Blues bass

[Conan]

Some nice playing on Robert Cray's stuff. Not sure who the bassist is though...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2JDRfrnzP4[/media]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6Pj6qXFrk&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6Pj6qXFrk&feature=related[/url]

Edited June 21, 2012 by Conan

[xgsjx]

I'd get on Youtube/Spotify/Last FM & listen to loads of blues. All those mentioned & I'll chuck in Steve Earle for good measure.

Standard blues basslines aren't hard (12 bar was the 1st stuff I used to learn bass) & they can be a lot of fun due to blues following a set pattern, leaving plenty of space for everyone to improvise.

[Coilte]

I cant believe that on a British forum, talking about the blues, that the name John Mayall has not come up yet. He played a big part in reviving the blues, and brought it to a bigger audience, especially it it's country of origin. His "Beano" album with Eric Clapton, has become iconic, and is a "must have" in any blues collection IMO. Below is a track from the album, with the very under rated John McVie on bass.




[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvI0P6o_H8k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvI0P6o_H8k[/url]

Edited June 21, 2012 by Coilte

[Kevsy71]

+1 for McVie/Mayall, also the bluesier Cream numbers from Jack Bruce are a must.

[Conan]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1340282103' post='1702213']
I cant believe that on a British forum, talking about the blues, that the name John Mayall has not come up yet. He played a big part in reviving the blues, and brought it to a bigger audience, especially it it's country of origin. His "Beano" album with Eric Clapton, has become iconic, and is a "must have" in any blues collection IMO. Below is a track from the album, with the very under rated John McVie on bass.
[/quote]

You didn't spot Jazzneck's post on the previous page then?

[Coilte]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1340282103' post='1702213']
I cant believe that on a British forum, talking about the blues, that the name John Mayall has not come up yet.



[/quote]

I stand corrected. He and the "Beano" album were mentioned in post #11. Good for you JazzNeck.

[Bassman Sam]

What, no Rory Gallagher? A wealth of stuff there.

[Coilte]

[quote name='Bassman Sam' timestamp='1340283361' post='1702256']
What, no Rory Gallagher? A wealth of stuff there.
[/quote]

Good point. Shame on me for forgetting a fellow Irishman.

[Doctor J]

Get some Freddie King, especially Burglar which is a sublime mix of Texas blues and 70's funk. Early ZZ Top cannot be faulted either. John Lee Hooker's 70's output is pretty cool too, lots of extended boogies. It's not all about 12 bar, you know. Albert King was fantastic too, guys who played songs rather than just solos and always had excellent bands behind them.

I don't "get" Joe Bonamassa's blues. I've listened to several albums but he just leaves me cold.

Not strictly blues but if you want to hear slide guitar played with unreal skill and melodic sense, check out Sonny Landreth, he'll have your jaw on the floor.

[Jazzneck]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libGmZrObuQ[/media]

Mcvie - 20 years old, using a Fender Precision through a Marshall 50W head and small cab.
Lucky enough to see him live many, many times right through from Clapton era Bluesbreakers to post Green Fleetwood Mac.
My major inspiration (if you hadn't gathered that already).

Edited June 21, 2012 by Jazzneck

[Ian Savage]

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1340279008' post='1702121']
Also check out Joanne Shaw Taylor. She's a Brummie but you'd never know it from the voice. [/quote]

Good shout; I'd been meaning to listen to her for ages, this has just reminded me. I think I have a new muso crush, too

[Coilte]

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1340289508' post='1702361']


Mcvie - 20 years old, using a Fender Precision through a Marshall 50W head and small cab.
Lucky enough to see him live many, many times right through from Clapton era Bluesbreakers to post Green Fleetwood Mac.
My major inspiration (if you hadn't gathered that already).
[/quote]

Great stuff alright. Another interesting thing about the "Beano" album is that it featured the first time Clapton's voice was heard on record on "Ramblin' on my Mind".

[louisthebass]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1340279887' post='1702137']
Some nice playing on Robert Cray's stuff. Not sure who the bassist is though...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2JDRfrnzP4[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6Pj6qXFrk&feature=related[/media]
[/quote]

1st track - bass player is Richard Cousins.
2nd track - Karl Sevareid

[peteb]

[quote name='louisthebass' timestamp='1340224214' post='1701472']
Make that +2

[/quote]

Well a -1 from me, which makes +1
For me, the Ed Freidland book is alright for real newcomers to the blues but is just a bit too basic - tell me something that I don't already know!

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1340211595' post='1701189']

Last tip. Less is more.

[/quote]

Not necessarily - feel is everything but sometimes more actually is more! The trouble with playing a simple type of music like blues is that it can get a touch boring if you're not careful and sometimes a bit of flash can be very welcome

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1340284038' post='1702274']
I don't "get" Joe Bonamassa's blues. I've listened to several albums but he just leaves me cold.

