Whats the hardest bassline you've ever played?

[lowdown]

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1423248398' post='2682850']
Easiest way to play Sir Duke is by keeping your wrist fixed at your start point, and play the lot using only one octave....The whole thing is done using a tight pattern, and your hand never moves up or down. Some how it looks even more amazing than flying up and down the neck, as even though it is only using one octave, in a band environment, it sounds no different, apart from all the bottom end DOESN'T drop out in the high register parts.. Try it...7 notes and no hand movement whatsoever..
[/quote]

Should your user name not be 'johnnysomenotes'?....lol...

[jonnythenotes]

Pwahahahahah....love it...Jonnysomenotes..... Nice one ..

[Bassjon]

I Want You Back - Jackson 5. That bass bit in the middle. its arpeggios, fast starting on an 'off' 16th note. Hard to get the feel right.

Other than that yes Iron Maiden stuff is very hard to keep up the dexterity fingerstyle over a whole gig

[booboo]

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1423228186' post='2682475']
I'm a terrible bass player, musician and person so I never even try to learn most bass lines!

I much prefer making stuff up on the fly so I learn the chords (roughly) and then just throw in the odd riff reminiscent of the original to keep the rest of the band off my back
[/quote]
Shhhh!...this is a public forum - do not divulge our secret bass playing ways. Pretty soon folk will cotton on that we have not got 'big ears', but just a brass neck and a fake smile.

[rogerstodge]

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1423251455' post='2682894']
I Want You Back - Jackson 5. That bass bit in the middle. its arpeggios, fast starting on an 'off' 16th note. Hard to get the feel right.

Other than that yes Iron Maiden stuff is very hard to keep up the dexterity fingerstyle over a whole gig
[/quote]every songs a gallop/triplet thing innit?

[Oopsdabassist]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1423169967' post='2681827']
I could never get the bassline right that plays under the guitar solo on Are you gonna go my way by Lenny Kravitz. Not a difficult line but it appeared to be a random collection of chromatic runs with no pattern to them.
[/quote]

You've obviously seen me doing it! never the same twice!

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='tom5string' timestamp='1423234233' post='2682589']


Errrr .... how long?
[/quote]

A YEAR. A FUNKING YEAR!!

Now, don't get me wrong, I did not work on it exclusively or at great length for a year. I visited it in and off, and learned plenty other tunes in that time. I broke it right down in an attempt to realise what was tripping me up. I really struggled with the second half of the verse part, when it turns around on itself and starts coming back up. It also didn't help that I was aiming for the Paul Turner/Shuffler version which is a good bit quicker than the original.

[paul_5]

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1423251455' post='2682894']
I Want You Back - Jackson 5. That bass bit in the middle. its arpeggios, fast starting on an 'off' 16th note. Hard to get the feel right.
[/quote]

Even harder to play it with just one finger on the plucking hand - quite how St. James did it beggars belief.

[Funky Dunky]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1423255646' post='2682963']


Even harder to play it with just one finger on the plucking hand - quite how St. James did it beggars belief.
[/quote]

Twas Wilton Felder ;-)

[AndyTravis]

'I Wish' by Stevie Wonder, not crazy difficult, just an odd swing to it, and the song revolves around it.

'She Caught The Katy' from the Blues Brothers, again not that difficult to play but an odd feel.

Either one of these, if you fluff a note; game over.

[paul_5]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1423256591' post='2682980']
Twas Wilton Felder ;-)
[/quote]

oh yes, 'twas indeed. My bad.

[Bassjon]

well wilton is a very talented man.

[51m0n]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1423246703' post='2682824']

In G major?
I transposed it to C to play it on 4 string bass.

Another you might enjoy playing is Fur Elise. Again in the original key.
[/quote]

Yep absolute killer on a four string, can only be played with a 24 fret bass and I had to do a sort of mock db thumb position thing to do the run at the end and the final chordy bit right.

Fantastic to play though, although i cant remember the middle third of it any more...

[Old Man Riva]

Sometimes it's the 'easier' things that cause problems - and I wouldn't go anywhere near something like Donna Lee etc as I wouldn't know where to start.

The oddest one that still causes me problems to this day is finding the 'one' after Bonham's intro on Zeppelin's Rock and Roll. Not tight, and definitely loose..

I would definitely say that things like YouTube have really helped players learn stuff these days, what with all the lessons/tabs etc. Spent years trying to learn Rhythm Stick and minutes on YouTube fixing the mistakes.

