Bilbo

I had several books but they were almost all written for piano and the bass parts rarely bore any relationship to what we heard on the records. Those box guitar chords were also useless and were all first position chords so the voicings were useless.

Someone asked for some Tony Levin so I looked up his discography and came up with this. I didn't know he did this. the whole transcription took 10 minutes. Levin's complete bass part from '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover' from the 1975 Paul Simon album, 'Still Crazy After All These Years'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/50-ways-to-leave-your-lover-paul-simon/

Remember, these tunes are just so you can access a transcription of the single tune you are learning. They are here as source material for developing your reading chops. I remember when I was a kid trying to learn to read music (1970s), there was nothing to practice on other than books that had 'Campdown Races' and 'Oh My Darling Clementine' as practice material. Even the books like Simandl had nothing that us Rockers could get excited about and all the good stuff you just had to find your way as best as you could. If you live in a rural Welsh town like some of us, there was no mentoring - you were pretty much on your own. Now you have BilbosBassBites!

A lovely light Bossa that is a very easy read a, because there aren't many notes but also, b. because the tempo is very slow. This is the complete Ruben Rodriguez bass part for the tune 'Never Let Me Go' from the 2014 Steve Khan album, 'Subtext'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/never-let-me-go-steve-khan/

Another one of those laid back Steve Morse tunes, this is 'Cool Wind, Green Hills' from Morse's 2004 album, 'Major Impacts 2'. Easy one to read and to play. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/cool-wind-green-hills-steve-morse-band/

Another album that slipped me by was John Patitucci's 2019 solo bass album, 'Soul Of The Bass'. This is my thoughts on the title track. It is played very loosely and out of time so you can take real liberties with the phrasing all of the way through. It's not at all difficult to play but, to make it sound musical, that's the art of it. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/soul-of-the-bass-john-patitucci/

I know. I can't help myself. This chart is Anthony Jackson playing a unison head with Steve Khan on the Ornette Coleman tune 'Blues Connotation' from the 2011 Khan album, 'Parting Shot'. It's a little bit of a roast, if I am honest. The chart is the head only. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/blues-connotation-steve-kahn/

A special request from a member on Talkbass, this is the complete Ray Brown performance of 'Have You Met Miss Jones' from the 1964 Oscar Peterson Trio record 'We Get Requests'. So do we, Oscar. So do we. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/have-you-met-miss-jones-oscar-peterson-trio/

So, all the Jacob Collier videos, then.....

I have done 90 transcriptions in 73 days. Bloody lunatic.

Someone mentioned this somewhere here.... 'Sometime World' from the Wishbone Ash album 'Argus'. 1972 - before my time. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/sometime-world-wishbone-ash/

More Jeff Berlin - this one is a complete transcription of his tune tune 'Everybody Knows You When You're Up And In' from the 2000 album, 'In Harmony's Way'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/everybody-knows-you-when-youre-up-and-in-jeff-berlin/

I am never going to catch up, am I, Chris? 😉

Either. I'm not fussy.

Whatever else I am, I have never been accused of being fast before! I did one of the Ancestry DNA tests once. Meet grandad.

A favourite tune from a favourite album, this is the complete Dave Holland part from the tune 'Milestones' from the 1993 Joe Henderson album, 'So Near, So Far'. This is the 'old' John Lewis composition not the track from the later Miles album, 'Milestones'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/milestones-miles-davis/

Thanks, Dave. Here's one for, Wayne - I can't think of anything less Punk that a bass transcription but here is the complete Jean Jacques Burnel bass part for 'Down In The Sewers' from the 1977 album, 'Rattus Norvegicus' from The Stranglers - It's all about the tone. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/down-in-the-sewers-the-stranglers/

Received, Dave. Don't get carried away 😆

That's the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowing what basses Geddy used vs. knowing that, if you went out and got those instruments, and even if you used the EXACT SAME BASSES, you would still sound nothing like Geddy Lee. There is a lovely story out there where Ted Nugent spoke of having Van Halen as a support band. Nugent loved EVH's sound and asked to try his guitar. Nugent didn't touch any of the controls on the guitar or amp and, upon playing the instrument, was disappointed to find that he sounded exactly like Ted Nugent.

I have been operating this website now (on and off) for about four years and, from a modest start of about 40 or 50 transcriptions, there are now just under 550 on there (it will keep growing, I promise). I have tried to avoid monetising the site with adverts and I really don’t want to charge for transcriptions because not everyone can afford to pay. There is a lot of learning on here and I want to keep it free for anyone who wants to use it – that’s just the way I roll. Nevertheless, these things take a lot of time to put together. Some I can get done in less than an hour while some of the complete transcriptions take several hours to put together (I think the longest is about 6 hours?). I estimate there to be at least 1500 hours of work on here. That’s nearly 200 8-hour days ‘work’ (although I have enjoyed every minute of it). The site is averaging 70,000 hits a year (6k a week) so people are getting something out of it and that pleases me a great deal. People have asked about making donations and I am thinking, why not? Having discussed this with wiser men than I, it has been suggested that the best way to do this safely and without any risk to users of the website is to just post my PayPal email address. No subscriptions, no ‘pay per download’, just an opportunity to contribute to the cost of running the site and for the time spent grinding away at the dots. If you want to donate, that would be cool. If you don’t, that is cool also. Enjoy the transcriptions and use them for whatever you want to use them for.

Sorry, Gareth. My bad. It should link to the correct chart now. I realise what I did. When I was doing the MM page, I noticed the previous AJ chart has a spelling error on the title on the chart so I corrected it and re-posted the corrected chart on the older page and then forgot to reload the URL for the new one.

More Anthony Jackson - it's actually Steve Khan's fault. These tunes have such great bass parts. This is the complete bass performance on the tun 'Mari Mulambo' from the 2011 Steve Khan album, 'Parting Shot'. Bit os a monster chart at 9 pages (and there are lots of repeat sections) but the track is 10.20 long so that's what happens. The line is essentially a repeated ostinato with a couple of unison passage and breaks to keep the interest up. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/mari-mulambo-steve-khan/ I just realised I have posted over about 30 minutes of dots today! That' learn ya!!

In another gratuitous display of self-injurious behaviour, I have transcribed all 19:12 of Side One of Mike Oldfield's 'Platinum' album (1979). The track 'Platimum' is one track on the original vinyl LP but it is divided into 4 on the CD/mp3s. It just sounds great! I have put them all on one page on the website. That's 550 tracks now! The bass players are Francsico Centeno (Ashford and Simpson), Hansford Rowe (Gong) and Neil Jason (The Brecker Brothers) but I can't tell who plays which bits. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/platinum-mike-oldfield/

Another complete Ruben Rodriguez performance, this time on the tune 'Bait And Switch' from the 2014 Steve Khan album 'Subtext'. I can read this one at the right tempo so it can't be that hard! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/bait-and-switch-steve-khan/

Eva Cassidy's 'Over The Rainbow' gave new life to an already popular song. And there isn't a single cover of 'Moondance' that isn't better than the original. I always thought the Yes version of 'America' was a massive improvement on an already great tune.