[/quote]

General rule of thumb: early Bonamassa = good; recent Bonamassa = boring!
I’m afraid that no one can churn out that number of records and maintain any sort of quality control

For those who don’t like blues with lots of lead guitar – I’m afraid that a large part of the blues market in Britain (& Europe) is for SRV, Rory Gallagher, Bonamassa, etc, basically guitar led stuff

Try listening to Henrik Freischlader, King King, Ben Poole – loads of great new blues acts around!

[doctorbass]

Definitely listen to Keith Ferguson on the first 4 Fabulous Thunderbirds albums.

Also the stuff he did with the Solid Senders (if you can find it!)

[gjones]

I've been playing blues for a long time and the players I like are the ones who can keep a groove and hold back at the same time. One of my favourite blues bassists is Henry Oden who has played with Joe Louise walker. This is him making it sound effortless - Oh and remember the passing notes lots of passing notes.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7CIJZtn150&feature=related[/media]

and here he is with a slow blues

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWzRPaxxFU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWzRPaxxFU&feature=related[/url]

Edited June 21, 2012 by gjones

[untune]

Check out Henrik Freischlader!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ImtsezbpqE&feature=related

[Conan]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHHBl8cz7eY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHHBl8cz7eY[/url]

[Jazzneck]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1340365544' post='1703351']
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHHBl8cz7eY[/media]
[/quote]
Luverlee - please note: 4 string bass and no slapping.

[peteb]

[quote name='untune' timestamp='1340313297' post='1702859']
Check out Henrik Freischlader!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ImtsezbpqE&feature=related[/media]
[/quote]
I do like that...!

[gjones]

[quote name='Simon.' timestamp='1340201225' post='1700936']
Hi there,

Over the years, I've enjoyed listening to a fair amount of blues, but rarely dabbled in playing it. However, in my continuous quest to educate myself, it's an area I fancy looking at, but feel at a bit of a loss as to where to start! The kind of stuff I'm listening to at the moment is SRV, the new Walter Trout album, Joe Bonamassa, but so much stuff comes across as a poor excuse for a guitarist to masturbate himself in public.

So, who would you recommend listening too, and more importantly, who are the blues bass players out there, doing interesting work?

Cheers,

Simon.
[/quote]

Ahhh......didn't realise you lived in Edinburgh. Come along to the Ghillie Dhu at the West End on Thurs 28th and you can get up and play the real thing. Sandy Tweeddale will be holding a jam there and anyone can get up and play. Sandy's a great blues guitarist and singer who has played with everybody in Edinburgh and beyond. He's playing the Jazz Fest this year with Maggie Bell and Blues 'N' Trouble and also plays with The River Devils and The Blue Hyenas (you may have met him if you have worked at the Jazz fest in the past). There's be some great blues bassists (and me too) getting up to play on thurs and all you have to do is put your name on the list and get up on stage and plug in. The night starts at 9pm.

[surfinbernard]

Interesting thread as I am a massive blues lover but most of what I like either has no bass (older one guitar stuff, or even acapella) or has upright bass (older jazz band blues), and even the stuff with bass guitar on is quite basic with the basslines, so needless to say I don't really listen to blues for inspirational bass playing, more because I just love it. Howlin Wolf is my favourite electrified blues man, hands down, some lovely classic blues bass lines to be heard on his older recordings, the psychedelic album is worth a listen but not as good as the original recordings. I don't know about modern music haha. I do like Geezer Butler as a blues bassist, although Sabbath weren't a blues band, Butler's playing most certainly is a lot of blues, and it's excellent.

[gjones]

[quote name='Simon.' timestamp='1340201225' post='1700936']
Hi there,

Over the years, I've enjoyed listening to a fair amount of blues, but rarely dabbled in playing it. However, in my continuous quest to educate myself, it's an area I fancy looking at, but feel at a bit of a loss as to where to start! The kind of stuff I'm listening to at the moment is SRV, the new Walter Trout album, Joe Bonamassa, but so much stuff comes across as a poor excuse for a guitarist to masturbate himself in public.

So, who would you recommend listening too, and more importantly, who are the blues bass players out there, doing interesting work?

Cheers,

Simon.
[/quote]

By the way [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Henrik Freischlader plays the Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh on Monday i.e. tomorrow[/font][/color]

[untune]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1340559910' post='1706243']
By the way [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Henrik Freischlader plays the Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh on Monday i.e. tomorrow[/font][/color]
[/quote]

He's playing Manchester on the 29th - hoping to be there - work night out but I'm hoping to get some tea and a drink or two then head into Manc to catch some smooth blues action!

My mate went to his last one. His amp died and the show hit a standstill - luckily a fan lived down the road and lent him a backup

[oggiesnr]

First define your blues

Personally I would start with the older music (Johnson, Memphis Millie, Dixon et al) and work forward from the Delta to Muddy Waters, BB King etc and the urban blues and "race" records and then stop. Then have another listen to what the blues was and think about how to apply bass lines to it (and maybe detour into early country-blues or even Sun recordings and early rock n roll) and have another think and a play.

Once you hit the "blues revival" and The Yardbirds etc you're into modern interpretations, fine if you want to copy them but IMHO it's much more interesting to listen to the music and put your own spin on it and for that you need to listen to the originals.

Steve