[pajc72]

Peaches en regalia - Frank Zappa / Shuggie Otis, those runs at that speed are tough.

Do I Do - Steve Wonder / Nathan Watts, no better feeling than playing along with this when you get it right!

[fretmeister]

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1423251455' post='2682894']
I Want You Back - Jackson 5. That bass bit in the middle. its arpeggios, fast starting on an 'off' 16th note. Hard to get the feel right.

Other than that yes Iron Maiden stuff is very hard to keep up the dexterity fingerstyle over a whole gig
[/quote]

Aye. Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is a sod. Even with the slow bit in the middle it's damn hard work.

[Roger2611]

For me it is Pino playing "Wherever I Lay My Hat" not the hardest bassline to get close to right but to get it spot on and maintain the feeling of the original....well after decades of playing it (as an occasional fretless practice song) I still cannot master it

[lonestar]

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1423165372' post='2681732']


This is one of the few songs that I've gone on Youtube and watched someone play along to it to get the notes.

Another song I have just learned is Footloose played by one of my all time favourite bass players, Nathan East. I had played it for years but no where near the original and I wanted to learn it properly with the new band I have recently joined so I found the Youtube video below. If you go to the guy's website he has even transcribed it so I was able to read the part rather than keep stopping and starting the clip to get the correct notes.

[media]http://youtu.be/-QCJAvmJITc[/media]

This is undoubtably the most difficult bass line I have ever had to play just because it is a relentless barrage of notes and one fumble has you galloping up diarrhea drive without a saddle
[/quote]ub

I found that a really tough one too. Doesn't help that I don't really like the song much either. It's one of those simple but hard to nail lines for me.
I

[lonestar]

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1423250432' post='2682878']
Pwahahahahah....love it...Jonnysomenotes..... Nice one ..
[/quote]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1423255646' post='2682963']
Q

Even harder to play it with just one finger on the plucking hand - quite how St. James did it beggars belief.
[/quote]

He didn't . I'm pretty sure it was played by Wilton Felder of The Crusaders. And he's a trumpet player.
Sorry I missed the earlier post.

Edited February 7, 2015 by lonestar

[essexbasscat]

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1423228186' post='2682475']
I'm a terrible bass player, musician and person so I never even try to learn most bass lines!

I much prefer making stuff up on the fly so I learn the chords (roughly) and then just throw in the odd riff reminiscent of the original to keep the rest of the band off my back
[/quote]

Classic

[JTUK]

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1423345828' post='2683828']
He didn't . I'm pretty sure it was played by Wilton Felder of The Crusaders. And he's a[b] trumpet [/b]player.
Sorry I missed the earlier post.
[/quote]

He is a sax player but he is a very strong bass player and has countless sessions on bass under his belt

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1423152744' post='2681514']
repetition is what gets me. I can play bass all day long if I'm playing what I want. I play drums in a reggae band, and the bassist plays extremely repetitive lines. I tried it one time and my hands were killing me! The same bassline over and over for 5 minutes just seems to cramp my left hand
[/quote]

I find it difficult to play a repetitive baseline over and over, without my mind wandering and losing the timing. And example being Herbie Hancock's 'Bring down the birds' which has a short riff that repeats endlessly. Doing ten repetitions is easy. Playing the whole track for minutes - hard for me.

I don't know Rhythm Stick. I suppose I've got to go learn it now.

[lonestar]

Rhythm Stick is great. It's quite simple but mainly16ths. The challenge is to keep it going solidly and make each note count ,while keeping it funky. I find it a really good workout !
I know what you mean about Herbie Hancock and repetition having recently been playing Chameleon.

[Nicko]

Inspied by this thread I have been attempting Rhythm Stick. Seems like my right hand technique will need some work to get it to race pace, and my left hand needs work on that Gsharp pinkie stretch. I need a lie down

[anaxcrosswords]

Quite a few mentions of personal bête noirs on this thread!

[b]Hysteria[/b]. Not that I’ll ever play it live but it’s one I’d love to fathom. Like others I’ve found some of the YouTube guides not quite right. For me (playing with only a thumb) the hard part is that there are one or two pull-offs, very difficult to do while keeping time.
[b]I Want You Back[/b]. The band has just about given up on this, mainly because of the mid section. Marrying up drums/bass turned out to be near impossible.
We’ve also got [b]You To Me Are Everything [/b]on the list and, so far, it’s plain awful. Drums, bass & keys sound like they’re playing different songs.