Japan/Mick Karn: 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' bassline

[iconic]

This is one of my fav' Japan tracks with a sublime bassline, I do have a pop at this on the odd occasion but never knew just how busy this line is and have been missing more than few notes .

As is usual with most stuff 'Mick Karn', tabs, chords, sheet and/or hints/tips are rare and his take on tunes with mostly covering only 2 chords (so they say... I'll leave to that Davey Sylvian to argue that!) is amazing, but this guy seems to have nailed it for me....enjoy.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHya8v5IsDE[/media]

[Chris2112]

Nice playalong. Shame the player's bass tone seems to be getting a bit swamped in the mix there, but he seems to have the line spot on.

[Dingus]

I think the term "inimitable" applies to Mick Karn far more than most other bass players. He was a one-off in terms of his sound and his whole approach, to playing the bass. As this line demonstates , along with so many others you could point to, he is always close to the centre of attention when he plays but no matter how busy he might be, never gets in the way of the song. This is no mean feat. Like youself, i like to have a go at one or two of his lines now and again, but find it very hard-going to accurately follow what he is doing, probably because he has a genius for throwing in the unfamiliar and the unexpected. His playing is completely unfettered by conventional patterns and the cliches that many bass players rely on because by his own admission , he never learnt any of that stuff prefering instead to develop his own unique style. The chap in the video does a great job on a tricky, disjointed bass part and reminds me how brilliant Mick was. Good find.

[Lozz196]

Quality, just reminded me I love MKs basslines, so am ordering some form of Best Of Japan cd right now!

[gub]

Love mk and Japan , been meaning to get some more on the pod for a while , Mmm can feel an iTunes shopping spree coming on!

[wombatboter]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1345571037' post='1779005']
I think the term "inimitable" applies to Mick Karn far more than most other bass players. He was a one-off in terms of his sound and his whole approach, to playing the bass. As this line demonstates , along with so many others you could point to, he is always close to the centre of attention when he plays but no matter how busy he might be, never gets in the way of the song. This is no mean feat. Like youself, i like to have a go at one or two of his lines now and again, but find it very hard-going to accurately follow what he is doing, probably because he has a genius for throwing in the unfamiliar and the unexpected. His playing is completely unfettered by conventional patterns and the cliches that many bass players rely on because by his own admission , he never learnt any of that stuff prefering instead to develop his own unique style. The chap in the video does a great job on a tricky, disjointed bass part and reminds me how brilliant Mick was. Good find.
[/quote]

This is so true...

[toneknob]

There used to be a load of bass tabs on Mick Karn's website in the Image Gallery. Just checked, they've gone now

[toneknob]

Solo album "Bestial Cluster" should be on the menu for any Karn-curious as well.

[Frank Blank]

I’m sitting in my car as I’m a bit early for my lesson, was thinking about transcribing an MK baseline this evening just to see how difficult it’ll be, don’t think I’ll start with this!

[fleabag]

Try these 2 ...  i played both using these tutes. 

 

 

[FDC484950]

Mick Karn was a class act and one of the few fretless players that truly had his own voice and instantly recognisable style. I’ve learned a few of his bass lines and he tended to approach them about as far away as you can be from a conventional bass line. They’re very challenging to get down, and then almost impossible to recall without playing over and over again until memorised. He played across the bar line a lot, and often went nowhere near the root note of the chord, but because the bass line worked as a melody in its own right, it fitted in with the song.

Oil on Canvas (the post-Japan live album that ended up being bigger than any of their albums when they were a band) is a perfect showcase for intelligent, interesting and creative bass playing. It matters not one jot whether he had theory or technical knowledge.