full electric piano a separate bass instrument was needed. Electrified bass instruments need higher wattage amplification than other (treble) instruments for rock music. Manzarek used separate amplifiers as well as separate instruments to handle his organ and bass double-duty with the Doors.
It is the second question that gets to the heart of the Doors sound, and the reception to their music.
Before the Doors, Ray Manzarek played in a band called Rick and the Ravens, a typical Southern California surf/frat party group which included Ray’s brothers – Ray incidentally was the lead vocalist. After that group disbanded, Ray looked to form another group, which he built around the lyrics and vocal styling of Jim Morrison, whom he first met as a fellow film student at UCLA. The band recruited John Densmore as their drummer, and Robby Krieger as a guitarist. They developed their songs in this lineup with Manzarek initially providing bass and harmony on the same electric organ. In the meantime, they auditioned electric bass players.
What Manzarek and the Doors found is that their music and lyrics gave the band a different vibe than the typical LA rock bands. The mood was darker, more dramatic, and had a hypnotic, trance-like quality which eventually drew in their fan base. Key to that quality was the simple and repetitive bass which rooted the music, and allowed Ray’s right hand, as well as John and Robby, to play more freely.
The auditioning bassists would come in and play walking bass lines and improvisation that turned the Doors back into a rhythm and blues group reminiscent of Rick and the Ravens. For that reason, Manzarek and the Doors determined the best course of action was to stick with Ray’s left hand playing bass, but with a separate keyboard bass instrument and amplification.
For studio recordings, the Doors and their producers use session electric bass players. Their roles in the recording, particularly with the first few albums, were to simply double up, note for note, whatever Ray was playing with his left hand.
The Doors in performance in 1967. Ray Manzarek is playing his iconic keyboard stack (Fender Piano Bass on top of his electric organ), each keyboard running into a separate amplifier.
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