Bridgehouse

If I’m playing it, it would be in half cut time

You’d only do that once tho

Definitely not 120 bars of rest:

I see this is the Ames Trapezoid version of the tab. You can tell because it's the version that sails past people and goes right through them - seemingly impossible at the time, but logical once you get your head around it. I recommend cutting it out, attaching to very thin card, and then suspending on string so it can be rotated.

Completely on point and a great response. The OP asked a perfectly valid question - a covers band with a mix of songs, some of which they like, others they don't. Is there value in learning the songs they don't like? People join bands for all sorts of reasons: Money, experience, they like playing with other musicians, it's an opportunity to learn etc. etc. You pick the reasons that apply and make a decision on that basis. Learning any new song of any sort will add to your experience and will further you musically - even if just a very small amount. The discussion in this thread should have been about this. However, it's mostly consisted of a discussion about the fact that the "most" or "vast majority" of songs can be learned (whatever that means) with one listen through. The implication is that it doesn't matter too much because you should be able to pick up this "most" or "vast majority" of songs with little effort. Nobody on this forum knows the intricate history of any other members playing. We don't know how each of us think musically, where we are stronger or weaker. I've played with musicians of all sorts of different abilities, and some can nail a song on their chosen instrument after one play through, and others can't. I've played with musicians who can pick up songs quickly but are just not good at playing in a band setting. Others who have to work hard to learn songs but are rock solid and reliable in a band. The end result is indeed everything - it is different for each of us. There is no one easy answer. Why are people upset on here? This is a forum for Bass Players to discuss Bass Playing. Simple as that. And by discussion, it involves actually being able to get your head around the fact that each member will be in a different place both technically, in terms of talent, in their experience, and in their approach. If every thread on ability, practise, or anything had experienced players simply saying "gït gud" then the discussion would be worthless. To the OP - weigh up the pros and cons and yes, practising songs you don't like will make you a better musician one way or another. How much time that takes and how many run throughs you have to do to get there is irrelevant at best, and condescending at worst.

The interesting twist to the uni-girlfriend-instant-copy-player story was she was utterly incapable of writing any sort of original tune.

If the "go-er" bit relates to her ability to listen to any piece of music on any instrument and instantly play a fully arranged piano rendition of said music, then yeah - she was a steam train. It was actually bloody annoying. "I wrote this cool riff for our next song" *plinks out vague tune on [random instrument] slowly, and a bit haphazardly* "Oh, you mean this?" *Plays fully accompanied version of said tune with every embellishment known to humankind* "Yeah. That." *watches manhood wither in front of own eyes*

Somewhat drunken flute/whistle/mandolin/mandola/octave mandolin/harmonica/melodeon/english concertina/djembe player:

One particular gig - I believe it was the Cromer Folk Festival on the Pier, after such a gig and such a resultant exchange with a slightly older chap with a knitted sweater came after a crab supper and three pints of Fully Rigged Ship or some such other local ale, and my response, IIRC, was a rather large belch in his face.

Or have a natural talent for music like a girlfriend I had at uni. We rather misguidedly decided to form a band together. As a rakish, unkempt and mostly drunken student my own view of my musical talent was, eh, overinflated. Ok, I was classically trained and performed in semi-professional choirs for 10 years, but that didn't translate to bashing a guitar and attempting the latest hit from James or Blur. On our first *cough* album, we had an argument about the keys part - she claimed I wasn't being specific enough for her as to how it should sound. I rather sarcastically said maybe she could make it sound like Rick Wakeman and stop p***ing about. When we got to the keys break she played pretty much the whole of Catherine of Aragon note for note. It didn't end well.

I'm pretty sure a lot of us have. In fact, I had a five year penury in a folk outfit playing a combined set of instruments that made a one man band look pathetic. We didn't even do covers - it was original stuff. I put some pretty complex flute and whistle lines on a whole bunch of songs which, to be honest, were mostly improvised at recording, and thus nigh on impossible to play live without mixing it up a bit - especially after a few pints of local ale. However, countless times some geezer or other would pop over after the gig and remark that my "phrasing on the solo in blah blah wasn't the same as the recording, and had I consciously decided to disrupt the flow of the melodic interchange with the guitar and violin?"

When you drag that Shuker out it's difficult to confuse it with anything else.. It turned out that the Singer was the previous Bass player, and the rest of the band had told him he wasn't cutting the mustard on bass, but his vocals were good - so insisted he stopped playing bass and got a new one in so he could concentrate on his singing. It was enough of an emerging train wreck to make me bail before a note was played. But to be fair that was probably a combination of the guitarist wheeling in a full Marshall Stack and a pedalboard the size of a dinner table and the keys player poking his head round the door and asking if someone could give him a hand with his two lesley cabinets..

