this from Kim Deal gives a piece of the puzzle:
<<Deal adopted a no-frills approach to bass playing: no complicated fills, no diversions from the form, and no changes. Her basslines were static, driving, and completely unaffected by what her bandmates were doing at any given time. One of the all-time greatest examples of Deal’s restrained style comes in the bass part for ‘Where Is My Mind?’, which Deal turns into a masterclass in self-control and minimalism.
Throughout the entire four minutes of the track, Deal never wavers from her bass line once. Always sticking to the root notes of the song’s chord progression, Deal doesn’t even adopt the rhythms that Santiago and Lovering are adding to the arrangement. She just plays quarter notes on the bass and that’s it – something that she rightly points out is actually incredibly difficult for so-called “real bass players”.
“But you can’t believe how some people cannot do that and will not do that. Especially ‘real bass players,'” Deal explains. “What they’ll do is… they want to help push every little movement, you know? They want to be involved. They won’t just peddle through something.” Deal attempts to play along to the same rhythms that Santiago’s guitar line plays, but it’s clear how unnecessary it is to the song’s overall impact>>
I don't play like Kim Deal, but her point is about playing exactly the right amount, which is often way less notes than many people do (particularly ex guitarists)... play less notes, in exactly the right place. a good drummer is pretty much essential for this.
recording really helps to learn this/brings home how important it is.... noone really notices any details of what the bass does live, but recorded along with drums it is the foundation of everything.... and that is when it gets really fun, as opposed to just being "easy guitar"
