TKenrick

Guy 'cocaine' Pratt using an octave pedal to great effect on Madonna's 'Like A Prayer':

Madonna - 'Like A Prayer' bass transcription PDF

What could have been a decent pedal demo was scuppered by my inability to say 'girth knob' without giggling; if you want sensible gear demos there's always Ed Friedland...

Seriously, though, this is a nice alternative to the Boss OC-2.

A bit of Bowie for the weekend:

David Bowie - 'Let's Dance' bass transcription PDF

A little look at some of Stevie Wonder's best pentatonic lines:

5 Wonder-ful Pentatonic Unisons

And some YouTube channel developments, along with thoughts on why TAB is the devil:

A hair-rock classic that's a lot of fun to play, particularly the silly fill that doubles the snare drum:

Bon Jovi - 'You Give Love a Bad Name' bass transcription PDF

Jon bought an octave pedal from me, I believe it was his first BC marketplace purchase.

What can I say? Excellent comms, prompt payment and a totally hassle-free transaction from start to finish. Top bloke! @Lardy

I'd somehow managed to avoid playing this song until this weekend, so here's a chart:

Bruno Mars - '24K Magic' Bass Transcription pdf

MXR now sold.

4 hours ago, bazzbass said:

Simon and Garfunkel's The Only Living Boy in New York is a great bassline to try to learn. Joe Osborne I believe

1

I did a transcription of this a few months ago and was blown away by how easy he makes it sound; the line moves all over the neck but he makes it sound totally seamless.

Anthony Jackson's contribution to Chaka Khan's 'Move Me No Mountain' had a huge effect on me, as did Jamerson's line on 'What's Going On'.

PM's replied to

Juan Alderete being relatively restrained on fretless:

The Mars Volta - 'The Widow' bass transcription pdf

@Dad3353 Thank you so much, that's a huge help!

I have a gig in Paris at the end of April and the client has offered to pay for instrument hire to save me risking mine on the Eurostar and fighting my way through the Metro with it.

The gig is unplugged pop stuff, so the requirements of the bass are fairly minimal. Does anyone have any advice on the following:

1. Any recommended DB hire places in Paris

2. Anywhere in the UK that might hire a Chadwick folding bass (or similar) OR anyone that would be prepared to hire theirs out for a decent fee.

Two words: Anthony Vitti. (click on the playlist and start from lesson #1, it should keep you busy for a while!)

Allen McGrier is one of my favourite lesser-known players; here he is thumbing his way through Teena Marie's 'Square Biz':

Teena Marie - 'Square Biz' bass transcription pdf

Didn't Carol Kaye come out with some compelling evidence that showed her uncredited involvement with Motown?

(Sorry, I couldn't resist).

IIRC it's Bob Babbitt on 'Mercy Mercy Me' and 'Inner City Blues', but 'What's Going On' sounds about as Jamerson as Jamerson could get.

While it's tough to distil Jamerson's genius into a list, here are some things that I love about his line on 'What's Going On' (which is, as an aside, I think one of the greatest recorded parts of all time).

Jamerson had complete mastery over the following areas:

1. Chord tones

2. Chromatic approaches (aka 'enclosures'). It's jazz, but not as we know it.

3. 16th-note syncopation

4. Being so drunk during tracking that he had to lie down on the floor (if the legend is to be believed)

Out of all of these, I find myself most inclined towards working on number 4 when practice time allows.

All prices include UK postage, deals available for multiple items.

EDIT: All books are now gone, open to offers on the CDs

Books

Guy Pratt - My Bass and Other Animals £3
Randall Kurtz - The Bassist’s Guide to Injury management, Prevention and Better Health £3 SOLD
Barbara Paula & Christine Harrison - The Athletic Musician £4 SOLD
Peter Tyler - About the Double Bass £4

CDs - all £2

Brecker Brothers - East River
Marcus Miller - M2
Tom Kennedy - Just Play!
Joe Zawinul - My People
Al Di Meola - Anthology (2 CD)
National Youth Jazz Orchestra - NYJO Fifty (2CD)

Unexpected bass joy in the midst of a song aimed squarely at children:

Justin Timberlake - 'Can't Stop the Feeling!' bass transcription PDF

6 hours ago, stevie said:

Yes, that's the floating thumb. (I really hate to disagree with TKenrick, who is a proper bass player, while I am and will remain strictly an amateur).

@stevie I'm probably (definitely) biased against floating thumb because I could never get it to make a decent sound. Absolutely happy to hear from people who get on with it; this is a discussion forum, after all.

My main gripe was that I couldn't (and still can't) see any benefit to it over the moveable anchor - I'm aware that its proponents say that they can play faster* and with less effort, but I've never felt that moveable anchor was particularly hard work. It might well be that floating thumb is essential if you have a bass with more than 5 strings, but they're not for me.

*I also feel that anyone whose main concern is being able to wiggle their fingers more quickly is barking up the wrong tree.

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

My thumb moves between the pickup, (B string), E string or A string. It moves automatically, and without any input from me, depending on the string I'm playing. I have only seen floating thumb being used on a gig (as opposed to a video lesson) once, by Alphonso Johnson. So far I have not seen any of the "greats" using floating thumb, so I don't see any benefit in trying to change my perfectly workable technique.

I mute the strings positioned above (ie E when you're playing an A etc) the one I'm playing with my right thumb and the ones below with my left fingers. You will get problems with ringing strings if your accuracy when plucking the string isn't very precise. Try to only hit the intended string with your right hand.

Chris_b has nailed it.

Also, I'm a firm believer that floating thumb only works for Gary Willis, who is a mutant. For the rest of us mortals, it leads to what I'd term 'homoeopathic' bass playing: tickling the strings, trying to make the amp do all the work and not conveying any sort of conviction or authority in your playing.

On 17/01/2019 at 21:40, thebrig said:

My index finger is planted on the 10th fret (3rd string) and my ring finger is planted on the 12th fret (2nd string) whilst my pinky is stretching to the 14th fret (2nd string), I don't see how else it can be done 🤔

If you want to give it another go, then your hand might find it easier if you use your middle finger on the 12th fret instead of your 3rd - most people can get quite a lot of stretch between 1st and 2nd fingers without discomfort. Other than that, shorten your strap so the bass is almost the same height whether you're sitting or standing.

Been getting lots of questions as to why using double bass books might be good for electric bassists, so here's an overview of what I got from Simandl:

There's also a new transcription here:

Fleetwood Mac - 'Go Your Own Way' bass transcription PDF

12 hours ago, AMJH said:

Hi. Please, could you do a transcription for me of Rex Brown's bass parts in Pantera's 'Mouth for War'. Thanks.

I'm a huge Pantera fan, but unfortunately I don't have time to take individual transcription requests. I have a request competition every few months for those who are subscribed to my website's email list, but outside of that I don't offer bespoke transcriptions; there might be other forum members who do...

It's far more labour intensive but much more beneficial for you to start transcribing things - I made a lengthy video that I posted earlier in this thread about my methods and how to get started with it.

On 07/01/2019 at 23:23, Ruck said:

Ah my old IE SubT! Ended up acquiring two more after I sold that one...

I bought it from an old student of mine, think he might have done a knob swap on it (that's what she said...)