Oh so that was you was it? I went home, checked, and Alan Longmuir definitely played Ab on the end of the 2nd line of the verse on Bye Bye Baby

I shall rephrase for your benefit. And those guys aren't going to be a) in your average covers band playing in the Dog and Duck exclusively, excepting those who are doing so for the fun of it when they aren't on the road with big name acts b) asking for support and advice on an Bass Forum because they don't have professional experience, and aren't professional musicians who have joined up for a bit then run away because fora are often littered with threads like this

And those guys aren't going to be a) in your average covers band playing in the Dog and Duck b) asking for support and advice on an Bass Forum

Session bass player? SESSION BASS PLAYER? You come back here, still late, still no tie, still a messy jacket, still reeking of brandy, and now with a dubious stain on your trouser leg, and give me all this session bass player claptrap? But seriously.. Basslines can make or break songs. They very often do. Yeah - even on "pop songs" where the session bass player has been picking his lottery numbers in his head and wondering if it will be chips tonight (they hope it's chips.. it's chips) - that's why they are session players. Day in, day out, pretty much second nature to get those bass lines down - if on the mix the bass doesn't do the job spot on, then they won't be getting much more work. Most of the covers I hear in pubs and clubs aren't just manufactured pop. It's a heady mix of 90's shoe gazing, britpop, Foos, Muse, and even a bit of Radiohead in those posh trendy wine bars. That's proper bass players in a band, none of your too-good-for-their-own-good session players. It's not obsessing anyway. It's just a desire to do a decent job when performing in public. Spending a bit of time and effort to get something nailed, and well practised. Any gigging cover band musician will know that the practise and machine-like recall of a song isn't "so the band is tight" - it's so they can all carry on seamlessly when massively distracted by Tracey from Accounts who having had a few too many, slips up and crashes into the speaker left of stage, falls over and shows the whole pub her M&S knickers, all followed by her mates from HR laughing and pointing at her. Or Steve who stumbles up onto the stage and starts a vice like grip around the singers neck and insists his rendition of "If You Tolerate This" is much better.

Well, I'm certainly no pro - but I do like to make the effort to get as close as I can, call it amateur pride if you like - pushing yourself to try to cover off those bases is a great way to improve. If I didn't improve, learn more, push myself a bit, then I'd quickly start to wonder why I was playing.

But that wasn't my point. I'm sure there are loads of songs that you can play the bass notes to after one listen - but to get the rhythm, subtlety, note placement and feel for the bassline for any given song requires far more than one listen through. It needs more than one play though let alone one listen through

I'm not much of an ABBA fan. Some stuff was alright I guess. I make those comments from an "in passing" point of view. However, when you actually listen to the songs with a view to playing them, you realise just how complex and utterly genius they are musically. The bassline to Dancing Queen, the metal pins in the hammers on the piano to create the unique sound. The innovative (for the time) production to achieve the sound and separation it has.. In fact, I dare anyone to do a good job of playing the bassline to any ABBA song after one listen....

Mine has got more drivel in it tho...

I'm a bit busy right now, but if you come back later...

There's a significant difference between the complexity of a songs chord structure, it's rhythm, and what makes it unique/memorable - even from a Bass point of view. There are songs with complex bass lines which are rhythmically straight forward, some with simple bass lines in verses and choruses but complex bridges or solos, some with simple bass lines that are made unique by complex fills or runs in places, and then there are many songs that rely on an accurate and very well timed bass rhythm. For me (and I'm a mere landlubber when it comes to some of the experts on here) bass is a subtle but complex mix of notes, rhythms, timing, fills, runs, and note placement. Adam Clayton - oft maligned, oft derided - (and liking the song or not is irrelevant) - With or Without You is a perfect example of a simple bass line that is executed with such precision that it carries the song and gives it most of it's uniqueness. Where he places notes, when he chooses to slide between notes, the driving force of the rhythmic playing. Colin Greenwood (for it is he) - Fake Plastic Trees. I learned the notes to it in one listen. And that was about 10% of the work required to make it sound authentic. Another masterclass in Bass note placement. Once again, a song that is made by the bassline - without it, it would fall. Harmonic perfection, rhythmic excellence, subtle, well placed and executed beautifully. Again, for me, bass playing is about that heady combination of note, rhythm, subtlety and emphasis, and where you place your notes. I've written a few bass lines I'm really proud of. I've even recorded them and felt a reasonable satisfaction with my playing. However, I've also played some of them live and on occasion felt horrified by how bad they sounded when one of those elements listed above wasn't right. The actual notes are just the beginning of the bass player's story.

My point exactly. It’s also disrespectful of the venue who are potentially paying for you to perform.

You stroll into a perfectly sensible thread late, no tie, shoes a mess, scruffy jacket, reeking of brandy and dare to derail it with Rick Beato?? RICK BEATO?? Disgraceful.

Thought of it? It’s bloody true! I wrote a series of lines and recorded them for a singer songwriter for a Spotify release. A few weeks later he decided to gig them at an album launch. Asked me to play bass live. I listened to my bass lines before the rehearsal - couldn’t remember a single one of them all the way through!!